I wanted to try out the Courtyard, as I am so tired of the Finnish hotel industry practically being a duopoly outside the capital. Well, there surely were no tired, minuscule rooms with cheap laminate floors here! The hotel felt pleasant and modern, materials and fabrics were of high quality and staff were friendly.
I checked in at 1 pm and was welcomed by a friendly receptionist who had a room ready for me. The room was of good size and in pristine condition. A fresh fitted carpet, two narrow but comfortable single beds, a desk, a closet (with a safe and an empty minibar), a large mirror on the wall. There was even a small coffee table and a chair. The room would nicely fulfill four star criteria. The A/C was efficient, but I didn’t learn how to turn it off for the night. Wifi was free and fast. However, I was surprised that only one of the bedside tables came with a socket – to charge my phone, I had to find out where they had hidden the alarm clock socket and unplug it. Really?
The bathroom did not feel cramped. It came with a walk-in shower with relatively poor water pressure. Unfortunately, there are no bathtubs at this hotel. I do appreciate the single-use toiletries, as these are far more hygienic than the gallon-size containers some hotels place on the bathroom walls. Apart from shampoo and shower gel, conditioner and body lotion were provided, too. The towels were fresh and soft, and of good quality. The toilet paper was of high quality, as well.
The hotel has resorted to the same savings trick as many others lately – rooms are cleaned every three days only, ”due to covid”. Daily cleaning was available on request, though.
The one, big letdown was breakfast (weekdays 7–11, weekends 7–12). Firstly, they wanted you to book a 30-min time slot the night before, ”to reduce crowding”. But when you arrive at the breakfast room, it is insanely crowded and 15 minutes of that time slot is spent standing in a queue, with your tray in your hands, waiting to access the buffet, which was more of an assembly line than a hotel breakfast buffet. Frankly, it felt more like a construction workers’ canteen than a leisurely start of the day.
The food itself was okay, fresh breadrolls, Karelian pasties, cold cuts, two or three hot items, muesli, youghurt. Nothing out of the ordinary, but everything was of high quality. Some fresh fruit, cakes and chocolates were available, as well. They did run out of glasses, utensils and what not, though. The whole thing was a stressful mess, and when you were finally through the slowly-moving line, there were few places left to sit and actually eat the food you had assembled on your tray. Tables were placed very close to each other, which didn’t feel particularly covid-safe, either.
Even though I had prepaid, I decided to skip the breakfast on my second morning after I was informed that the breakfast room would be equally crowded again.
The breakfast room doubles as an informal restaurant in the evenings, Tuesday to Saturday only, from 4 pm onwards. I didn’t try it out, though.
The hotel is located next to Tampere Hall, a bit far from the city centre. Keskustori is 1.5 km away, Stockmann about 1 km. The nearest tram stop is a five-minute walk from the hotel.
I booked last minute, and on my days of travel, this was actually the cheapest full-service hotel available in the city. At 94 EUR a night, including breakfast (at least in theory), the price felt a bit high, but quality is decidedly better than what the duopoly would offer you – at even higher prices.
Would I stay again? I honestly don’t know. I liked the room, which was far better than average. I hated the breakfast, and would have preferred a more central location.
