Great location, nice rooms and free wifi. It is a nice choice.

Stayed two times there. Last time stayed at Executive floor. The rooms are good, lots of amenities. They gave me free WiFi vouchers. Go to McDonald's for breafasts, if you wanna save (3 minute walk across the railway station square). I recommend the hotel restaurant for dinner, decent food, price and service. The business corner is accessible for free with your room keycard, you can print your boarding passes there if printer cartridge is OK. In my case it was empty so I had to email boarding passes to reception and they printed it for me. The location is perfect, so if you want to tour the city on foot, this is the best choice. Take your room key, your bathrobe and slippers to access the sauna in the morning or in the evening (open until 10pm). They do not mind if you ride the elevator from sauna to your floor dressed just in bathrobe and slippers but the new guests will stare at you with round eyes until they try it themselves. :-) The sauna cools off pretty fast so use plenty of water onto the stones, if you sauna-mates do not mind. The aircon is strange, you actually cannot hear it and it takes about 30 minutes until you feel it works. It does not really blows in lots of fresh air but it is OK. I never experienced such type of aircon in my life. If it rains outside, take a free umbrella next to the entrance but beware of strong wind that can break it easily. In general, quite a nice choice, I recommend it.

Have been staying at this property since it opened. The hotel is just now gaining some "soul", but it could be improved.

Agree with other review comments:

- Executive Room is a better choice accommodation,
- FinnAir bus departs and arrives in plaza across from hotel,
- Central location to train station and metro is important for travelers,
- Not stupendous but very good property within Holiday Inn hotel chain,
- Amazingly quiet rooms, considering is sitting above regional and long distance train tracks,
- Close to shopping at Sokos and Stockmann, as well as Forum and Kamppi centers,
- Kitchen is nothing to reroute your travel plans for.

I have found the hotel staff unusually friendly and helpful. However, sometimes the restaurant and bar staff are less than hospitable. The bar tends to have hours that seem to want to prevent a guy from having an evening beverage.

There is a lack of a sun-facing patio, which is important for spring/summer guests. But there is the sports bar with "terrasi" aroudn the corner and train station plaza has a couple of bar terraces setup in the warmer months.

For me, the sauna is also an important feature of a Helsinki hotel. I have had problems with the hotel staff on upkeep of the mens' sauna. Some idiot got the hotel to paint over the window in the sauna! The sand timer and thermometer in the sauna cabinet are broken. The sauna controller seems to shut off the sauna stove earlier than 22.00 scheduled end of evening sauna. There are never enough towels in the sauna because too many "foreigners" use them in sauna to sit on rather than provided stack of paper sauna towels. HOPE THE HOTEL STAFF READS THESE REVIEWS!

Stayed at the Holiday Inn city centre recently, and must say, it's nothing disastrous or outstanding.
It's a pretty standard Holiday inn, with comfy rooms, and a decent sleep, despite being right in the centre of the city and next to the train station.

Check in service was pretty slow as they didn't seem to have enough staff working, but this could be just a one off experience.
The breakfast was nothing special either, with very rubbery scrambled eggs and overly greasy bacon. but there's a few different dishes to pick from, so most should be able to find something ok to eat.
There was a very small fitness centre in the basement with one of each of a few different machines.

All in all, an ok hotel, I would be happy to stay again (assuming my more favoured Scandic Simonketta is sold out again).