Draakon Hotel

The hotel is nice, with very spacious and clean rooms, excellent bathrooms and very friendly and helpful staff.

My one night stay at the Draakon hotel was okay. The location was fantastic and my room overlooking the fountain was an ideal spot (even though the fountain was blocked off and under repair for the European Capital of Culture preparations). I did feel like there were 2 people working in the whole hotel and definitely a wait to get my room and when checking out, no one was around, so I left my key at the front desk and left. I don't think the cleaning was great. I found a bobby pin on the floor in my room which makes me think maybe they weren't vacuuming, as well as a towel in the sauna, which I think was left over from another guest. The minibar was missing a lot of items from the list, so I don't think that is checked regularly and the included breakfast I found not great. It was fine for a one night stay and as said, the location is great, but I would probably not stay for more than a night or two.

This hotel is a definite time capsule back to the end of 90-s, and as such might even be considered lovely. Still, it is very much understaffed, resulting in a hostel-like atmosphere (neglected reception area, staff slowly appears only after phonecall etc). Breakfast was tasty, although with limited choices. There is a huge unused potential in this place!

An AMEX credit card is not valid, although it is clearly written in Estonian that all credit cards, including AMEX, are valid. Upon check-in, immediate payment was required for the entire time, I have never seen anything like it before. But I realized afterwards why, the whole hotel is run by only two people and no one is usually seen at the reception. in three days there was a older woman there, who is reportedly the owner. Customer service was arrogant, we didn’t dare ask anything, we just thought we would hopefully get out of here quickly. He did try to be friendly, but he always seemed to be defensive. No wonder, because the furniture, carpet and mattresses must have been from 1990. The armchair looked dirty, we didn’t dare sit there. There were only two small tired, really uncomfortable pillows in the bed, two more were asked and we got similar little bumps. The faucet gets water really slowly, the shower faucet leaks. The toilet bowl sways. The breakfast room was really cold, probably about 10 degrees. The hotel needs renovation and decent customer service since I was born in Tartu, so this kind of hotel in the center is a huge shame. I recommend Lydia Hotel, which is next door.

There was some confusion when we arrived - like they were not expecting us - we had send a message we have dogs with us - well after half an hour waiting we got a room - it was modest but very suitable with the dogs in the ground floor. Also in friday evening there was very few parking places - we were lucky to get one. Hotel is quiet even it is middle of the town and location is the best in town. Friendly staff.