Review: Hotel Telegraaf, Autograph Collection [Estonia]

After working my way up from Lithuania and through Latvia, I made it to the last leg of my Baltics trip in Estonia. So, I thought it’s appropriate to end it with a nicer hotel compared to the previous two I stayed at in Vilnius and Riga. I chose Hotel Telegraaf since the location seemed really good for my visit in Tallinn.

Hotel Telegraaf- Booking

I booked a 2-night stay for 208 EUR per night. Keep in mind that this is one of the lower cash rates for this hotel and can typically go upwards to 300-400 EUR.

But, this is a Category 5 hotel and can be a solid choice for a 35K or 50K Free Night Certificate redemption.

Hotel Telegraaf- Location

Hotel Telegraaf is located in the heart of Tallinn Old Town. First thing I should note is that taxis are not allowed to drop you off at the hotel as cars are not allowed in some parts of Vene tn (the street name the hotel is on). But, they will be able to drop you off at the intersection between Vine tn and Munga tn, and it will just take 1-2 minutes to walk to the hotel.

Hotel Telegraaf- Check-in

I arrived to the hotel at 2pm. I was excited that my Nightly Upgrade Awards were confirmed for a 1 Bedroom Suite here. The suite wasn’t ready until 3pm, so I decided to walk around the Old Town for a bit before heading back in to get my keycard.

The check-in process was smooth, and I chose the $10 food and beverage credit in lieu of points as my welcome gift since I planned to dine at its restaurant. Breakfast is included for free for Platinum Elite or higher because Hotel Telegraaf is an Autograph Collection hotel without an executive lounge.

The reception area is very beautiful with tasteful with good use of black and gold colors. Adjacent to the lobby is the Symphony Lounge, a separate quieter area where people can sit and relax.

It was also interesting to learn a little bit of the hotel building’s history. It was built in 1878, and it used to be a bank, but then later turned into a communication center that offer telephone services to the public ever since after World War I. The services even persisted throughout World War II and then ceased in 1991. Now, it’s repurposed into a luxury boutique hotel since 2007.

As you may tell about the hotel’s name Telegraaf, telecommunications is the main theme of this hotel. You’ll find many references of them in this hotel.

Hotel Telegraaf- Siemens Suite

I was assigned to the Siemens Suite or Room 310. The Siemens Suite is assigned to a farthest end of the third floor. The suites in Hotel Telegraaf are named after inventors who made major contributions towards telecommunication technology. Other suites are named:

• Bell Suite on 2nd floor named after Alexander Graham Bell
• Morse Suite on 5th floor named after Samuel Morse
• Popov Suite on 6th floor named after Alexander Popov

Living Room

After entering the room, I am greeted with a large separate living room with full dining table and plush seats. The room feels vintage with the chandelier in the middle, but not overly so at the same time, which I like.

The room’s phone resembles a rotary phone. The buttons cater to people like me who has no idea on how to use the real one. It’s still very cute though.

A picture of Werner von Siemens, the person who’s named after, is framed here. He’s the inventor of pointer telegraph that allowed for communication by reading letters that a needle points to.

Behind the dining table is where the pantry are for your coffee and tea.

To the left of the pantry is the living room’s toilet room.

At the corner towards the balcony is where the living room TV and minibar are. All items in the minibar are not free.

The Siemens Suite is the only suite in Hotel Telegraaf that comes with a balcony! There’s two chairs outside so you can enjoy the view of people passing by in Old Town.

From the outside, you can see the balcony sticking out and further proves that the Siemens Suite is the only room here with a balcony.

Bedroom

Moving on to the bedroom, the room itself is as big as a typical hotel room in Europe. It includes a full desk and a velvet plush chair across the bed.

The bed was very comfortable with some firmness to it. Though the blanket was set in a strange way with a gap in the middle. It’s like having two separate blankets beneath each pillows.

There’s a little pillow menu where you can call housekeeping to request special pillows. I was curious and ordered the relax and horse hair pillow. They were nice to try, especially the horse hair pillow which I found don’t trap heat as easily and kept cool throughout use.

The closet is spacious and includes a safe and sets of bathrobes and plush slippers.

Bathroom

The bathroom looks more antiquated than the living and bedroom area. You’re greeted with an oversized mirror that contrast with the tiny, but hollow, wash basin.

There’s a separate bathtub, and you could even watch TV too.

The shower was good enough, and the Lalique toiletries were pleasant as well.

Overall, I really liked this room. If you have Nightly Upgrade Award certificates to spare, I’d definitely recommend using it for a 1 Bedroom Suite at this hotel. Though it’s no guarantee that you’d get the Siemens Suite since all the 1 Bedroom Suite are different. From my educated guess however, you’d either get the Bell or Siemens Suite if they would went through.

Hotel Telegraaf- Breakfast

Breakfast is served in Restaurant Tchaikovsky on lobby floor. It’s buffet with a la carte menu. The decor of this restaurant is beautiful and it is named after a famous Russian composer Pyotr Ilyic Tchaikovsky.

There’s plenty of homemade sweets paired with cereal and milk, and so on. Hot items include sausage, bacon, hash browns, and mixed vegetables.

The pastry section was delightful. I loved the danish and the fresh croissants served here.

Below are the a la carte menu I got to try. Overall, I liked the a la carte menu a lot more than the buffet section. Thankfully, you can order as much as you can if you’re willing to be patient. It’s just that the service can be quite slow when it comes to food coming out of the kitchen.

The restaurant has outdoor seating as well, and they were rightly popular, but some seats didn’t offer good shades during the summer so I stayed inside.

Hotel Telegraaf- Restaurant Tchaikovsky Dinner

On the second night, I had dinner at the restaurant. Restaurant Tchaikovsky is a Michelin-listed restaurant in Tallinn and serves mainly French cuisine with Russian twist.

If you’re looking for a mainly contemporary Russian cuisine, unfortunately this restaurant won’t fit that description much. There’s only few handful items in the a la carte menu that would fit that description which only includes borscht and pelmeni, and caviar served with blini. The rest feel very modern European instead.

The way they set their napkins to look like swans is very cool! I believe these references to one of Tchaikovsky’s most prominent work with Swan Lake.

I chose the restaurant’s signature menu which is a 5-course meal and costs 98 EUR. The $10 food and beverage credit is applicable here.

The meal starts with these delicious homemade chips paired with a special sauce. I can really taste the sesame seeds which gave toasty taste.

Then, I was served the side bread. I could not decide between the sourdough and the rye bread, so I ended up having both. Rye bread is especially popular in the Baltics region and is a must try!

Then the amuse bouche with creamy shrimp on top of a soft piece of bread.

After that comes the first main dish, asparagus with hollandaise sauce and whitefish roe. The asparagus was soft and easy to cut. A nice start to the meal.

The second dish is the salmon and shrimp ravioli. Though the look somewhat resemble pelmeni, Russian-style dumpling.

The third dish is the halibut with potato puree, blue mussels, and baby bok choy. Tasty.

After the fish, I was served a lemon sorbet as palate cleanser before the fourth dish.

The fourth dish was veal with tarragon demi-glace sauce, confit leek, kale chips

Then finally comes the dessert as the final dish. Pavlova- a meringue dessert named after a famous Russian ballerina Anna Pavlova. The golden-colored chip shaped like a ballerina was adorable, especially with the classical music playing in the background.

The pavlova looked amazing and tasted better than the one I had the last day at Moon Restaurant, another Michelin-listed restaurant in Tallinn. I thought it was way too sweet for my liking there.

Overall, the taste of the food were great. The price wasn’t too terrible but it wasn’t a great deal either.

The service was great, but food came out really slow for a 5-course meal I feel. The duration was 2 hours long, and shortly after Estonia, I was in Slovenia eating a 9-course meal at Restravracija Strelec that took just about the same time.

Hotel Telegraaf- Pool & Spa

The spa facility is on the second floor, and it includes a pool and a Jacuzzi. The pool was very nice with the skylight ceiling and stylish fountains. Natural light coming in and reflecting the pool made for a very elegant atmosphere!

The spa area also includes a sauna and steam room.

Hotel Telegraaf- Gym

The hotel does not have a gym, but guests can have access to the gym at Kalev Hotel around 5-minute walk away from Telegraaf. But, make sure to inquire Telegraaf’s front desk about it should you decide to go. Because of this, I didn’t get to check out the gym at Kalev.

Alternatively, you can request exercise equipment to your room like yoga mats and dumbbells.

Conclusion

Hotel Telegraaf is a great choice for a stay in Tallinn. It’s in the heart of Old Town and has charming design and history attached. The pool in particular was my favorite part of this hotel. It’s one of the most tranquil hotel pool I’ve ever been in!

There’s not much to complain about here and the only negatives I can think of is the service was slow in Restaurant Tchaikovsky. Some guests might be turned off that there’s no gym directly in the property. Still, I’ll recommend this hotel, but I’m also curious about an SLH hotel in Tallinn (Schlosse Hotel) that I’d be interested in comparing with.