NEU Residences — Hotel in Upravna Enota Ljubljana

We have learned over the years that a primary consideration for choosing lodging in Europe is how close it is to the main transportation center. Invariably, such centers are also near the old part of the city, where most of the attractions are located. Neu Residences are halfway between Ljubljana's bus / train station, and Preseren Square, sort of an entry point to the charming old city. It is also just a block from City Hotel, a standard place for pickup for van tours. There are innumerable shops, grocery stores, restaurants, and ATMs within easy walking of this place.|Our room featured a shower, AC, fully equipped kitchen (all utensils & cooking gear, coffee maker, dishwasher), large refrigerator, hair dryer, bathrobe, in-room safe, and TV with dozens of channels, about five or so in English. Free amenities include wifi, pool, and gym. Restaurant is on-site. Near lobby is a PC with printer. They explicitly state that rooms are cleaned once every three days, and then only upon request.||Note that this place takes pride in having almost no staff for check-in after about 19:00 -- "The wave of the future" was how one person described it. After our flight into Ljubljana was delayed for three hours, I sent them a message about our delay. They sent emails & texts informing us of what to do when I arrived, but there was a problem -- American phones do not receives texts without a SIM card, and you only get emails if you have wifi access. There is no such access on a plane, at the airport when it's late, or on most of the streets of Ljubljana. Thus, although I had very little trouble getting to the place via airport shuttle, I had pretty much no way to get the emails I needed to check into the place. Fortunately, the bartender was able to assist me in getting these emails, and we found that getting to & into our room was a simple matter of typing numbers on a keypad. Not the best arrival at a place, but we were happy when we saw how nice our room was.||If you understand the implications of an explicit desire to minimize contact between staff & customers, this is a great...

The positive reviews on booking and Google fell short of expectations.

The hotel seems okay, but numerous minor issues prevent it from being considered ideal or good.

Self-check-in is convenient, but it comes with drawbacks. The average nightly cost is around 100 euros, excluding typical tourist taxes. However, you can't register until you pay an additional 6 euros per person.

The door opening system frequently malfunctions, responding to the QR code only 3 or 4 times.

The room is uncomfortably cold, with inadequate heating—a single radiator for the entire room that hardly works. No sign of a heater in the bedroom.

Despite the generally nice appearance of the room, there are several shortcomings: The toilet door doesn't close. Weak water pressure in the shower. Broken toilet brush. Non-functional bedside lamp. Lack of a kettle. Wall damage. Curtains don't fully close (not blackout). Some dishes are in poor condition.

What's positive? The downstairs cafe is open from 7 to 23, offering a chance to buy delicious tea since rooms lack kettles or even tea bags. Tasty breakfast. Fast Wi-Fi. Although there's no reception, a concierge is available until 19:00, providing assistance like document printing. English is spoken...

I wanted to give this place the benefit of the doubt as there are definitely some good aspects. Given the choice, I’d have marked it 2.5 out of 5. On the plus side, it’s clean, there’s a washing machine you can use, and the rooftop pool is pleasant. However, I’m confused by the advertised photos as they do not reflect the reality of this place. It’s tiny; the room was small as is the pool top area; there are just 4 sun loungers as there is no room for anymore. The pool is also tiny, so once you have around 6 people in it, it feels crowded (note, during our stay there were typically around 15 people near the pool but not really any space to sit/put your stuff. There’s a long counter top with some high stools, but they are taken by the staff who serve drinks up there in the afternoon. This last bit is pleasant so that isn’t a complaint, but interestingly there’s signs suggesting no food/drink to be in the pool area 🤷‍♀️|We also found the apartment limited in terms of basics that we’d had in our previous apartment, and of course, it looks nothing like the photos, we just had a table to sit at as there is no other...