Reception staff very very friendly. A good location near the city centre, a tram stop just in front of the hotel. My room was very well designed with very modern furniture, a comfortable bed and an ingenious shower that we both enjoyed very much. Excellent breakfasts in the Jailbird restaurant.

This is one of those hotels that has a certain something extra. In his case you can always say you were in gaol in Helsinki. The Katajanokka is a little way out of the centre of the city but is reached by a ten minute No4 tram ride (€2 50) from a stop right outside the hotel. The hotel was in recent times the city prison. Taken over and operated under the Best Western brand, the building has been tastefully converted into one of the most appealing hotels that I have stayed in. The staff are extremely helpful and efficient, the rooms are extremely well designed with wet room shower en suite, modern flat screen TV, extremely comfortable bed, there is a cellar bar with friendly bar staff in which to relax before trying the very good adjoining restaurant.

We checked in the hotel very late and we realize that it was a prison the next morning something really unique and impressive! What a great idea! Helpful staff always pleased to assist and give us info. No worth full to use taxi to go the town since ther is an often tram a few meters nearby, every five minutes, which can drive u to the center, if you like walking is possible too and easy sleuthing day light only 15 min. The breakfast was nice. Rates are ok because other hotels in Helsinki are very expensive.

The concept is take an old prison and trnsform it into a hotel. It is ok if you are prepared for the prison cutlery, the prison (iron) plates, the small rooms and the narrow corridors. But unfortunately the staff attitude is only a little better than that of prison guards. My favorite lines are "the coffee room is downstairs, you can go and make your own coffee" and "you have to pay 9 euros for the 0.5 lt bottle of water in the reception". In the beginning I thought that this is the Finnish attitude in general, because you expect the consierge of a hotel to be in general more polite than the local population, but thankfuly, it was only the staff of this particular hotel who were as cold as Lapland.
However, I would recommend this hotel for their fair breakfast and the prison concept - but don't stay there for more than two nights.