Hilton Leningradskaya – Moscow

Issue 22 – January / February 2009

Hilton has made its Russian debut within one of Moscow’s ‘seven sister’ skyscrapers, and is promising to increase its presence significantly in the coming years.

When Hilton made its Russian debut with the Moscow Leningradskaya in August 2008, the corporate communications team used the launch as a springboard to position their brand as a rapidly emerging player in the market.

Thanks to a major development alliance with London & Regional and the internal decision to make Russia a priority strategic growth market within the group’s portfolio, Wolfgang M. Neumann, President of Hilton Hotels Europe, was able to suggest with some plausibility that “we could see more than 70 Hilton Family hotels across Russia over the next ten years”.

The thinking behind turning this proposed growth into a commercial reality has been dubbed the ‘3 x 3 strategy’ by the development team. It divides Russia into three distinct areas: Moscow, St.Petersburg and the regions; Moscow is then in turn sub-divided into three distinct segments, namely the city centre, the Garden Ring periphery and the areas around the airports. Each sub–segment is then assigned a number of brands from within the Hilton Family that the group will look to introduce there in order to maximise the value they offer to the micro-markets in question.

Hilton could no doubt write the manual on portfolio management for long-term gain, so it’s refreshing to hear the group’s VP Development for Northern Europe & Turkey, Mike Collini, admit that the Leningradskaya was more opportunistic powerplay than protracted process: 

“The hotel was nearly finished by the time we got involved; the Russian developer JSC Sadko fell out with some of its partners so they offered us a franchise deal at the last minute to come in alongside operators Interstate Hotels & Resorts. We’d been trying to get into Moscow for a long time so we didn’t have to think long before we accepted the offer”.
One of the affectionately named ‘seven sister’ skyscrapers erected in 1950’s Moscow using classic Stalinist architectural principles, the Leningradskaya is a protected building of considerable cultural heritage. As such, the re-fit into a five-star business hotel has, of necessity, been respectfully evolutionary.

The weight of history is not something to be taken lightly in Russia, and the hotel’s lobby is as good a place as any to experience the deliberately imposing grandiloquence associated with much Soviet architecture and design. A 12-metre high lobby is peppered with expansive crystal chandeliers that play off the acres of off-white marble lining the walls and bronze lion sculptures guarding the obligatory spiral staircase.
A total of 273 guest rooms and suites fit neatly within the “classical contemporary” styling category, although the mix of beige-brown soft furnishings with darker redwoods, granites and marbles helps add a subtle sense of place, these being quintessentially Russian interior design cues.

For those with a nose for such things, a particularly expensive dark red decorative stone called Shokshinsky Quartzite from the nearby Onezhskoe Lake can also be found throughout the hotel, albeit in smaller applications.

As is often the case in Moscow, room sizes are far from generous; Standards come in at 26m2 and Junior Suites 50m², only the Presidential Suite approaches anything close to exuberance with its 90m² of interior space and generally more evolved aesthetic styling.
The Hilton Serenity Bed, a spacious work desk with ergonomic office chair, LCD flatscreens, satellite TV, climate control and laptop-size safe all ensure the business traveller feels suitably at home immediately upon arrival; not necessarily the natural condition for first-time visitors to a city that has as yet no English language signage or indeed an official taxi system.

Due to the prevalence of business visitors to Moscow, an executive floor was always going to be a sensible addition and the Leningradskaya’s is notable for its ornately decorated ceiling that suggests the area was conceived to function as a genuine hub for guest activity, a third space somewhere between the privacy of a bedroom and the lower-level public areas.

The first-floor Janus restaurant features an abundance of gothic-style dark oak panelling, traditionally a popular look in Moscow and local visitors will no doubt feel at home here tucking into a bowl of Executive Chef Nick van Riemsdijk’s slow-cooked borscht or one of his many signature dishes.

The health and fitness club with Precor equipment and 12m heated pool is perfectly functional but suffers from an uninspiring lower-level location, no doubt a practical necessity given the build restrictions associated with an officially designated historic monument. That said, the restoration has largely succeeded in marrying the building’s considerable cultural heritage with the demands of a modern five-star business hotel.

WORDS: Matt Morley, Hospitality Partners

PHOTOGRAPHY: Courtesy of Hilton Hotels

Hilton Moscow Leningradskaya
Kalanchevskaya Street 21/40 Moscow, 107078, Russia
Tel: +7 495 627 5550
www.hilton.co.uk/Leningradskaya

Rooms:   273 guestrooms, 30 suites
Restaurant:    Janus Restaurant 
Drinks: Lobby Lounge / Leningrad Bar
Leisure:   Health & Fitness Club, Indoor Pool
Facilities:    7 meeting rooms, Executive Lounge, Business Centre