Motel Botax

There’s a separate, large room where you can leave your luggage before your own room is ready, so you don’t have to drag it around while waiting for the rooms to be cleaned. For the price, I’d call this good value, and it seems well suited to class trips or other groups, since the rooms are mostly for sleeping. Each room has two large windows, so you can bring in fresh air at night and air the room out quickly. The shower works fine, with a steady temperature and plenty of water. A couple of annoyances: the beds may be short for taller people, and the shower head can’t be mounted on the wall, so you have to hold it. There’s also nowhere to put shower gel except on the sink beside it.

The good points were the low price, comfortable beds, a convenient location near the center and train station, and nice, helpful staff. The co-owner also speaks Polish. There were plenty of problems, though. Our group got tap water to drink, the dinners were very poor and the breakfasts below average, and a lot of the equipment was broken. The walls are so thin we could hear noise from two rooms away. It was a bit dirty, the bathroom smelled like sewage, and it looked as if it hadn’t been redecorated since the seventies.

The staff were very friendly and helpful, but we were assigned downstairs rooms even though we’d booked on the third floor because of the heat. The spring mattress wasn’t very comfortable.

I was scared of catching something the whole time I was there. The rooms were cold and dirty, and the hotel was full of people who made me uncomfortable. That was a horrible stay, and even one star feels too generous.