Having seen mostly positive feedbacks of the B&B, I took my chances.

I stayed there from 1-5 September this year and can only say good things about the staff and the location.

Location is prime ! If you are like me and need to be in the centre of the city then that’s the place to stay. The B&B is less then 5 min away from the Nevsky Prospekt, and 15 min away from the Hermitage by foot (!).

The B&B's only drawback is it's poor sound isolation of the rooms... that’s an issue with many other places.

The staff of the B&B : Olya, Nastya, Sveta and Lyuda are great ! They are always helpfull and stay on the positive side even when things don't look good.

All in all, I wouldn't recommend this place for travelers with kids, but for everyone else, who’s budget conscious, that’s a good place to start tour of the Western Gates of Russia.

I do not recommend staying at Hotel Pio. After our first night, we were told that the hotel had been over booked and that we needed to transfer to another hotel. The first alternative that was offered, was Hotel St Peterburg, which is an additional 2km from the city center and on the Vyborg Side. This was too far away compared to Hotel Pio and we rejected the offer. The second alternative was in the city center, Mini Hotel Palermo, but it was a tiny room with only 2 beds (we were 3 people) and the quality was much lower than Hotel Pio, so we also rejected. By this time, we had spent an entire day running from hotel to hotel and arguing with the staff and owner of Hotel Pio. We had agreed to clear our room under the conditions that we are supplied with an alternative that is located the same distance or closer to the city center as Hotel Pio, is of the same quality and does not cost us extra. By now it was 12 midnight and we still did not have a bed for the night. Hotel Pio claimed that all hotels in St Petersburg were fully booked, except Hotel Pribaltiyskaya, which is on the west side of Vasilevsky Island. This is about 5km from the city center and there is no public transportation near it, so we refused. We finally took things into our own hands and found a room at the Renaissance St Petersburg, by St Isaac's Cathedral. Hotel Pio, however, refused to refund us the extra 100 EUR/night that we would need to pay, claiming that they had found us a perfectly acceptable alternative with Hotel Pribaltiyskaya. Tired and frustrated we simply took the room at the Renaissance at our own expense. Do not stay at Hotel Pio if you want to avoid this kind of hastle. I have heard from 3 other travelers that they had also been moved out due to overbooking. We lost an entire day of our 4 day stay, spent an extra 300 EUR, and had to deal with alot of stress and frustration.

The location of the hotel hotel is excellent... walking distance from the main tourist sites such as the Hermitage. The B&B is located on the 4th/5th floors of an old building (no lifts) - although the front door leads to a very shabby staircase, the B&B itself is very modern, well-lit and comfortable. Bedrooms are very well sized with windows overlooking quiet streets. A communal laptop computer is available in the lounge for guests to use, and the kitchen is also available for for making tea and coffee. Very homely and informal settings. Staff very friendly, polite and helpful.

We stayed at Pio in August 2007 and thought it was great. The rooms are very clean and modern, and our room had a small ensuite.

The staff are wonderful, friendly and helpful (hello Olga!!) and spoke excellent english plus the breakfast that was included was excellent. They also have a laptop with internet access available and offered a very cheap laundry/ironing service.

As the earlier reviewer said, the entrance way to the building and stairway are both pretty grotty, but this is typical of St Petersburg apartments in general and gives no indication of what is inside the apartments so don't let that put you off. Note that it's on the top (fourth I think) and second from top floors and there isn't a lift if you have heavy bags to carry.

the location is also excellent - set in Mokhavaya street, it's about half a block back from the Fontanka river and a block from the Nevsky Prospect which is a very easy 5-10 minute walk. So it is very central and all the major city centre attractions are within walking distance.

We are going back in October and hope to stay there again and would recommend it to anyone going to St Petersburg who wants somewhere central and comfortable in a very central location