Marie Palace

The location was the only good part of our stay. We had booked a room for several nights ten days in advance, and up until the day we were due to arrive, the hotel replied to messages within ten minutes. That day, as the city faced its biggest fires, they left our message unanswered for four or five hours. After we tried again, they eventually said the fire was in the mountain and it was safe to come, if we wanted to. We arrived around 9 pm and saw the fire spreading toward the industrial zone, very close to the road. Part of the highway was closed, but the hotel acted as if nothing was happening. The city center felt like a ghost town. We saw only about ten people during two hours of walking. We later learned the hotel had received an evacuation SMS at 6 pm, but nobody told us. We went back at midnight and slept in shifts. Our car was covered in ash, and in the morning firefighting planes woke us. We understand it was an emergency, but not the hotel's negligence. They could have told us it wasn't safe, offered a refund, and suggested we find a hotel in another city. Instead, we had to ask for money back for the nights we hadn't used. They told us to contact Booking. Booking proposed a change that the hotel initially refused on the platform, and after some arguing, we got part of the money refunded. If we hadn't gone there, I doubt we would have got any of it back. The bathroom was very dirty, with long black hairs in the shower and on the floor. A fire alarm in the next building went off every 15 minutes. We didn't even want breakfast, checked out quickly, and went to another city. It was awful to be tourists sitting in cafes while our brotherly Orthodox people were trying to save their lives, homes, and essentials. We couldn't rest or enjoy the city while watching people lose everything important to them. A hotel should not put someone's life at risk for profit.