Hotel Petr — Hotel in okres Karlovy Vary

Why do people flock to Karlovy Vary? Just because of that one week in July? Sure, that justifies a price tag of 150 Euros a night, right? No one needs to know my hotel is worth... well, I should be the one paying my guests for staying, but let's not disclose that. Those boozy folks from anywhere wouldn't care anyway.

Guess what, folks? This was supposed to be a rather pleasant holiday in Karlovy Vary. A hotel in the heart of the Mill Colonnade, vacant during the festival, promising cozy accommodation with a room overlooking the entire area - what's not to love? But oh boy, it was anything but.

The reception itself is in some sort of a dump, which you can only reach by walking through what feels like a Vietnamese marketplace. The receptionist - no offense, more like a doorman - charges you right off the bat, saying: "Booking takes a whole eighteen percent for themselves"! And you still have no clue about what awaits you upstairs.

You take the glass elevator upstairs, reassured by signs that you're still in good ol' Karlovy Vary, so you recall your mandatory Cyrillic lessons from elementary school. Whatever, it's an international hotel, right? But the sign "Private Olga" doesn't exactly scream "hotel". More like a place with an hourly rate... The elevator makes it to the sixth floor. Ok. But your room is one floor up. To get there, you take a metal, possibly fire escape, staircase.

Suddenly, you're standing in front of a triple door in the corner, feeling like you're intruding into someone's apartment. Then, there's a attic-like space, where one might hang laundry. And guests. Damn it.

The room has filthy, worn-out carpets. The shower in the bathroom has a leaky hose, so let's just forget about it. Mold between the tiles. And a luxurious piece of s..t on the toilet brush. Are you still breathing? Just remember, this is a hotel costing 150 Euros a night!

Then you want to lay down at night, but it feels like you've just sunk a floor lower because of the saggy mattresses. The bed squeaks so much, it's practically a form of contraception, so you don't have to worry about bringing back a little "souvenir" from Karlovy Vary.

Ok. The view is decent. But I can get that from Kamzik lookout and it would be just as good. And free.

So, you're informed that breakfast takes place behind those glass doors. Once you step in, you're greeted with a table for the receptionist, cluttered with a beautiful mess, dust, and construction debris.

The "serving" area for breakfast is, well, a former casino... On the walls are photos of apparent jackpot winners from 1992 to 1998. Underneath the casino logo is a table spread with delicacies, mostly clearance items from Sysco. I haven't had processed cheese for years, fine. You can't tell coffee from tea, so we privately call it "cofftea". We won't mention the darkened window, which assures us that we are indeed not in a hotel where people can see in.

No, folks, don't come here. Even during the festival, you can surely find something better for 150 Euros.

Even if it's a...

LOCATION. It is in the middle of the most beautiful part of Karlovy Vary :) Really good place. We stayed in a big apartment on the first floor with 6 beds. It was marvelous; huge and comfortable beds, big bathroom, nice view. During the day the street is maybe a bit noisy, but after 22:00-22:30 it was very quiet. The breakfast was good as well. It is possible to drive to the hotel by car, we parked at the front of the hotel just for the check-in (short time). The whole area is prohibited for cars, but you can enter for the check-in/check-out. There is a big public parking just 200m away at the Thermal Hotel (the biggest ugly building in this area) for 10EUR/day. They have about 300 places. As the building is about 400 years old, the floor of the apartment was a bit too noisy. Actually, we could hear the noise of the wooden floor for every footstep. There was no warm water on the morning when we left (around 06:20 in the morning). The dining room for the breakfast is a bit too small and the refill of the food was a bit too slow. The hotel has its own garage but on the day when we arrived the door opener was broken and I had to drive a bit more far away (actually, it was better as the public parking had bigger space than the parking of the hotel). One of the air conditioner was not really working (did not blow any cold air) But despite all of the above I would stay...

Pros : Location - Very central, very close to the main attractions. Language - Apart from Czech, receptionist could speak English and German.

Cons: Hygiene - Dirty filthy rooms. I had read Hotel Petr is in one of the oldest buildings in Karlovy Vary, it seems their carpets are also from the same era. House Keeping - For a 3 night stay our room was cleaned only once, that also when we complained that the room had not been cleaned the previous day. Toiletries were not replenished and towels were not changed after our check in date. Breakfast Buffet - Timing was from 08:00 to 10:00, if you reach at 09:00 and something had finished, don't expect it to be refilled. The spread was also not at all appealing and the breakfast room had only five tables. WiFi - No WiFi in rooms, only in common areas. Temperature Control - Rooms were not properly insulated, near the windows it used to be extremely cold. They had weird glass contraptions attached to the ceilings for heating. The effect of these contraptions were very localized, so one half of the room used to be warm (near the heater) and the other half used to be cold (near...