Hotel Harmony

The room was roomy, and having a fridge was useful. The location was great, too. But there was a really strange smell in the room, somewhere between fast food and sweat. The hotel was noisy enough to wake me several times overnight, then the cleaning staff were slamming doors and talking loudly next door in the morning. I was only there for about 10 hours, mostly to sleep, so that was pretty irritating.

That elevator situation was the worst part. After a long day, I waited for it, but a staff member inside with laundry looked at me and shut the door without letting me on. It went up, came back, and this time two staff members with more laundry did the same thing. I complained at reception; the attendant made a call on his mobile, and eventually the lift returned empty. Guests should come first. That was poor service. On the positive side, the hotel and my room were clean, the city location was good, and breakfast had a terrific range of fresh food. The elevator itself was small, comfortable for four but cramped with six. I also had hot water problems on all three mornings of my stay, which was part of a tour earlier this week.

The location made this a very easy base for walking to the attractions, and we were happy enough to come back. The hotel was clean throughout, the rooms were huge and comfortable, and breakfast was tasty with plenty of the usual choices. The bakery at reception had amazing breads and coffees. We also liked the Anatolya Turkish restaurant across the road. We paid €12 in City Tax for three nights at check-in. It’s on a main road, so there’s city noise, and the room was very warm. Opening the window helped with the heat but let in more sound. Earplugs were in a plastic box in the wardrobe, along with something else. The lighting setup was odd, with switches that seemed to do nothing and only bedside lamps, a tall lamp, bathroom light, and one above the door. The TV had few channels, with Sky, CNN, Bloomberg, and France24 the only English ones I recall. We mostly had it on for background noise, though we tried guessing the dubbed film on a local channel. Wi-Fi was strong when it worked, but kept dropping out for a few minutes; toggling it didn’t help. EE phone reception was poor, while Czech T-mobile was good. The bathroom was clean and the shower pressure was as expected, though it took a while to warm up and then got boiling. There’s no safe, so I’d hide valuables and documents when going out. The room had tea and coffee and a fridge in a cupboard by the desk.

On Christmas Eve morning, we had an unacceptable experience that felt like language discrimination. The woman working in the breakfast restaurant, Tatiana, was rude and aggressive from the start. We stayed about 10 minutes past the official breakfast closing time to finish what was already on our plates, without taking any more food, which is normal in hotels. She spoke loudly in Czech with colleagues, apparently about us, then switched to Russian and said loudly, “That’s why we hate Russian-speaking people, they’re so impolite and rude.” I find it shameful for someone in hospitality to speak that way to foreign visitors. Staff should be welcoming, not hostile.