Barceló Budapest — Hotel in Budapest

Expected much more from the hotel of this level, especially when it comes to communication and customer service. We booked two rooms for three nights in advance and unfortunately, the health situation of two members of our group prevented us from coming. We tried to re-book our stay in the early morning, calling reception, and then the Czech reservation department as instructed but the number wasn't reachable. Then we called European headquarters and tried to explain our unfortunate situation with the request to re-booking our stay since it was for multiple days and rooms. They told us to write them an email explaining why we needed to do so which we immediately did since we understood the urgency of this situation for both sides. After two hours of waiting and getting any response, we called Budapest Barceló reception again asking them to urge our case and we needed to let them know ASAP. After an hour, we received a very brief email from the reservation department that the cancellation wasn't possible because of the last-minute announcement. We tried to explain that we didn't want our money back, just to re-book the dates since it wasn't possible to come for us. We didn't receive any response after waiting till the end of the day! Therefore, I would really appreciate it if a hotel of this level communicates professionally and tries to understand the guest, who spends the whole day trying to come to an agreement so that both parties are satisfied. After ignoring us, a part of our group decided to go since the hotel didn't even want to communicate with us, let alone move multiple-day stay and lose the whole stay. We politely let them know that one part of the group will come another day and as requested in our 3-month advance booking, we need one parking lot for our car. The reception said that they forgot to enter it into the system and they haven't any left (even a day after our initial coming). A cherry on top – part of our group came in the morning, wanted to check in as we were supposed to already the previous day and they said that one room wasn't ready yet! I'm really disappointed with this customer's treatment and would really appreciate it if the hotel took a humane approach to the whole situation and, if nothing else,...

We stayed at this hotel for 4 nights which included bed and breakfast. Pros of the hotel: Location - the location is perfect and you couldn’t fault it, everything is on your doorstep including public transport to get around. So many food spots around if you are rushing and need to eat quickly. St Stephen’s Basicilla is only a 10 minute walk from the hotel and the nearest tram stop is 4 minutes away. The breakfast was good and you can ask the staff to make you something fresh which they are happy to do so. The service is exceptional, very welcoming as soon as you walk in. We forgot to being adaptors and the reception staff let us use the ones they had, we requested an iron that they brought up to the room, the cleaning was always to a high standard and it isn’t until 11 which gives you enough time to get ready and get out. Standard check-out isn’t until 12 which is really nice as it’s usually 10 and you end up feeling rushed. We really liked the elevator system which was efficient and you are never left waiting for other people. The hotel beds are a very good size. The rooms are very modern and nice with lots of room for your things.

Cons of the hotel: The room was quite hot throughout the night which we couldn’t figure out why as we changed the air con setting to make sure it wasn’t. The bed was firm but with soft pillows which, for us personally, wasn’t the most comfortable. The lighting inside the room wasn’t good, especially for getting ready as the light is above your head making it hard to see. TV doesn’t have a lot of options and the remote didn’t work properly making it hard to navigate the TV, we tried to connect our phone to watch a film at the end of a busy day sight seeing but it wouldn’t let us, they only have youtube as an additional option otherwise you’re just watching standard Hungarian TV.

As a whole I’d definitely...

An unpleasant stay The reception is unprofessional, sometimes unfriendly and hardly gives you the feeling of being welcome - there is no simple greeting when you enter. Furthermore, the climatic situation is untenable - the rooms are constantly at 24 degrees (even at an outside temperature of 15 degrees), as the hotel heats with central heating on October - this completely invalidates the argument of "air conditioning", as guests are not allowed to determine their own comfort temperature, and thus cannot individualise anything, and get little to no sleep. At breakfast, this was also confirmed by several other guests - the ignorance of the staff seems to be a general problem. In addition, the hotel is unbelievably noisy, so you can hear every step your neighbours take, and in case of doubt you have to be kept awake by them until night. Last but not least, the room has to be criticised, as neither the bed nor the multimedia selection is satisfactory - the TV has a cumbersome screencasting overview and is not up to date! The cleaners come to the room unannounced and wake you up at 7am by entering the room and turning on the lights - incomprehensible, especially when you consider that the "do not disturb" tick is even on the door.... The bed is unstable and makes noise when moved, and the bathroom is run down and there are white splashes of untidy liquids on the walls and strange dirt residue in the corners - all in all very unsatisfactory and disappointing. I can in no way share the productive reviews, and during the stay, apart from the central location, I heard hardly anything good from the guests present. So the good reviews and their origin raise a lot...