James Hotel & Apartments — Hotel in Prague

Disappointed! Unfortunatley not a great experience I will explain the reasons why.

The original reason for my stay was due to eye surgery I had booked in the city. My friend and I were going to be staying from 21st Nov till 27th Nov and decided to spend a little more and splash out on really nice comfortable accommodation. Check in was not till 2pm and we had arrived early which was fine as the receptionist was friendly and stored our luggage until we returned for check in. Once we had checked in we were happy with our accommodation as it was just as it had been listed on the website. On the second evening we noticed a foul smell coming through the drains in the bathroom. We notified reception and were advised that there was nothing that could be done that evening as housekeeping would return until morning but it would be addressed then So we accepted this as reasonable. The next morning we went out for the day and on return later that day the smell was worse! I once again contacted reception and was told that they would have it sorted in the morning by house keeping. So we got up, went out and on return the place was really smelling and you could even smell it in the stairs to the apartments! I met the housekeeper on the stairwell on his rounds and asked him to have a look in our bathroom & he agreed that the smell was strong and informed me that he had never been told that there was an issue! He made an attempt at clearing the drain but said an expert was required and he would have this arranged for the morning. We advised him of our discomfort and that we would like to move rooms as we did not want to become ill! We were then told that there were no other rooms available. I asked if i could speak with the boss but was told he was not around. We checked on the website and discovered there were still a few rooms available and brought this to the attention of the house keeping staff i had been speaking to. He then agreed to move us overnight but needed the room back by 10am for another booking but assured me that the expert would be in around 7am to sort the drains in our room. So we moved rooms that night and returned to our original apartment in the morning. I was asked by someone at reception if i was going back to my apartment who turned out to be the owner! We opened the door to find nothing had been done as yet and saw the owner in the stair behind us. I turned and simply asked him at what time would the expert be coming and was abruptly told " today!" "Just relax!" I was perfectly relaxed and calm and simply asking a question but decided to just leave it as i thought he seems very annoyed! We dropped our luggage off in our appartment once again then went out for the day. On our return we were met by the owner telling me that there was a much bigger problem with the drains and therefore they would not be fixed and that we would be moved apartments. So I chatted with him and he agreed that we should be compensated for our inconvenience. He moved us to the apartment below which was the same as we had booked but also had a smell from the drains but not nearly as bad as our original apartment. The owner then appeared with an offer of a 10% refund and when i suggested a 20% rebate he rejected this saying it was not his fault but an issue out in the street. Eventually & reluctantly he gave us a 15% refund but sadly no appology ever came. Whilst we believe and understand that perhaps the drainage issue was "not his fault" it certainly was not ours either!

So in short, lovely apartments in a beautiful city, though please be warned as if you are unfortunate enough to have any issues with your stay the the owner is an arrogant, ignorant fool that lets the whole place down!

Such...

Where do I start - myself and 2 friends booked a 3 bedroom apartment (to ensure we didn't have to share a bedroom) with 2 bathrooms, a kitchenette and 3 balconies arriving on 16 Sept for 3 nights. We paid the receptionist the cost of our apartment plus the 15 Euro late check-in fee. It was only when we arrived at our allocated apartment that we realised that there were only 2 bedrooms, 1 bathroom and no balconies. We immediately went back to reception and the receptionist said he was aware that the hotel had double booked the room and there were no other rooms available, he just didn't mention this before we paid. As it was getting late and we had no alternative, the receptionist come up to the room and made up a pull out bed, although he could not find any pillows so used 2 cushions to be used as pillows. It was only when one of us got into bed that we realised that some of the slats were broken on the pull out bed, in addition he had not pulled the bed fully out rendering it very short (we did not realise until the morning that the bed was not fully extended. A terrible night’s sleep was had! The following morning we asked if we could book a safety deposit box and was told they were not in working order resulting in us having to carry passports, flight paperwork and a large amount of money out every day. We also asked for the price difference between the apartments be refunded. We were told this was 60 euro’s and it was duly refunded, we also asked for compensation and the receptionist said he would speak to the owner and get back to us. We also reported the broken bed. We were moved to another apartment that still had 2 bedrooms but had an extra toilet and none of the other things that we booked. ||||When we tried to use the shower in our second apartment we realised that the shower head was broken so we reported this to receptionist who suggested we have a bath instead! We said that because of our ages we wouldn’t be able to use the very high bath. He come up to the apartment with a role of sellotape and taped the shower head in place. ||||The hotel were insistent that they have given us 60 Euros compensation and no matter how hard we tried they did not understand that we received NO compensation whatsoever, only the refund of the apartment cost difference.||||In addition, we were expecting to at least have breakfast in the Bistro each morning and possibly other meals. We were told that the Bistro closed suddenly a few days before we arrived and will not reopen. We had more inconvenience by having to go out every morning looking for somewhere to have breakfast. ||||Had we been notified prior to arrival that the apartment we had booked was not available we would have booked alternative accommodation.||||Eventually, our booking agent intervened on our behalf and we did receive an amount of compensation but this goes only a small way to making us satisfied. Overall the customer service and communication was very poor. We asked on 2 occasions if we could have a contact number for the manager or owner so we could outline our complaint personally, this request was denied.||||On the plus side, the apartments are in a good location for seeing the sights, most of which can be reached on foot. However, we will not be returning...

Firstly, the Wi-Fi was not functional, forcing me to rely on the unstable Starbucks connection.

Secondly, the hygiene was unacceptable; I found hair in my towel and experienced bites while on the sofa.

Thirdly, there was misleading information regarding check-in time; Agoda stated check-in was until 8 PM, but the owner demanded an additional €30 fee.

Fourthly, the lack of air conditioning was problematic, especially given the noise until 4 AM that required windows to be shut. If you fancy little fresh air, it costs additional €30 charge.

Lastly, the parking facilities were poorly designed, and I would advise against parking an SUV there without full insurance due to terribly small space. Also the limited freedom to drive out outside the "service hours".

When I attempted to request a cancellation immediately after being informed of these hidden costs (nearly 30% additional just for basic A/C and check-in), the owner hostilely rejected my request even though this is entirely unlawful to one-sidedly change the agreed terms.

Overall, this was the worst stay I have ever experienced, and I strongly advise others to avoid this property at all costs. For your reference, I have included the hidden policy below.

To make your arrival to our hotel easier we kindly ask you to let us know your arrival time and if you need a parking. PARKING: In secure parking complex located inside James Hotel – price 900 CZK/night. Please inform us in advance. Please note that parking in Prague City Centre is severely restricted and parking without special permit can result in your car being towed by the police. CHECK IN: Check in is possible from 2 PM till 5 PM free of charge, late check in from 5 PM- 11:30 PM is extra charged 30 euros per room. Check in after 11_30 PM is not possible, the hotel is closed at 11:30 PM. Check-out time is from 5:00-11:00. AIR CONDITION is possible to order in our front desk for 30 euros per night TAXI TRANSPORT: AIRPORT: Roundtrip – transfer from and also back to the airport for discounted price - 70€ (groups of 5 or more people - 130€) Airport → Hotel - 40€ (groups of 5 or more people - 70€) . Transport to other parts of Prague after discuss. We offer parking in our secure garages for 900 CZK/night. In the period from 29.12. to 2.1. the price for parking is 50 € per night. Please be aware that street parking in Prague 1 is severely restricted and parking on 'blue lines' without special permit can result in a fine of over 2000CZK. Thank...