Luca’s house & studio — Hotel in Balotești

This was our fifth and last stay at this place. We’re two single women travelers and we stay here whenever we visit Therme aquapark as it’s within walking distance to the park. Some of our stays have been booked through booking.com and some direct through owner. This was our third stay in the same studio. I tried booking it as usual by texting the owner but he strangely didn’t reply so I ended up using booking.com instead. As soon as we arrived, before we even get given the room, he pulls me to the side to tell me that during our previous stay my friend scratched the table in the room with the bottle opener knife and that I should tell her to be careful this time. Now, why he felt the need to tell me this and not my friend or the both of us together I didn’t know but I said sure I’ll tell her about the scratch and that’s that. When we get to the room I tell her what the owner said and we have a look at the table but can’t see any obvious scratches. The only time we used the bottle opener was to open a bottle of wine and she hadn’t used it otherwise for anything else. Since she hadn’t been in the room on her own and I hadn’t used this opener either then we started thinking a bit. Why was the owner so convinced it had been my friend and not me that’s done this scratch? This table is not new by any standard and it’s got a few dings on it but nothing major and even if we’d caused something on it by mistake that he’d fixed somehow why specifically identify a culprit when it’s always two of us in the room? Moreover why was he so sure that we’d used a knife to make this scratch? Outside of us actually carving our initials in his table for god knows what reason why assume it had been a knife at all? And why the bottle opener knife specifically? This was a few assumptions too far for us and we started looking around for cameras. He’s either making insane stories up or he’s got actual footage of us somehow slamming this bottle opener on his table or using this knife to cut some cake and accidentally leaving a hairline scratch. Couldn’t think of any other explanation so we look around. There’s a few places that were circumspect and we couldn’t reach like the chandelier. We were truly creeped out and talked about leaving asap but it was our last night of a relatively stressful holiday and didn’t want anymore drama seeing as we’d been charged for the room already. We spent the whole day outside the studio and only came in at night making sure not to undress in the main room. Now this accommodation has not been perfect by any means but we’d overlooked its faults simply due to its location. The bathroom has always been the main issue. Cockroaches live in the door frame, scatter round when you turn on the light, spiders coming down over you in the bath from the vent in the ceiling. Had to pull disgustingly long hair from the drain to take a bath. Toilet flush button was broken. Bathroom door handle has been broken for over two years now. We’ve stopped overlooking. Since we woke up anxious and creeped out about ending up as footage on some dodgy website we decided to leave as soon as without laying eyes on the owner again. We took a room video of our own to make sure we don’t get any fresh accusations (unless he’s got his own footage to counter). We got ready and quietly and quickly made our way out only to “casually” meet the owner just as he was making his way to us. What a coincidence! At which point we informed him we won’t be coming back and he barks at us “good!”. Maybe we didn’t provide him with spicy enough recordings this time. Now maybe it’s all a misunderstanding and he’s REALLY fussed about his old Ikea table getting any blemishes. OR he’s got actual surveillance on the studio rooms keeping an eye on his guests for one reason or another, recording and storing footage to review. I can see few bad reviews with owner's rude and disrespectful responses which just confirms what kind of person and...

Prior to staying I read the reviews, majority really good, small few with concerns that could be off putting. I know everyone has individual experiences, However, after our stay I feel important to share our experience. On arrival the host greeted us and was friendly. showed us to our room and left us to it. We settled in, went for a meal and me and my partner went back to the place and shared a bottle of wine in the garden area, which was nice and peaceful. Their was very little interaction with the host as we was out most of the time at the spa. However, the few occasions we did see each other he was very pleasant and friendly. Asked us if everything was ok and did we need anything else, such as more towels. *the room was also very clean. Would happily stay again...

Am avut o experiență foarte dezamăgitoare la studio-ul acesta și simt că este important să împărtășesc povestea mea pentru a avertiza și alți potențiali clienți.

În primul rând, când am ajuns la studio, proprietarul a fost foarte nepoliticos și agresiv cu mine. Mi-a tipat să opresc aerul condiționat, deși acest serviciu era inclus în prețul camerei și nu mi s-a informat că există vreo limitare în privința folosirii lui. M-am simțit foarte inconfortabil în acel moment și mi s-a părut că acest comportament nu este deloc acceptabil față de un client.

O altă problemă majoră a fost legată de parcarea promisă. Pe internet, am citit că parcarea este posibilă la locație fără rezervare, însă când am ajuns cu fiica mea de 3 ani seara, proprietarul ne-a refuzat accesul în curte și ne-a spus să parcam în stradă. Am fost șocați să vedem că în curte încă mai existau două locuri de parcare libere, dar ne-au fost negată accesulul. Acest lucru a creat o situație foarte incomodă, mai ales că eram cu un copil mic.

În ansamblu, întreaga experiență a fost extrem de neplăcută din cauza atitudinii proprietarului și a neconcordantelor dintre ceea ce a fost promis pe internet și realitatea de la fața locului. Nu recomand cu căldură acest studio altor călători și le sugerez să își găsească alternative mai potrivite și mai respectuoase față de clienți. Sper ca această recenzie să servească ca un avertisment pentru alții și să îi determine pe proprietari să fie mai atenți la tratamentul oferit...