On 2 March 2006, the State Hermitage was visited by its first guest from the Renaissance Hotel. This was Irina Shamplinskaya, the HR Manager of JTI, which is a corporate member of the International Hermitage Friends' Club.

In January 2005, Mikhail Piotrovsky, Director of the State Hermitage, and Albert Helms, Director of Renaissance St Petersburg Hotel Leasing Ltd, signed an Agreement on Prospects for Cooperation in the Preparation and Implementation of a Program of Informational Support for the Museum's Activity. This partnership provides informational support to the Hermitage's exhibition activities both in Russia and abroad, as well as help in the development of museum programs relating to Hermitage Friends' Club. In return for this support, the State Hermitage has conferred on the Renaissance St. Petersburg Baltic Hotel the status of "Official Partner of the State Hermitage."

One of the first concrete joint projects involves granting to the Renaisssance Hotel the right to reproduce the logotype of the State Hermitage and images from the collection of the State Hermitage on the key-cards it gives hotel guests. At the entrance area to the hotel, its guests can obtain booklets in Russian and English describing the museum's current exhibitions, which are in great demand; information about the museum and its various branches; the newspaper Hermitage News; and booklets prepared by the Hermitage Friends' Club. Information about the museum is also available on the hotel's house television channel supplied to all rooms, and in the areas open to the general public (lobby, restaurants).

In the Summer, 2005 issue of the company journal Renaissance Times, there is a two-page feature article on the museum and its collections. In turn, the Winter, 2006 issue of Hermitage Magazine carries an advertisement for the Hotel Renaissance. Hermitage Magazine is distributed to hotel guests staying in De Luxe category rooms.

The Hermitage receives guests from the hotel through the Commandant's Entrance, bypassing the general line. The guests purchase their entrance tickets upon showing their hotel key card.

Irina Shamplinskaya

Irina Shamplinskaya receiving an entrance ticket with her Hotel
Renaissance card