The Corinthia St Petersburg lobby is what guests remember about the hotel even years after their trip: a spacious lobby behind the doors on Nevsky Prospekt, silence after the street noise and the feeling that you will be taken care of from here on. The hotel occupies three reconstructed 19th-century buildings at 57 Nevsky Prospekt, and the lobby connects them, functioning like the square of this little city: all the day's roads lead out from here.
We tell you what happens in the first minutes after you enter, what you will find in the lobby and why one of the doors here leads to a 19th-century museum.
The First Minutes at the Hotel
The impression forms faster than you can reach the desk. The door is opened before you reach for it, your suitcase passes into reliable hands, and suddenly you are standing in silence in the middle of the lobby, while Nevsky remains behind the glass. It takes less than a minute.
At top-category hotels, the entrance is designed so that you do not find yourself in the lobby with luggage and no answers: you are greeted at the door, your luggage is taken to your room, and reception and check-in operate around the clock, no matter what time your train arrives.
There are also things you do not notice, and that too is part of the standard. Service routes do not cross guest routes: you will not encounter a laundry cart in the lift, and your room is tidied while you are having dinner. Good lobby service is invisible: you simply find yourself in your room, rather than going through a procedure.
Three Buildings on Nevsky Under One Roof
Nevsky was built up with buildings, each with its own biography: owners, renovations, shops on the ground floors, apartments above. Corinthia St Petersburg brought three such 19th-century buildings together, and you can feel it inside: the corridors are longer than you expect, the layout does not reduce to a single rectangle, and the windows look both onto the avenue and into a quiet inner courtyard.
This is also where the character of sixteen room categories comes from: it is not only about the floor area, but also about what you see when you look out in the morning. From the Nevsky Suite you can see the avenue, while some rooms face the courtyard, where Nevsky cannot be heard at all.
The Concierge Desk: Where the Day Begins
The concierge desk stands in the lobby for a reason: it is the first point you approach in the morning and the last one in the evening.
Here they take care of things that can take hours in an unfamiliar city: tickets to the theatre and museum, a table at the right time, a guided tour, a car to the entrance, an umbrella on a rainy morning. The concierge service operates around the clock, and this is the main privilege of a city hotel.
A Museum Within the Hotel Walls
The most unusual door in the building does not lead to a room. The hotel houses the Samoilov Actors Memorial Apartment Museum — the only museum of dramatic actors in St Petersburg.
From 1869 to 1887, the house on Stremyannaya Street belonged to Vasily Vasilyevich Samoilov, an actor at the Imperial Alexandrinsky Theatre. The Samoilovs were a dynasty of thirteen actors across three generations, with a century and a half on the Russian stage. Actors, musicians and artists gathered in their home; Dargomyzhsky, Rubinstein and Auer were among the visitors, and the evenings ended with music. The museum opened in January 1994 as a branch of the Theatre Museum; the owner's study has been preserved, and chamber music concerts are still held in the rooms today.
It makes for a rare thing in a hotel: to enter a St Petersburg 19th-century home, you do not need to go outside.
A House at the City's Crossroads
The address on Nevsky has a practical consequence: the hotel lobby becomes a crossroads. Mayakovskaya metro station is 250–300 metres away, Ploshchad Vosstaniya and Moskovsky Railway Station are nearby, while in the other direction, past Anichkov Bridge, the road begins towards the Russian Museum, the Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood, Palace Square and the Neva embankments. All of this is within walking distance, which is why a guest's day most often begins not with a taxi, but with a door.
This is also why the lobby has a special role in a city hotel. A city hotel has no beach or grounds to walk around: its grounds are St Petersburg itself, while the lobby works like an entrance hall you return to in order to warm up, leave your shopping, wait for your companion and head out again.
The Rhythm of the Lobby
The lobby has its own routine. Morning is the time for suitcases and taxis, coffee on the go and questions about tickets. During the day it is quiet, making it the best time for a meeting in the lobby bar, where tea, coffee, drinks and aperitifs are served all day. By six o'clock the lobby fills up again: guests head out to the theatre, someone waits for a car, someone returns from a walk. Late in the evening, two or three people remain, along with the concierge and the silence of Nevsky behind the glass.
If this tone of the city appeals to you, take a look at the rooms and terms or book your dates right away: the official website guarantees the best price.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does the lobby of Corinthia St Petersburg look like? It is a spacious lobby connecting three reconstructed 19th-century buildings at 57 Nevsky Prospekt. Here you will find the reception and check-in desk, the concierge desk and the lobby bar, while photos of the interiors are collected in our gallery.
What is in the lobby? The reception and check-in desk, concierge service and lobby bar, where tea, coffee, drinks and aperitifs are served all day. The lifts to the rooms and the passage to the Samoilov Actors Memorial Apartment Museum also begin here.
Is the lobby open 24 hours a day? Yes. Reception and check-in and the concierge service operate around the clock, no matter what time you arrive.
Can I take photos in the hotel lobby? Taking photos to remember your visit in the hotel's public areas usually causes no issues: photograph the interiors and yourself. The only request is not to photograph other guests or the reception desk while someone else is checking in: privacy in a five-star hotel is considered part of the service.
Can I arrange a professional photo shoot in the lobby? A shoot with a team, lighting or a tripod can be arranged in advance. Tell us about the format, date and time, and we will explain the terms and choose a time when the lobby is quieter. Wedding couples often take photos in the hotel's interiors if it is raining outside, while preparations take place in the room. To arrange a shoot, please write to us at anna.kupiakova@corinthia.com.
Can I enter the hotel lobby if I am not staying there? Tell us about your visit in advance, and we will explain how to arrange everything: call +7 (812) 380-20-01 or write to us. We can help you reserve a table in the lobby bar and suggest a time when it is quietest here.
Where is a convenient place to arrange a meeting in the hotel? The lobby bar is quiet during the day, making it a good place for an informal conversation. For a business meeting, we can offer a meeting room, while guests in Executive and suite categories have access to an executive lounge with a meeting table, open daily from 12:00 to 21:00.
