Having been to different hotels of five countries of the former USSR, from Minsk to Vladivostok, from Stravropol to Uktah I cannot remember to have stayed in a better place than this one.
It is a rather new hotel, located in the town center, and despite of short time it is run the staff is quite experienced, always very helpful, and I did not find anybody in this hotel who could not speak at least some English. The kind ladies at the reception speak English well, and for some questions connected with my business as a publisher I found I quite helpful to find one of the ladies at the reception speaking also German fluently.
The interieur of Shalyapin Palace Hotel is of high quality and selected with good taste, also a lot of facilties are offered: Business center with conference hall, fitness studio, a large good basin with sauna and a cozy lounge where you can meet with people, read a book or just have a cup of tea.
I stayed at Shalyapin for a week in April 2006, began to feel as if I were "at home" and would have lived there longer if I had not to leave Kazan for a meeting in another city.
M. D.

very clean, good air conditionning but very cold atmosphere. No english speaking staff -except 1 woman-
a bit boring