Solo Sokos Hotel Pier 4

Nice modern hotel 🙂

Nice design hotel , hotel location is surrounded by construction area .

First, the rating on this hotel is low because it's new and Tripadvisor requires volume to boost the rating, so disregard that. We found this to be a marvelous hotel. Staff was welcoming. There were complimentary blueberry juice and a chocolate bar in the room. We got a room facing the harbor with a wonderful view. Even without the view, this is spectacular. The location is as good as it gets, right near the harbor and the market and Senate Square. The breakfast was awesome! I cannot believe the endless mound of smoked salmon and the actual frame of honeycomb to carve from. The rooms are smallish by American standards but normal for European standards. We were able to fit the two of us in easily. I would have liked a dresser, but I'm finding more and more hotels don't do that these days (why???). Putting that aside, this place is great. And the bar on the roof? What a view! this is a top notch hotel. Period.

I had booked the hotel with great expectations because I had read nice things, which could have appealed to me. However, I was disappointed and somehow didn’t feel welcome. It was not because of the staff, but because of the premises. It already starts at the entrance all, which is in an unimaginative way huge and empty. But certainly the worst is the fact that you have constantly to use your keycard to get anywhere and the doors are heavy and uninspired. It feels like a prison or high security building, certainly not hyggelig! I don’t want even to think about what would happen if there was a fire and the technology’s would break down, leaving people locked in one of the compartments. I mentioned the matter to the receptionist and she said that Finnish law requires them to do certain things, but I think this is a poor excuse. Other new hotels have been smarter. Also, the rooftop bar felt somehow like a missed opportunity. First of all, I wondered why it was not fully accessible. Our people who have difficulties to climb stairs, not welcome? On a general level, the area felt a bit like an unimaginative copy of some really cool rooftop bars. I could’ve done without the boring music. The food was certainly very mediocre. The best thing eas of course the view. What was good? I liked best the friendliness of staff and the choice of materials. The choice of colors was reasonably good but a bit one-sided. Some of the gardening was also very nice. When I left, I felt a bit sad, because clearly this was a missed opportunity! How often do you get a chance to develop a new hotel with a new concept? The good things would for me not be enough to go back.