I am a bit surprised at the mediocre reviews this place has had. We thought it was excellent value for money and thoroughly enjoyed our stay. We met up with friends from Holland for the weekend and they also enjoyed their stay at Art Laine. Breakfast was generous and provided for all tastes. Our room was very spacious and warm, the bed was comforatble and we appreciated having a fridge and the free wifi. Staff were courteous. We did have a 15 minute walk to the Old Town but that didn't matter to us. Considering that we would have paid as much to have stayed in a hostel we thought this was much, much better.

Although beyond the centre of the old town the location through a quirky courtyard to the hotel entrance was a novel experience and it didn't end there as the reception was on the third floor. We checked into room 708 and we were told that our bags would be brought up in ten minutes (They's been in storage after we checked in early at 11:00am)
Exhuasted after a 4 hour coach journey early that morning from Vilnius and a hike from the bus sattion to find the hotel, all we wanted to do was shower, but yes, it didn't work and even if it had we had to ring reception 30 mins later to ask for our bags and shower stuff. Still it didn't come so I lost my cool and made a complaint. To be fair to the guy, he apologised and brought the bags up immediately. He said that he was serving food and couldn't leave what he was doing. I believe the fault lay with the manageress who was far too laid back. The following morning, we had to chase her 3 times for info about our taxi.

The hotel itself was full of character in a quiet setting but for all thet customer service spoiled our overall experience.

When our taxi dropped us from the airport I thought there had been a mistake. We were at a normal, if handsome, residential building. I was surprised to find that the hotel was tucked away on the upper floors, and the main entrance was a ordinary-looking block of flats door across a courtyard.

I forget which floor the reception was on, but we had to take the lift to get there and it all felt rather odd.

Or you could say quirky, because this hotel does have a lot of charm. The receptionist was not only fluent in English but also blazingly beautiful, which made up a little for the amateur feeling of the place.

I shared a twin room with a friend and didn't think much of it. The floor was not swept, and although the bedding was clean, the counterpane was not. I chucked it in the corner on our first night and left it there.

The bathroom, however, was stunning! It was as though they had run out of money halfway through, and not renovated the bedroom. Talking of running out, I was very amused to hear my friend gasping and cursing when the hot water ran out just after he had covered himself in shampoo. It was very cold outside, with snow on the ground, and so was the water.

We didn't eat at the hotel, so I can't comment on the food, but the location was a little further out than I had hoped. This was not the hotel's fault, as I had checked the location before booking, but misjudged the size of the city. It is also not the hotel's fault that we had to cross a park to get to the old town and this felt a bit intimidating at night. One night, returning alone, I saw a group of youths hanging around (in freezing temperatures) and took a long detour around the park because I did not feel safe.

The hotel WAS very good value for money, and a more central hotel would have been much more expensive. However, I would have been happier paying more.

I have stayed at the Hotel Laine many times before on business trips to Riga. As have other work colleagues. I am afraid I feel the hotel has deteriorated recently ,as on my arrival the bar was closed and there were no food being cooked, the mini bar also had no beers in the fridge. My room was cold, I ended up wearing a hat, jumber, socks and long johns to sleep in. I stayed there two nights, both nights were cold (but it was -23oC outside). On the first night reception did agree to phone a local pizza service so I managed to eat about 11pm. Most of the local resturants were also closed (due to the snow, lack of tourists).
This is a real shame, the hotel use to be really good. Not sure if the economic climate has caused a decline in it's standards and facilites. My room was also not very clean, hairs in the bed and bathroom looked at little unclean. Our company will not be staying there anymore and have changed hotels. I think they need to try harder !!!!