Botel Albatros — Hotel in Prague

“Czech tour which was the beginning of a nightmare” We stayed in the room N.7 of Botel Albatros in Prague from 6 to 10.8. 2017.It is a bus tour of a travel agency called Holiday Reisen.Even though the room was very hot, there was only a fan and my husband slept naked. When we woke up in the morning, I found a black insect trace and a red blood trace in various places on the white sheet, but we were not aware of what it is or what it means.So without worrying we continued staying in that room designated by the tour company. Around a week or two after we got back from the trip, a terrible rash appeared across my husband 's body. If it is infectious, it will be a big trouble, so he went to the hospital immediately (Dr.V.). But the doctor did not understand the cause clearly.After about a week, a rash appeared also in my body. We thought this was infectious, so this time we visited Skin praxis K. But she did not understand the cause.Just in the end of August, there was a retirement anniversary party of my husband's best colleague. He was all the time looking forward to this party, but he gave up participation due to this unknown rash. Even if the cause is unknown after using the cream prescribed by Dr. K., the rash is getting better, so we are relieved. But after a while when we get up in the morning, we get one or two red points in our arms, fingers, face, legs etc. We noticed that they are itchy badly. It is autumn already. This time I went to see a Skin doctor in Health Center of ukb. I explained about the terrible rash that came after the Czech trip and I showed many mobile pictures of the itching eczema, but I was told that she still does not know the cause.Soon after I found the shedding skin of insects on the bed sheets. My husband showed it to his brother who seems to be familiar with such insects, but he didn´t know.We have been living in this apartment (Germany) since 2001, but in this apartment we get stabbed by mosquitoes once in a few years in summer and we have no other problem at all.We thought surely there must be something, so we have bought ARDAP. We spread it on 5.1.2018. We felt it was effective, but still we still have eczema that itches badly. That scar of exzema has also increased.Next, we tried the equipment called “Raid” that could stay on all night while sleeping and Nelken Rauch in the room to be insect repellent etc. Recently I discovered that putting cream on my hands prevents from getting stabbed around the fingers. But, on the contrary, I was stabbed on my neck and cheeks.After using the second ARDAP Fogger on 2.3.2018,we found a few black insect carcasses. They are bed bugs.I can recall now that in Czech when I woke up in the middle of the night and went to the toilet, there were dozens of black and round insects in the drainage of the bathroom.It is too late to know that they were all bed bugs.We contacted “Pest Controller D.” and got the first stage of pest control & Disinfection on March 5th. The second stage of Disinfection will take place on March 20. Now we are fighting with bed bugs in our whole household!Clothes were taken out of the room and piled up in the veranda. They look like a mountain of garbage. I have to wash all of them putting only the half the usual amount in the washing machine with more than 60 degrees.Beside the entrance other household goods are piled up and there is no space to put ones feet.Of course we can not invite any friends and customers to the house.We have no idea when we can restore all of them.Approximately 500 euros for two stages of extermination.But there are hundreds of times more mental suffering than money problems.It is a terrible stress since our Czech traveling.I have been to the Turkey,USA,Peru,Mongolia,USSR,France,Pakistan, Sweden,Denmark,Norway,Estonia,Austria,Slovakia,Hungary etc. since 1989.But I want to finish going abroad because this trip to Czech...

This is the 2nd time I have visited botel albatros. The first, everything went to plan and I had a lovely stay. This time around, we arrived to a standard room with 2 single beds when we had paid the extra for a deluxe double room with a double bed. We asked reception what had happened and they said that it was their mistake and they would change our room to what we had booked . She also offered us a couple of free drinks for the inconvenience of messing up our booking and having to sleep apart. The next day we went to reception to ask about our room change and we were met by a really abrupt woman telling us we were keeping our room because they were fully booked and we'd just have to deal with it and they would push the beds together. There was no apology, and she didn't admit any mistakes were made . We were just met with rudeness. We were told that the deluxe double room was the same as the 2 single bed rooms, and the only difference was that the beds were pushed together. This leads me to think - how does pushing 2 beds together make a room deluxe and how does it warrant a higher price? If this is the case, I'd recommend people just order the cheaper rooms and push your beds together to save money on your stay. The room smelt very musty and damp on arrival, and the window was left wide open to try and hide this, leaving the room cold on arrival. There wasn't a hair dryer in the room, which you'd have expected, considering the temperatures go into the minuses, and its not ideal going out in them with wet hair. That might be a good addition.

Now for the positives . The location is far enough away from the busy crowds but close enough walking distance into the centre . The breakfast is nice. The hotel was clean, and we encountered one friendly receptionist (the male on shift in the evening). The mattress was comfortable. We found bolt taxis very useful. However a lot of them were unable to find the turn off to get to the botel, so I'd recommend crossing the road and making the pick up point the other side of the park where traffic is less hectic.

Had we been given the actual room we booked, I think the stay would have been wonderful like my previous visit, and my review would have been 4-5 stars all round. However, it's left a bit of a bitter taste in my mouth due to how we were treated and spoken to by the lady on the 2nd day (blonde haired), and after that, I dont think I'd stay again. Maybe we will get an explanation on the reply to this review from someone a little friendlier and more...

We stayed for a week in october. The room was OK but could do with a freshening up. especially the toilet / shower room. rusty shower rai and cracked walls. We had arrived around 10am, we had informed the botel in advance and enquired if we could leave our cases until check in time which we were assured would be ok ( this was a few months prior). When we arrived the young girl on reception( long wavy dark hair), was on her mobile and didn't even look up to us, she eventually did and before we could open our mouths she had said in a very stern and aggressive manner 'Check in is later. it is not possible to be here, this is not good enough you have to go away". Now bearing in mind we had only walked in and hadn't said a thing, she jumped down our throat. when she stopped speaking we said we knew it wasn't check in time but we had been told we could leave our cases. to which she replied ok here is the key, take it downstairs to store.. no information of where it was or offer of help, she then went back to her mobile. Later that night we came across an older lady with grey hair and more stocky in stature. We entered and said hello, again we were greeted with nothing except a head down on mobile receptionist. when we asked about information she huffed and said there's a map.. we felt as if we were made to feel as if we were a nuisance, don't work in hospitality if you don't like people. We had a lovely time in prague and came and went and didn't ask for anymore help or information. The housekeepers where nice and polite, the waiting staff at breakfast were not much help, it was like something from a comedy show.. fawlty towers comes to mind.. there were times you had to sit with strangers despite them having another area that they could open up.. which they eventually did. the fruit juice was so diluted so much it was almost clear.. a young man waiter was taking drinks and standing there doing nothing, take a drink yes but go behind the scenes and drink it. he was unaware of who had came in and repeatedly asked your room number ( after sitting down). It just seemed that they could not cope at breakfast. If all you want is a bed and a short 15 min walk to tourist places then I would say yes stay here, just avoid breakfast and reception staff. other than that I would avoid this place, great concept with lots of potential, just a shame the rudeness of the staff are letting...