After a walk of only a couple of hundred metres from the train station, we arrived at the Hotel. It is next to a bus station with the obligatory street vendors – suffice is to say that it did not seem a ‘pristine’ neighbourhood.
We had requested a ‘quiet room’ as part of our reservation. We received friendly service for our check in. We accepted the porter service after reading other reviews here on Trip Advisor. We went up to our room in the small lift. After that, things went downhill.
Initial impression of our room was ok, with a high ceiling with carvings and colourings to it. It was obviously an old building that had been renovated. It soon became apparent that the renovation was a poor quality one. Here’s what we found:
• Floor not level. Therefore, the bed was on a slope.
• Wood wall panel not attached properly.
• Power outlets + aircon control not attached to wall. (Electrically dangerous).
• Basin mounted crooked on wall. Porcelain cracked.
• Fridge not working.
• Bathroom shower screen fitting fell off. Drain cover loose.
• Heated towel rail didn’t work.
• No shelf space in bathroom.
• Lumpy, hard mattress.
• And, my personal favourite: the in-room safe was not secured to anything! Anyone could carry it out! (See photo).
An iron + ironing board was provided on request. However, the ironing board cover was dirty.
But, the clincher for us was the noise from the plumbing. It was VERY LOUD. There was obviously no sound proofing in the walls that had been constructed. When you can hear someone in the room next door going to the toilet and also clearing their throat, that’s a big problem. This specific issue disturbed our sleep greatly - my wife even tried wearing ear plugs. So, we decided to move hotels as soon as we could. We had to stay one more night before a vacancy was available in a decent hotel.
We had breakfast both mornings. There was a reasonable selection which cost only €8-00 per person. However, the “Breakfast Room” is not much more than a corridor with a few alcoves. As usual in Europe, the tables were far too close together.
Others have said this on Trip Advisor and we whole-heartedly agree: “This hotel is NOT a four star – it should be rated 3 star at best.”
Can we say anything positive? Yes, there was sufficient floor space in the room. The aircon worked fine. We also agree that the staff were friendly as mentioned in other Trip Advisor reviews. And that is the reason why we haven’t given this hotel the lowest rating.
On our European Trip we have tried to stay in less conventional hotels. We tried to like it, but we went a step too far with this one. We absolutely DO NOT recommend it.