Mbi Travel Inn

For £27 a night with breakfast, you get what you pay for. The basics are broken or look ready to fall off, and this seems more suited to workers on a tight company budget than tourists. The restaurant downstairs gets good reviews, and the food is good and reasonably priced. There's also free parking, though it isn't secured.

The room was a disgrace. Despite a No Smoking sign at the entrance, the first thing I noticed was a strong tobacco smell. Wallpaper was coming off in places and the headboard was torn. Worse, there were cockroaches everywhere, in the shower, carpet, and bed. When we tried to check in, the receptionist seemed uninterested and was on her phone in the next room. A colleague only called her to help us after we dialed a number at the counter. Do yourself a favor and don't book here. You'll regret it.

The online pictures make this look luxurious, but it's really an old hotel outside Craiova. The outlets were coming out of the wall, and there was nowhere to plug in the fridge. The toilet seat wasn't fixed and moved around. One lamp didn't work, and the remote was useless, so maybe the TV was broken too. It could be so much better.

At least the bed was comfortable, and the room seemed warm and tidy at first. Looking closer, there was only half a roll of toilet paper, which we had to replace ourselves the next day, and the towels weren't changed during our two-night stay. The sheets had yellow stains, and there was blood and dirt on the walls in both the bathroom and room. The shower cabin was messy too. There was no WiFi, despite five or six visible connections with MBI in their names, all locked. We found no one at reception at first. A girl, probably from the restaurant, came over and pointed to a note on a door telling us in Romanian to call a number. She didn't speak English, but other guests helped us understand. She called the number, which turned out to be the owner. We paid and never saw or spoke to any staff again. I'd only stay if you have very low expectations and plan to spend most of your time out of the room. Even then, the experience was bad.