La Boutique Hotel Prague — Hotel in Prague

Whilst planning a getaway to historic Prague, La Boutique routinely appeared as “Highly recommended” on travel websites with rave reviews. A 4-star hotel, they said. What could possibly go wrong? Well, let’s document them in chronological order. Upon arrival, we were greeted by less-than-enthusiastic staff at the check in desk. We were informed the room we had booked was situated in a different building, “a short walk” from the main hotel. We were given a list of poorly translated directions and a rushed description of how to get there, and sent on our merry way. Having successfully navigated the pilgrimage to so-called “Apartment 1”, we arrived at a residential courtyard adorned with graffiti and lacking any discernible character; offensive to the eye of polite society, one might say. We entered the building, sceptical. The horror continued. The room we found was not at all as described on the website. We were met with some of the local residents through the opposite window enjoying their life - in the biblical sense. And then… there were the bugs. There were ants everywhere. On the wall, the floor, the ceiling. We had no idea Prague Zoo had opened up a satellite branch in the city. We couldn’t escape them. The room also had no air-conditioning, and was utterly unbearable at night. We put up with this for two nights. Two! After complaints to reception (“Bugs! Insects! Animals!” - clearly their English did not cover the numerous variations of ants, and understandably so) and their enthusiasm rife as ever, we were moved into a room in the main building. Although it had a form of air conditioning, (a ceiling fan with two settings - on or off) the walls were scuffed and the shower was far too small. Too small for them to clean, apparently. Not to mention the inconvenient wooden beams placed in the room - exiting the bed required exceptional contortionist skills. The breakfast was questionable at best, unless you’re a fan of boiled sausages and pesto pasta at the crack of dawn.||Please, do not stay at...

Firstly, the location is convenient with a bus stand, tram and underground stations within about 6 minutes easy walk. Prague public transport is very cheap and convenient (buy a ticket on the tram or on the station with contactless payment).

As a grown man travelling alone I was okay with the area but Smichov/Andel aren’t the safest places in the city. A few homeless/drunks about at night but haven’t seen them bothering people.

There is a lift, but I had to go down one flight of stairs and then back up to get to the room. The room itself was clean, but the air conditioning took a long time to cool the room down but kept the room cool after.

There is a large wardrobe with plenty of storage, an ironing board (but no iron), a safe and a few hangers. The bed was a fairly large and comfortable. The pillows provided were comfortable. The bathroom is small with a toilet, shower cubicle and a sink. The bottom of the sink has storage where you can find the towels. There is no towel rail however. No coffee/tea making equipment in room (wasn’t listed so no surprises).

There is free breakfast which has a good spread and is clean/well stocked and that’s in the basement. I am an early riser so wasn’t a problem for me but the blinds let in a sliver of bright sunlight right in the pillow area and there is some road noise (even on 4th floor).

Overall okay for me but I nearly fell down the stairs at night when the lights were out and there is a wooden beam in the room and I banged my head against it trying to close the blind. This was billed as a 4* hotel which it definitely isn’t.

Receptionist is very helpful and in general had no issues with any...

I would never recommend this hotel. Prague is a beautiful city. And this hotel is located in a really convenient and lovely part of the city. Well connected by tram and subway. However. The hotel is not where it should be. I booked an apartment with two single beds but was told it was impossible to receive two single beds in an apartment room. Nonsense. As the next day after communication between my service provider and the hotel, I was moved to another apartment. This apartment like the first was two blocks away from the hotel. It was also above a row of trash cans. Something we noticed on a warm Saturday evening. When insects started entering the room from our open window. It could be argued that we shouldn’t have had our window open if we were bothered about insects. But the shear amount and varying species of insects evidently came from the trash bins down below in the courtyard. And what other option did we have. The hotel has no AC instead offering a cheap fan that over heats. To deal with the bug issue I was unable to contact the hotel as it was a walk away and there was no phone connection. Maybe I am expecting too much from a ‘boutique apartment.’ What isn’t too much is to clean. The apartment walls had a spider in almost every corner and the floors were caked in dust. The staff helped when I asked and seemed pleasant. But at the same time were also quite nonchalant as I assume they’ve heard all my ‘complaints’ from other...