I know the Don Plaza in Rostov for more then 10 yeaars now. The rooms are Western standard, but have not imroved, i.e. are relatively small and the bed is at best ** standard. However the room is very clean, has a save and a bottle of mineral water is offered FOC.
Brreakfast was top is the past, but the quality level and the service have dropped significantly....especially in terms of the quality of the food offered.
Prices went up and are on the high side.
However the reception is very pprofessional, fast and friendly.
On top a teller is offered in the hotel lobby.

So far I see no alternative to this hotel in the city center.

We have had a congress there and I believe there was the reason we were booked to Don Plaza Hotel, however neither rooms nor facilities in the hotel are satisfactory in our three nights stay. Breakfast is not of 4 star quality either. Only good point was the front desk staff. They were quite helpful.

Please note - this hotel is now called "Don Plaza".

I unexpectedly found myself visiting Rostov, a place about which I knew nothing, but the locals all advised this was the place to stay.

On arriving, it is bright, spacious, modern and attractive with a great lobby. The reception staff are very friendly, which is not always the experience in Russia. I immediately felt right at home.

Now, the bedrooms. Hmm, small! Somewhat spartan and prefab feel but fine. Very very stuffy and with ineffectual aircon. The windows open, but a quaint sticker asks you to keep them shut to avoid "insect infestation". Ignore the sticker. Clean and the quality is reasonably good. Nice flat TV, and acceptable channel choice, and a minibar. Decent enough but you won't really want to be lounging about in there. Tell you what, I slept well!

One welcome piece of nostalgia was the lack of a plug in my washbasin. Ahgh, the old days. Other than that the bathroom was ok.

Breakfast was bustling and quality and choice good.

The location is nice with a lovely park and one or two really lovely restaurants in and around the park. Give Ecbank (Esquire) a try, it was gorgeous with a superb live jazz duo (piano and bass). In fact all the restaurants I tried in Rostov were absolutely excellent.

Well organised for obtaining a private taxi to wherever you wanted to go. Also the hotel very efficiently arranged an airport pick up via email. To sum up, we made the right choice, and only the rooms were a let-down - but at these rates it was an acceptable compromise.

The Don Plaza is considered a four-star hotel. The public spaces are indeed very nice and high quality, but the rooms are on the small side and strictly average - Hampton Inn quality. The room had a 20-inch LCD TV with one English-speaking channel (BBC). The bathroom was small; no washcloths are provided. It seems like a secure hotel, but the hollow-core doors are a little unnerving. In-room Internet access is available on designated floors - be sure to ask. Internet is priced based on how many mb you download - 50mb for 400 rubles, or about enough for 3-4 hours of surfing. Staff service is very good, and as was the room service. Most staff speak enough English to get the job done. The Don Plaza is well located, with a nice park next door and it's just a 10- to 12-minute walk to the government building that houses the administration of the Rostov Oblast. The tap water tastes like crap, and everybody knows it - which is why the hotel provides two bottles of water per day.