Hotel Victory is all right especially when considering Siberian standards. Staff speaks English, the rooms are clean and breakfast is nice. Also the location of Hotel Victory is very good being situated in the centre of Irkutsk close to the central shopping street. The one thing I do not like however is the very thin mattress on the bed. I immediately felt the slats of the bed when I sat down. The quality of the bed is exactly the thing hotels should not economize on I think. Furthermore also the bathroom was very small in size.

The Hotel Victoria is perfect for anyone spending a few days in Irkutsk. The location could not be more central, making many things able to be reached by foot, which is useful since Irkutsk is quite a pleasant town to stroll around. The staff at reception speak good English and are extremely competent. Rooms are clean and comfortable. Breakfast will not necessarily take you to heaven, but that is generally the case in Russia. I would not hesitate to stay there in the unlikely event I ever find myself passing through Irkutsk again.

After spending three nights on Olhkon island and a long drive we arrived in Irkustk. The hotel reception is bright and smart with a big flat screen tv and water cooler, It all looked OK!
We checked in and went up to our room. It was the smallest on our trip so far, you could barely move around the bed, it faced a back courtyard and had a tiny old tv that we did not turn on. We did ask at reception if they had any bigger rooms and were quoted the square meter size of all the rooms and then told that there were no other rooms and if there had been we would have had to pay more! The receptionist spoke good English, there was wifi but we couldn’t get connected to it. There was a constant noise from the bathroom from other rooms taps and toilet flushing. WE were happy to have a flushing toilet after 3 days on the island!! The hot water did not come though despite running the tap for ages so I had a cold shower! We called reception and they said to let it run for longer or offered us to go an shower in a room that other people had just checked out of. That sort of helped and it did eventually warm up.
Breakfast was quite an experience. We entered a very smoky dining room sat down and then realised everyone else was smoking, it was awful. We asked if there was a non smoking area and were send out the room and next door. Having navigated our way out up and down stairs, bumping heads we found ourselves alone in a room that was probably the restaurant, a bit Laurence of Arabia in décor. We were presented a menu with 3 options. We wanted to mix and match but the waitress didn’t speak much English and our Russian was not up to this! Despite ice cold slices of cheese, breakfast was really good, delicious porridge, free yoghurt and fruit...
We really liked the location of the hotel it is close to the main street, good supermarket, restaurants and coffee shops. It was OK for a night based on the location! Maybe the bigger rooms are better?
Would still recommend it as it's hard to know if there is anything better located in Irkutsk!

The biggest advantage of the Victory is the location. It is one block off Karl Marx Ul. It is near markets, shopping centers, and 10 minute walk to Eternal Flame and the river. It is off on a little side street and can be hard to find for a taxi driver. The staff spoke pretty good English and was friendly and efficient. The room was small, but clean. The room we had was air conditioned, had 2 beds, western WC, shower and bath tub. The breakfast was included and was excellent. It was served at 5-10AM and included omelets, yogurt, juice and vegetables. The only problem we had was that they claimed they had wireless internet, but it did not work with my i-Pod Touch. You can ask at the desk to use there computer and, dependingon the mood of the desk person they may let you. There is good internet access at the Hotel Angara on Kirova Palza.