Castrum Hotel Szekesfehervar

The rooms were quiet and the staff polite. Free access to the sauna, steam room, and gym was a plus. But I had to ask for a kettle to make tea from my own bags, and parking cost an extra €8. Maybe that’s standard in Europe now, but when you’re paying €100 for a room, not even having tea bags feels mean. A little generosity would bring some hospitality back.

The staff were amazing, and the room was cleaned perfectly every day. Breakfast from the buffet was brilliant, and reception even put together a takeaway breakfast for our 3am taxi. Loved this place and the services.

The location is ideal, and the hotel itself is very nice. Breakfast was good too. What didn’t work for me was the mattress cover, which had no elastic and slipped off with every movement, leaving the mattress exposed. I don’t like having my face against a mattress that a thousand people have used before. That might be acceptable in a cheap hostel, but not in a four-star hotel. A bottle of water in the room would also have been nice.

The hotel was OK overall, and the garden and decor were nice. But there were several things that need attention. We waited ten minutes because nobody was at reception when we arrived. The bar closed very early, with no way to get drinks or food later. Our room had an empty fridge but no water, coffee, tea, or other supplies. On the first night, at least two of our group of four had no towels. Street noise came through the windows, and we spotted small insects in the room. Breakfast was OK, though the coffee machines could use an upgrade. The gym was available, but its equipment wasn’t well maintained. The sauna and steam room were small but nice.