I contacted the Tourist Hotel on my own because I could not get reservations on line. My then girlfriend told me of it because it is near her work. I found it to be an excellent hotel, it was clean and comfortable and very affordable. The restaurant was delightful, and entertainment nightly. It was Feb. in Omsk so there are limited things to do, and I speak no Russian, and understand less! lol But they always had someone on staff to help me. They gave me maps and directions to places I needed to get to. It was Valentines day and I needed help for a florist and for some gifts, and they went way out of their way to help me. The 24hr bar and coffee shop was able to help me adjust to the time change, and was a pleasant place to have coffee before the restaurant opened for my free breakfast buffet every morning. In short, I loved it and can't wait to go back in the summer because the veiw from my room will be gorgeous when the river thaws out!

We arrived in Omsk rather late in the evening, and were discouraged from being turned away from the first couple hotels we'd tried. Although the review in our guidebook wasn't glowing, we could see the enormous Hotel Turist down the road, and assumed (correctly) that they would have plenty of free rooms. No one at the hotel spoke any English, but they were generally friendly and helpful. It felt fairly safe, with an attendant watching over each floor and a security guard at the front door. And he doesn't just guard the door! The next morning as we were heading out to sightsee, the guard surreptitiously waved us over. Fearing that something was wrong, we walked over, and he pointed to small refridgerator behind his table. "Want to buy a Coke?" He offered, as if it were a hard to find treasure.

We felt the room was a bit overpriced, but it was one of the nicest hotel rooms we stayed at in Siberia that was still within our budget. The rooms had all been recently refurbished, with new bathroom fixtures, two small but new Ikea-esque beds, small refridgerator, and a television with cable (including English language CNN!). Breakfast was included with the room price. The dining room was huge and actually a quite impressive example of Soviet 1970's design. Even though there was only 1 other customer in the breakfast room besides the two of us, we had some difficulty getting any of the three waitresses to acknowledge us. But the breakfast was a nice combo of hot scrambled eggs and cold Russian salads.

Although the hotel doesn't have much by way of services or amenities, within the same building complex are some useful little shops where we were able to buy provisions and even get 1 hour photo developing. The location is quite central and makes most of the major sights of Omsk in easy walking distance. We only needed a bus to get back to the train station.