Hotel Koruna — Hotel in Prague

Let’s begin with the positive. The location. That’s all. The negativeS. Just a little prologue to put things into context. I wrongly booked a hotel stay date. Kids were tired from early morning travelling.

Hotel Koruna was around the corner. Dropped in to check whether the room I saw online was available. Told receptionist there is only 1 photo on Hotels.com for the Family Room with balcony and was skeptical. Alina (reception) said there are many more photos on Booking.com and showed me on her desktop. But I said these are not the room itself. She reassured me that the family room is a nicer room compared to the rest. Mistake no.1. So booked it at about 1230-ish. She said check in is 3pm. We returned 330pm. Had to wait so she can check with housekeeping. After 10mins she had no response and so we waited. At 350pm she told us we can’t access the room as it won’t be ready for another 45mins! We had a classical music performance to attend at 5pm so decided to check in after. Upon entering the room, we were instantly shocked by the austerity and lifelessness of the interior. None of the photos online were what we got! Now the penny had dropped. Hence there was only one photo of the partial view of the balcony posted on Hotels.com!! By the way, the balcony is so small that one can’t put 2 chairs to sit comfortably. There is a high wall 3m in front and possible double the distance on the sides. Basically the view is 3 dull walls. To add salt to injury, there is a safety net just below the balcony laden with cigarette boxes, rubbish and disgusting things I don’t wish to mention here to ruin your lunch. The family room is akin to an asylum prison. Essentially it’s a short hallway with 3 bedrooms and a separate bathroom and separate ….hmm…bear with me…. I am thinking how to classify the last room which is roughly 1.5mx1.5m. You see, it has a kettle and 4 drinking glasses and 4 cups but 3 chairs and a small table and nothing else! So not really a kitchenette. The tiles in this room were just like bathroom white tiles. Did it began life as a bathroom-wanna-be and then desperately converted to a sit-down meal space (now I understand how claustrophobics feel!) Sorry this is turning into an essay already. I was a little carried away with just one room. Let’s get to the rest of the so called Family Room with balcony shall we. The hallway has dark grey walls. All the individual bedroom windows louvres are at 1.7-1.8m from the floor so can’t even get a glimpse outside unless you are NBA basketball players. Furniture in each room - a TV, bed and side table. Nothing else - no art painting, no decorative ornaments or homely green plants.

The hallway light has a sensor which is faulty. It comes on when it senses movement but it also had a mind of its own. It lighted up every half an hour when we are in bed. Each time with a clicking noise just loud enough to annoy me. This bothered my wife’s slumber throughout the night as the light gets through the crack of the door and door frame.

Bathroom reminded me of my military days. Separate small toilet. Separate shoebox room for shower. Common area for with a sink.

We approached the reception (Adelia this time) the next morning. We told her the Family Room was nothing like the photos online. It was misleading at best! My wife injured her finger trying to close the archaic lift door yesterday. We didn’t sleep because of the temperamental hallway light. The delayed check-in! We were happy to pay for the 1night we had stay but should be refunded for the unused nights. We wanted to leave. She said she had to ask the manager. After a long discussion, she had clear the diary for remaining nights and sent us a text to confirm early check out. I told her I would feel silly if she didn’t refund us and we left after 1n. She said we should get a refund. 2 days later Hotels.com said they didn’t get an agreement from Koruna to do so!! Found out they had readvertised the unused nights! I am limited so shall unfortunately abruptly end here but hopefully painted a clear scene what to expect...

This us only a 3 for the fantastic location. The hotel itself is a 2 at best.||The location is fantastic with a short walk to Charles Bridge, Astronomical Clock, Wenceslas Square and the Franz Kafka head. It's also close to the trams that take you to the castle and the metro. It was great and allowed us to return to the hotel in the day to rest before venturing back out.||Our stay didn't start off well. Initially we were rushed getting to the hotel from the airport, due to strikes in France our flight was delayed and the hotel had been ringing us while in the airplane saying we had until 5pm to check-in or we'd be classed as late arrivals. We landed at 5:30pm. Unbeknown to us the reception desk closes at 3pm daily and they only kept it open until 5pm for us; the website we booked on claimed the reception desk was manned until 9pm. When we eventually arrived it was like an escape room, a lock box to get into the two front doors then a safe to get the room key. ||The pictures online are severely outdated. Inside it was just white sheets on broken beds. Rusty nails stuck out of the skirting boards that were hanging off the wall and the laminate flooring was lifted off the floor. We couldn't complain to staff because they weren't there. A thick layer of dust covered most furniture with a previous guests cigarettes found under the bed, great. We had a broken TV and Kettle. There were only 2 working power outlets. The windows let in all the street noise so we didn't get a great quality of sleep. There was also a University bar nearby where all students would block the street and smoke in large groups, as non-smokers it made stepping out of the hotel an unpleasant experience with breathing in large clouds of cigarette smoke.||We paid for breakfast upon booking; hotel doesn't have a restaurant. We asked for extra pillows; hotel didn't have any. We asked for tea, coffee and milk for our room; hotel doesn't stock any. The hotel gave us a 10% voucher to a pub nearby that promised food; the pub didn't serve food.||There was no housekeeping every day. Wet towels were left on the bathroom floor for 3 days before staff came to clean it. When our beds were changed the sheets were stained. We were left with dirty mugs for the tea and coffee we had to buy ourselves for the entire duration of the stay. ||It was as though this hotel is on the verge of closing and management had given up maintaining it. Very run down and staff were rarely seen. I...

Our stay was generally smooth, but we experienced a serious issue during check-out. As we were leaving, we realized that we had forgotten the key inside the room. It was not a digital key, but a manual one. We later found out that the hotel has a clause in its policy stating that guests are responsible in such cases. However, before we left, the receptionist told us to wait while they contacted the housekeeping staff to check the room. After speaking on the phone, the receptionist told us there was no problem and that we were free to leave.

Despite this, after we left the hotel, an amount of $86.39 was charged to our card without any prior notification or consent. We were not informed of this charge either before or after check-out. I only discovered it by checking my bank account. When we asked for an explanation, we were told that a technician had to open the door. However, our key was not stuck in the door — it was inside the room. And since we had been told everything was fine, we left accordingly.

Charging a guest’s card without their consent is unacceptable. In such cases, the hotel should clearly inform the guest before check-out. I believe the receptionist made a mistake in handling the situation. I kindly expect the hotel management to correct this issue and refund the...