After a week and a half roughing it on a Trans-Siberian railroad journey from Irkutsk, my girlfriend and I were delighted to spend a night in this new, comfortable, western-style hotel.
*The Location*
This was ideal; across the street from the Kremlin and easy walking distance from the train station and the main shopping street of Kazan.
*The Room*
We asked for a view of the Kremlin, which the hotel was able to provide, and were pleased with the room and the view. The room was large with a sitting area and sleek decor. The king sized bed was composed of two smaller beds, but was comfortable. The bathroom was also large and met all our needs; it even included a bidet.
*The staff*
We found the hotel staff to be very helpful and accomodating. While we were there, very few people were in the restaurant and bar, so I don't know how they handle it if things get crowded, but they were quite responsive for us. We made use of the travel center at the hotel and they helped us book train tickets for the next leg of our trip. Most of the staff were quite good with English as well.
*Food & drinks*
The food at the restaurant and Joker bar were mixed; they did Russian food quite well (I especially liked the blini and fresh juice with the included breakfast) but were not so strong at international cuisine, e.g. burgers or fajitas. Their three home-brewed beers were quite good, though.
*Fitness center*
I made use of the fitness center and pool and was pleased with the facilities and equipment.
*Value*
The only downside here is the price. I cannot complain about the experience of staying here: it was professional, clean, and the amenities and staff were strong. But you may be able to find more reasonably priced options in Kazan.

The location is excellent, facing the beautiful Kreml. The hotel and the rooms have cold atmosphere as they tend to be so cool and modern. The rooms are like in hospital, not homy at all. The noise in the bar was so loud that I had to move to another room in the night in order to sleep. In this brand new hotel the white towels were already grey and the cleaning was done very poorly. It was a cold experience which I will not have anymore.

This hotel rates itself as a five-star hotel. Well, it isn't really in my opinion. However, that doesn't mean it wasn't good. It is actually very nice, and we had a very comfortable stay there.

The hotel is very modern looking and built in a very functional style. In fact it can seem a little bit too functional at times, and I found myself dreaming of a good old-fashioned easy chair while I sat waiting for a taxi on one of the modern sofas in the lobby.

But while the rooms were also very modern, they were also quite comfortable. The bedroom was a good size, and the bathroom was quite large too. The kingsize bed was comfortable even though it was easy to tell that it was made up of two smaller mattresses rather than one large mattress.

Wi-Fi was available throughout the hotel, but the signal was pretty week in our room on the 4th floor. But it worked just fine once connected. To gain access a voucher had to be bought in the recpetion. The voucher allowed for a certain amount of internet traffic, e.g. 5, 10, 20 or 50 MB of traffic, and the cost was quite reasonable at 7 RUB per MB.

On the bottom floor of the hotel there was a bar and a night club. The bar seemed to be quite lively even during the week, while the night club looked pretty deserted the night we stayed at the hotel. The food available in the bar is OK, but nothing special. The beer served is called Joker and was brewed in house. The light coloured lager type beer that I prefer wasn't available so I had to make do with a dark beer which tasted just fine (or at least it did when it was cold - the first glass they served me was warm and tasted pretty bad).

The hotel location is quite good. It is close to the Kazan Kremlin, and if you are lucky you will have a great view of it from your hotel room. The hotel is located about 10-15 minute walk away from the main shopping street in Kazan where there are several good restaurants that offer both local and foreign food.

I stayed three days for business. Mirage is the vision of Kazan and Tatarstan Republic. The rooms, the service, the bar, the meal and rooms are all excellent.

And of course the perfect view of Kremlin.