Bucovina — Hotel in Suceava

This is a good place to stay in Suceava, the main city in Bucovina, land of the Painted Monasteries, but it has a serious downside.

First the good stuff: it's cheap. We paid 70 RON for a double room and that's about €8 each -- so no complaints on the value-for-money front. The room was warm which is essential at this sub zero time of year (December 2014). It's clean and comfortable and even had a bath which is rare in an ordinary hotel, but was common in the Communist days. It's basically an old Commie hotel.

The hotel is in an ugly block and is divided into the unrenovated bit, where we stayed, and the renovated bit which I didn't see and probably costs a lot more.

The downside which is the service which is grumpy, surly and unfriendly. This is a paradox as Romanians tend to be really friendly and if you visit them at home they treat you like a king, at least in my experience. The hallway is full of thickset thug types in puffy down jackets, looking like they are queuing for a bodyguard competition.

We ate a decent meal in the (nicely renovated) restaurant and were enjoying the music from a TV. Then one of the bodyguard/thug types came in and put on some awful ambient music at top volume. We asked the waitress to change it back but she said "boss's orders...can't do anything." I went to the reception, found the young thug/boss and told him we're the only clients in his mausoleum/restaurant and can he please turn down that racket. With a surly expression he eventually complied.

Overall, the place is pretty good and I'd recommend it if you are on a budget (if you have more money than me you might like to stay in the old Communist Party hotel) -- as long as you don't mind staying in the property which is apparently owned by a member of the...

The hotel has been booked not by me, and i didn’t have time to check it. If i did, i would have never come here.|To start with good: |- location (just in the city center)|- friendly staff (they have breakfast at 7.30, i had to go out earlier, thus everyday they cooked breakfast for me beforehand). That’s probably the one good impression worth it|- the breakfast, which is really good.|Probably that’s enough.||Continuing with bad:|- the room seems to be never renovated since the hotel construction. Furniture is old and falling apart, walls are dirty, carpet is in spots|- bathroom needs a separate feedback. It’s awful. Looks like in an old soviet hospital, sanitary is old, walls are non-accurate repaired, mirror is big but dirty.|- WiFi. There’s almost no wifi in the room. Sometimes my laptop and phone connected, but it was so slow that’s it is impossible to work from the room at all. I say no word for even downloading pictures and any live videos. Forget about it, only texting if you’re lucky to connect.|- saw a few small furniture bugs|- i haven’t noticed that my room has been cleaning up, except for towel and bin replacement. One time they even put me a TORN towel, which differed from the white hotel ones, looked like somebody brought it from home|- Lift is scary, i couldn’t go down with it, only up|||Would i come back? No....

I returned after 31 years in this hotel built in the 70s and was part of the former Carpathian ONT. The hotel was then a Category I (as classified by then; now is the equivalent of 4/5 *). Unfortunately the hotel has fallen and is now a Category 2 *. The hotel is centrally located and near to two bus stations; in the area are banking units, central park and some local cult. Room (king suite) spacious and clean. But the big bed mattress too hard. Unfortunately the windows were dirty on the outside. The spacious bathroom with large bathtub and natural ventilation. The furniture typical of a 2 * hotel. Reception staff helpful and polite. Too bad it's not that the rest of the staff. Breakfast has 5 variants and is rather shabby (especially for those who consider breakfast a very important meal). Wi-Fi network password but weak signal...