Ararat Park Hyatt Moscow
Situated just down the street from the Hotel National and near the Bolshoi Theater, the Ararat has been undergoing renovations and remodeling its rooms with contemporary designs by architect Tony Chi. The hotel's 211 rooms, including 26 suites, feature technology such as touch-free lighting controls and iPod docking stations. Inside the hotel are dining options such as an Armenian restaurant, as well as a spa.
Hotel Baltschug Kempinski Moscow
The Baltschug Kempinski offers 232 guest rooms in a historic building that was constructed in 1898 directly across the Moscow River from the Kremlin. Recently, the hotel has been renovating its premises while continuing to operate in a reduced capacity.
The hotel features many of the standard luxury amenities: a health club, beauty center, business center, cafe and restaurant. Rooms like the Kremlin Suite, which can book for 83,000 rubles ($2,600) a night or more, feature a picturesque view of Russia's center of power.
InterContinental Moscow Tverskaya
This five-star InterContinental hotel on Tverskaya, in the very center of Moscow, opened in December last year. Designed by British firm AlexKravetzDesign, the 12-story hotel has more than 200 rooms, a restaurant, bar and ballroom, as well as a fitness center and spa. It is part of the Summit multifunctional complex, which contains 6,000 square meters of premium-class retail space and a Class A business center designed by the British firm Chapman Taylor. In high season, the average standard room can cost almost $1,000 a night including breakfast.
Lotte Hotel Moscow
The Lotte was opened by the South Korean conglomerate of the same name in 2010 in a new $350 million building on Novy Arbat. Inside, the hotel features many crystal decorations, including chandeliers and door handles. The windows in the master bedroom and conference room of the Royal Suite, which costs 500,000 rubles ($16,000) a night, are made of bulletproof glass. The hotel also is home to the Megu Japanese restaurant, where food is prepared by Japanese chefs, and the French restaurant Les Menus, which is based on the cuisine of a Michelin three-star chef.
Hotel National
The Hotel National opened on Mokhovaya Ulitsa in 1903. Located in the center of power, next to the State Duma building and across from Manezh Square and the Kremlin, thousands of foreign and Russian government officials and celebrities have stayed at the hotel.
The 201-room hotel was renovated in 2009 and sold by the Moscow city government in 2011 to Bin Group, which has amassed a stable of upscale hotels in the city.
Marriott Royal Aurora Hotel
The Marriott Royal Aurora on Ulitsa Petrovka near the Bolshoi Theater and TSUM shopping mall has seven floors, 195 rooms and 36 suites. It also has a range of meeting and conference rooms totaling 580 square meters with wireless Internet access. The Aurora's Polo Club steakhouse has been rated No. 1 among hotel restaurants in Moscow by Time Out magazine. Room rates start at $450 a night in high season. The hotel allows guests to bring pets upon request.
Radisson Royal, Moscow
The Radisson Royal, located in one of the Seven Sisters Stalinist skyscrapers, recently reopened after extensive renovations that saw the hotel redivided into 535 larger rooms that still feature the original pieces of artwork from when it first opened in 1957. The hotel also offers serviced apartments, 25 shops and several restaurants, including the Romantic Restaurant, a restaurant for two that is located 38 stories up at the top of the building's tower. The hotel's presidential suite usually rents for 400,000 ($13,000) rubles a night.
The Ritz-Carlton, Moscow
A suite in the Ritz-Carlton, Moscow is listed No. 13 on CNN Go's list of the World's 15 Most Expensive Hotel Suites from 2012. The hotel was completed in 2007 at the site of the former Hotel Intourist on Tverskaya Ulitsa, across from the Kremlin. The 11-story building contains 334 rooms, 65 of which are suites. Dining options include the O2 Lounge, Gingko By Seiji and Caviarterra; there is also a ballroom that fits up to 700 guests and underground parking. In 2011, Kazakh private equity firm Verny Capital acquired the relatively new hotel for $600 million from Capital Partners.
The Savoy Hotel
The Savoy Moscow is a small luxury hotel with a rich cultural legacy. It was completed in 1913 under commission from the Salamander Insurance Company, whose namesake remains the animal emblem of the hotel today. Foreign tourists and members of the literati frequented the Savoy in the mid-20th century. The five-story building with 67 rooms underwent a $20 million renovation in 2005 led by Italian architect Leonardo Tonioni, who also oversaw restoration at the Uffizi Gallery in Florence. Two conference halls, a business center, gym and onsite parking were added. Cindy Crawford, Richard Gere and Luciano Pavarotti feature in the hotel's list of past guests.
— Alec Luhn, Rachel Nielsen, Peter Spinella, Lily Zhang
