Hotel Timisoara — Hotel in Timișoara

I travel extensively for business and leisure. Reside in the US( USA) with family in Europe, Romania. This was my first visit to Timisoara for a family event. Family( from Timisoara) recommended newer, trendy ‘boutique villas’ 10 min taxi drive from city center. My mother( born in Timisoara, lives in US) ,however, convinced me to stay in the heart of Timisoara in the city’s most historic hotel.. Hotel Timisoara. I am SO glad I listened to mom! The hotel is charming, historic, the staff attentive, helpful. The reception staff actually took our luggage in from the street into our room since the bellman was assisting other guests! We reserved a ‘1 room business apartment’ on orbitz for $128/ nt .. and were graciously upgraded to a ‘1room business SUITE’.. 2 full baths, walk-in shower, king bed, 2 flatscreen tv’s, and sweeping views with balcony directly overlooking Piata Victoriei ( right on top of starbucks):) And yes the ac works Very Well( and is adjustable) ... Im from Florida and we LIVE in airconditioning! So my room is always kept chilly...19’F. The hotel is ‘pet-friendly’.. we travel with our small dog. Breakfast was included .....but since this was a vacation, we slept in and walked literally 100 feet from back entrance of hotel to an italian outdoor cafe(with cool misting ceiling sprays) with excellent, strong( love my caffeine) specialty coffees, cappucinos and of course tiramisu, or hazelnut cream with fresh whipped cream( puree de castane)-a local specialty. Directly Across from Starbucks:) Lunch, dinners at historic Lloyd Restaurant( circa1926)... 400 yards away. Directly across the piata from starbucks. Outdoor terrace, sweeping views of bustling historic Piata Victoriei, with its operahouse, gardens &strolling locals. Great ambiance, live music in eves and excellent authentic European and Romanian cuisine... each dish fresh and tasty. Rooftop Craft restaurant ( trendy rooftop bistro with panoramic views of Piata Victoriei) is on the other side of operahose... steps away. Sky Restaurant(with rooftop terrace) .. trendy upscale restaurant with seafood( fish, clamati, mussels), tuna tartare, roast duck, steaks....literally across the street from hotel. So no, this isn’t the Ritz, nor the Waldorf( yes, I stay regularly at both) .. but you’re also not paying $1,500-3,000...

Very overrated. Definitely not 4-star worthy. Only good thing is the location. Not too clean; pretty dusty. Bad ventilation system. Rooms smell of cigarettes (seems to come from the ventilation system). We ended up moving to a different room because the smell was so intense. Small rooms and bad quality furniture for a 4-star hotel. Nothing wrong with the beds, but again for a 4-star place it is reasonable to expect a higher degree of comfort. Breakfast is really not delicious. Fried eggs, for example, were half cold and the yolk had a strangely dry top layer. You’re much better off saving the money and going to the Starbucks just next door. We booked the place for a New Years trip, primarily because of the spa. Which was, first of all disappointing. Second, it turned out to be CLOSED 3 out of our 4 days. We received no info about this before we arrived, even though it was explicated in our reservation that we had booked a room WITH spa access. Anyway, it would have been difficult to spend more than one day down there. Spa basin water is pretty cold, and the sauna is only 60 degrees C. It’s rather small, so we were glad, we were the only ones using it. Oh, and btw, if you go to the spa, don’t forget to bring your towel from your room, because you won’t get one down there. And don’t leave anything touching the floor in the women’s changing rooms, such as your bag or your shoes, as the entire floor floods when anyone uses the showers, showers that don’t really work properly either, because something is broken with the shower heads so the water spills over on the wall instead of down at you.

All in all really a shabby place. Not unbearable as a place to stay if you are only going to sleep there - provided that you get a room that does not smell of cigarettes. But don’t go there, if you intend to hang out there and enjoy some relaxation time. I’ve been to several 2-star hotels that...

High expectations due to the 4* rating but let down by several issues. Intermittent WiFi, partner and I both kept getting messages of 'no internet connection' while connected. Not great when as a foreign tourist, really rely on a good WiFi.

Room had a bad smell when we first came in, seemingly coming from the bathroom. Metal bin had been used by staff to prop the bathroom door open. Shower head wouldn't stay upright, kept falling down too.

2 issues with the room. Duvet not large enough to cover 2 of us properly, it was NOT even the size of the bed. Very bizarre. We found a spare (unmade) duvet in the cupboard but were too tired from our journey to make it up (and shouldn't need to). Also first hotel on our journey from UK to Romania with no tea/coffee facilities within the room. Odd when considering this is a higher star hotel. Also I'd much prefer an empty fridge I can put my own stuff in rather than one filled with expensive purchasable drinks meaning we couldn't keep any of our own drinks cold. Annoying.

Lastly, my partner became ill the morning we were due to leave (gastro symptoms). I was aware checkout was 12pm but approached reception early in the morning to see if there was any flexibility on this or possible to extend, to see if my partner could rest up and start feeling better. They were quite strict about 12pm, so we eventually left at 11.45am, at which point the receptionist then said they could allow us to stay until 2pm.. but that's a bit late considering my partner had slowly made it to our car meanwhile! Just not very useful staff, nor could they help much on guidance about a nearby hospital or doctor.

Would choose to stay...