Casa Natalia

The villa is in a scenic area, with a large backyard overlooking the mountains, barbecue facilities, and a small playground. We stayed in room number 6 on the 2nd floor. It was spacious, with a very comfortable bed, wooden decor, and a large balcony. The worst part was the way Natalia, the hotel representative who introduced herself as the owner’s wife, spoke about tourists from Israel. On our first day, just after we arrived, she said she didn’t like Israeli tourists because “they always leave the rooms dirty, have 3 children and often request additional towels to the room”. She also said her husband was usually deeply shocked to see on booking.com that any of the hotel rooms had been booked by tourists from Israel. My husband and I found that inappropriate and unpleasant to hear from the moment we arrived. It was especially strange given that only 3 of the 6 rooms were occupied that day, and 2 of them, including ours, were occupied by tourists from Israel. The hotel isn’t in the center. You need a taxi or rental car to get there from the center, or it’s around a 30-40 minute walk on an inconvenient route, especially with a stroller and small children. Staff generally don’t speak English. Natalia speaks Russian, but it seemed they didn’t speak other languages. They also showed little respect for guests, acting as if we weren’t hotel guests and they were doing us a favor by letting us stay. After breakfast, the staff leave and the hotel is left unattended until the next morning, so there’s nobody to ask if you need anything. You can message the owner through booking.com, but the answer may not arrive in time. There’s no air conditioning. We stayed in August with 2 children, and it got really hot in the afternoon. When we asked for even a fan, we were told to wait an hour because it would be cooler then. There’s no kettle in the room either. Natalia said guests used to steal them, so they stopped putting them in rooms. She said we could get hot water from the kitchen, which meant going up and down 2 floors whenever we wanted tea. The shower didn’t drain properly because it was clogged. Natalia said it was a known issue and that they’d repaired the installation 5 years before, but something had gone wrong. We didn’t get any practical help. The wi-fi kept cutting out in our room, number 6, and the staff insisted they had no connection problems and that a guest on the ground floor had no trouble. Our signal was weak, probably because we were far from the router. Some parts of the room needed fixing or renovation, and some lights didn’t work. The TV remote could turn the TV on but not off, so we had to switch it off at the power each time. Breakfast was very poor. It was enough not to go hungry, but didn’t match the standard of a 4-star hotel. The most shameful thing happened after we left: the owners canceled our stay on booking.com as if we’d never stayed there. We assume they did this so we couldn’t write a review. I sent a payment receipt to a Booking.com representative as proof of my stay.

The staff were welcoming and friendly, and the receptionist was warm and responsive whenever we asked for something. Breakfast was generous: cooked eggs made fresh to order, vegetables, yoghurt, butter, bread buns, jam, salami and ham or sausage, plus orange juice, tea, coffee, and toast. The kitchen was fully equipped, and we used it to prepare baby food. There was an espresso machine, though guests weren’t allowed to use it, and I admit it looked complicated. Our room was spacious, with a big terrace, private bathroom, large dressing area, hairdryer, and a big bed with a soft pad. We had the jacuzzi room, but used the tub as a pool for our toddler. I didn’t pay much attention to the decor, with medieval-style furniture, African masks, leopard patterns, Dutch-themed paintings, and a wooden Asian art piece that I thought might be Cambodian or Siamese. The room gave us space to play with our toddler on the hard wooden floor, and we moved the leopard carpet into the dressing area. The soft bed meant she wouldn’t hurt herself if she fell, and it was easy for me to breastfeed. There was also a couch with a leopard motif. Guests wear outdoor shoes outside the room, so you can let a toddler explore, but be ready to wash her hands or stop her eating things off the floor. As I understood it from the receptionist, there are 3 rooms on the first floor, one on the ground floor, and 2 on the second floor. Downstairs there’s a large living room with sofas and a TV, plus a dining room with 4 tables. Outside, the generous sloping yard has trees, a playground, barbecue area, and a campfire spot with logs for seats. We rocked the baby in the swing, and there’s also a heated terrace behind the house. Parking fits 3 or 4 cars. The villa is on Calea Moroieni, which has moderate traffic, but we didn’t hear a single car or smell gasoline. There are trees between the road and villa, which I guess absorb some pollution. Neighbors were building something large, but there was little or no noise, and the house seemed very well insulated. The scenery is beautiful, with two forest-covered slopes meeting. It’s quite far from Sinaia center, so you’ll need a car or taxi. The rooms are quite big, with a big terrace and own bathroom.

I’d already checked Booking, where five double rooms came to 3,300 RON. I called to ask about booking two singles and three doubles, wondering if they might reduce the price a little for the single occupancy, perhaps for breakfast. The reservations manager said he’d check with the owner and call me back. He did, but said the owner would only rent all six rooms for 3,800 RON, even though we only needed five and they could rent the sixth to someone else. We’re three couples and two singles, so that extra room wasn’t needed. I could still book five rooms through Booking, but after that conversation I’m not considering it. What a shame.

The rooms are big and the host is nice. Breakfast could use more variety.