Walking. Gossip. Travel.

Tag: Accor

  • Reading – Ibis

    Reading – Ibis

    Not to be confused with the nearby Ibis Styles hotel, this complex was built on the site of the Boar’s Head pub and also contains a Novotel. But Novotel is a bit expensive for me in the UK, I’m not back in Poland now to afford that sort of decadence….. The welcome from the staff member was, well, memorable and she was so enthusiastic, but full marks for that, it’s nice for staff to make an effort. The staff member mentioned she saw my Accor profile asked for rooms higher up, but she said on this occasion she was going to give me a lower floor as they were banging about higher up with the ongoing refurbishment programme. I very much liked her “if there’s absolutely anything we can help with, just let us know”, it reminded me of Christian from Channel 4’s Hotel series (he ended up in prison though, I have much higher hopes for the kind staff here). There was a WhatsApp number that anyone could message and I’m a fan of this, I hate phones (they’re very last century) and I prefer messaging complaints using text based services, not that I had any on this occasion…..

    It’s reassuringly brand standard and that’s by no means a negative comment. Clean, functional and the same as most other Ibis hotels. The window opened, the television was modern (I actually turned it on to cast Only Fools and Horses to it from my Britbox account) and the temperature was just as I wanted it.

    The bar and lobby area, this is nicely done given the space that they’ve got available to them. The atmosphere was cosy and I liked listening to the conversation of the Polish guests nearby. Not in a nosy way, as I struggled to have a clue what they were talking about, it just reminded me of Poland, which anyone who reads this blog occasionally (and few read it regularly, so I’ll take the occasional readers) will know I frequently miss. They do offer a basic menu of food, although there is so much competition locally that I suspect they don’t have many takers.

    The welcome drink of London Pride and this is OK with me, it’s a nod towards having a proper beer and not offering me Bud or Corona.

    “We kindly ask you not to be alarmed”, seems a reasonable request.

    There was a blandness to this hotel which I found really quite reassuring, it’s a corporate and peaceful location and I didn’t have any noise issues either internally or externally. The customer service was excellent, a friendly welcome which made me feel welcome, and the prices are towards the lower end of the scale. The management felt competent, the surroundings were clean and everything seemed in its place, other than I had no idea where the stairs were to reception and got caught having to take the lift.

    I’d stay here again (and probably will) and there’s more about the hotel here.

  • Reading – Ibis Styles

    Reading – Ibis Styles

    The reviews of this Accor hotel in Reading are, being honest, dismal and they’re sitting at 3.2 out of 5, which is about the sort of territory that the dreadful hotels operated by Britannia are running at. I wasn’t expecting the most decadent of stays, as there didn’t seem much that was pointing in the right direction for this hotel.

    On the morning of the booking, the hotel phoned me, and unusually I thought I’d better answer as I didn’t want to discover that my hotel booking had been cancelled. It was the hotel asking if I really wanted two rooms, and I replied that I didn’t, but it seems that Accor took a duplicate booking due to a technical error. I should have noticed this as they did email me, but it was easy to miss and the booking didn’t duplicate on my future Accor bookings which I would have seen. Anyway, the staff member was really quite charming and said the hotel was happy to cancel one room, I just needed to phone Accor.

    And Accor were bloody dreadful. They said they couldn’t do anything about it, although they were polite whilst being annoying. This is the problem with this awful global call centre operation that they have, their call handling staff have no discretion or flexibility. If the call centre for each country was actually within the country in which their hotels were, then their call staff could have a much more personal relationship with the hotels they’re meant to be serving. In short, Accor said they couldn’t help as they had no way of contacting their own hotel. I mean, by phone I would have thought was a possible way, but apparently call centre staff aren’t allowed phones. I wasn’t best pleased with Accor at this stage.

    Anyway, I phoned the hotel back and the wonderful lady I had been speaking to answered and she clearly wasn’t going to accept this sort of nonsense from Accor. Within about three minutes an email came through from Accor confirming the cancellation of the duplicate room and the hotel called me to confirm that they’d fixed it. My impressions of the hotel had now firmly shifted from sceptical given the reviews to really liking their customer service. As an aside, Accor should have a set-up which allowed them to do this, but I was just pleased that it was all resolved.

    It’s an interesting building, it’s an old hotel that was originally known as the Ship and then became the Royal County Hotel.

    And here’s the plaque at the hotel’s entrance to prove it. The member of staff at check-in was personable and helpful, giving me all of the information that I needed about my stay. At this point I was really struggling to establish why they were picking up so many bad reviews.

    In the area at the base of the stairs, I can’t imagine when this would have last been used for coats, but it felt like part of the hotel’s history. The hotel is old and so there are windy and twisting corridors all over the place, I thought it was all quite charming.

    I stayed at this hotel twice and was given the same room on both occasions, it was Indian themed and that seems to be a throwback to before it became an Accor hotel. The decoration was quirky, but the room was clean and comfortable, so I was still wondering why the reviews were poor.

    The bathroom which wasn’t exactly modern, but it was clean and functional.

    The welcome drink arrangement is unusual, it’s offered by the Indian restaurant that now seems to be separately owned, but was once the hotel’s main restaurant area. On the first occasion a staff member asked what beer I’d like and an interfering manager behind said “it’s Cobra only” which was an unnecessary intervention I thought as I’d already said Cobra would be fine. On the second occasion, I asked for a Cobra and was surprised to see I was being given the much larger bottle. The interfering manager looked horrified, but the bottle was already open before he could stop it. There’s clearly a customer service issue here, but I’m not going to blame the hotel for that.

    As the hotel’s breakfast room now has an Indian restaurant in it, there’s a free takeaway bag offered, which unusually includes a refrigerated carton of milk instead of some odd slightly chilled UHT arrangement. I thought that the breakfast was entirely adequate and there’s a room where guests can get free coffees and teas at any time, although these facilities are also in the room.

    The customer service throughout at the hotel was impeccable and the staff here were as good as I could have expected at a higher end Accor property. Indeed, I very much liked this hotel, so I felt that a closer look was needed as to why so many other guests were annoyed at their stay.

    “If I could rate this 0 I would. The worst hotel I have ever stepped foot in. Do not waste your time or money. Staff are rude and their customer service is appalling. All rooms are awful, they were that bad I made other arrangements to stay elsewhere as I physically could not stay there. Shocking”

    This review is from a couple of days before I visited. All the rooms are clearly not awful, but I’m puzzled how one person manages to find all of the staff rude whereas the four staff that I encountered were all very customer service focused.

    “Probably the worst hotel I’ve stayed in, and i travel a lot. Broken shower holder, so water went everywhere . Water either very hot or cold. Very squeaky floor boards. Dated room and had to keep my shoes on when moving about. A-lot of drunks in the hotel keeping us awake during the night and close to the main road so also kept awake by local traffic. If you want a cheap room for a night out and don’t care where you sleep this is ideal. If you’re with your family then I suggest elsewhere. Definitely won’t recommend to anyone.”

    It is possible that this is why I had a different experience, or at least to some degree, as the room they gave me was at the rear of the hotel and near the end of a corridor, so I was far away from any noise. But perhaps I just got lucky….. There are also several reviews annoyed that no tea and coffee facilities were included, but my room had a kettle and it’s not as though I was upgraded to a suite.

    I do have some history with this hotel, as they cancelled a booking on me last year, which was disappointing, but it was a fair way in advance of the booking. They tried to transfer me to the nearby hotel but there was a mess-up with the bookings and I just gave up, which is partly why I came back this time. I’d be surprised if they remember those interactions, although I found the staff helpful then as it wasn’t their fault they were closing, but maybe they wanted to be helpful after the problems of last year.

    Either way, I liked this hotel and would happily return. It is though an older building and the set-up is old fashioned given that, it reminds me of the Ibis Styles Croydon which has a similar old hotel arrangement. For anyone who likes new and shiny, there’s the Novotel and Ibis hotel which is just around the corner, so something for everyone (or nearly everyone).

    There’s more information about the hotel here.

  • Gdansk – Ibis Gdańsk Stare Miasto (2022 Visits)

    Gdansk – Ibis Gdańsk Stare Miasto (2022 Visits)

    I stayed in this hotel a couple of years ago when I last visited Gdansk, but am posting again as I thought that my two visits on this trip were particularly positive. And when things go right, I may as well write about them……

    As is perhaps evident from these photos, I was given the same room on both my stays. I think they have a few with Espresso machines and the like, so the chances of getting the same room is higher than it might appear. Anyway, the rooms were spotlessly clean and everything was as expected.

    There was no welcome gift on my first stay, but that’s not surprising as it’s not the brand standard for Ibis to offer anything. On the second visit though things improved somewhat, with a mini bottle of red wine. I’m not really a red wine drinker, but I’m not going to refuse any hospitality and my uneducated wine palate decided it tasted quite pleasant. There was a handwritten welcome letter as well which was a kind touch.

    And the welcome drink of my choice, which was the Żywiec APA. Accor hotels in Poland do a much better job in my view than in any other country, they have a consistency to them which can perhaps only be obtained by having one company (in this case Orbis) running every hotel in the country.

    And photos of the breakfast arrangement. Some of the rolls on my second visit tasted like they’d been there a bit too long, but there was some rather delicious apple pie and there were sufficient options available. Everything is neatly arranged and the  breakfast area was clean and organised. They had pierogi, three different sausage options, beans and eggs as well for those who wanted some hot options.

    The staff here are helpful, including them being very accommodating when I needed to be on a Zoom meeting at lunch-time, with the late checkout being willingly offered for free. The hotel is located near to the city’s main railway station and about a five minute walk from the centre of the Old Town area, so all rather convenient. I don’t need to worry about parking a car, but I noticed that cost 50zl per night for anyone who needed to. There were no noise issues, either internally or externally, on either stay, with the prices being towards the lower end of the scale again. So, once again, all rather lovely.

    There’s further information about the hotel here.

  • Gdansk – Hotel Novotel Gdańsk Centrum (Repeat Visits)

    Gdansk – Hotel Novotel Gdańsk Centrum (Repeat Visits)

    I wrote about the Novotel Gdansk Centrum a couple of weeks ago after my first stay, but I made several repeat visits and it’s fair to say that I think it’s a very well run hotel. It seemed very quiet on my first visit, but things have picked up somewhat now which I’m pleased to see.

    I’ve been given a series of different rooms, one of them was a themed Japanese room.

    I’m not sure of the functionality of this themed room, especially since they took the sofa out to fit everything else in, but I do like it when hotels have an quirky element. Especially when they’re built as corporate hotels which have a brand standard, some variety added to the mix seems useful to me.

    That’s what the standard room looks like. On every occasion the room was clean and tidy, with no noise issues internally or externally on any night. I also appreciated the Nespresso coffee machine, even though I’m trying to cut my coffee consumption.

    I’ve gone through a range of welcome drinks as well, including Żywiec Porter, Żywiec APA and Żywiec IPA.

    And the assorted welcome gifts, which I always very much appreciate. In one case the manager came to the room to hand the gift over, which I was I suspect as I was given the wrong room at check-in, but whatever way, this makes me feel very welcome. The honey roasted peanuts and those truffles really are delightful.

    In case the hotel wondered where its salami and gherkins kept going, there’s the answer.

    The staff here have been friendly throughout, to the point where the helpful man who works endlessly hard judging by how often he’s at reception, now recognises me. As a hotel, it seems impeccably managed to me, there have been no problems during any of my stays and I think that it represents excellent value for money given that the prices have been so low recently. All very lovely. There’s more information about the hotel here.

  • Accor Hotels in Poland

    Accor Hotels in Poland

    I thought I’d create this list as I’ve visited a relatively large number of Accor hotels in Poland and it’s a handy way to link to my blog posts about them. I understand that all Accor hotels in Poland are operated by Orbis Hotels and they frankly are managing these hotels to a very high standard, with a much better consistency than many of the franchises in the UK which are all over the place in terms of consistency.

    I couldn’t find a list of hotels that Orbis operate in Poland, so I might have missed some off. However, this will do for a start. I’d merrily recommend any hotel operated by Orbis, my stays in Accor hotels in this country have nearly all been excellent, with some reaching exceptional standards.

     

    BIALYSTOK

    Ibis Styles Bialystok : [I’ve stayed here] – More information about the hotel

    Mercure Bialystok : [never stayed] – More information about the hotel

     

    BIELSKO BIALA

    Ibis Styles Bielsko Biala : [never stayed] – More information about the hotel

     

    BOLESLAWIEC

    Ibis Styles Boleslawiec : [never stayed] – More information about the hotel

     

    BYDGOSZCZ

    Mercure Bydgoszcz Sepia : [never stayed] – More information about the hotel

     

    CIESZYN

    Mercure Cieszyn : [never stayed] – More information about the hotel

     

    CZESTOCHOWA

    Ibis Czestochowa : [I’ve stayed here] – More information about the hotel

    Mercure Czestochowa : [never stayed] – More information about the hotel

     

    GDANSK / GDYNIA / SOPOT

    Ibis Gdansk Stare Miasto : [I’ve stayed here] – More information about the hotel

    Mercure Gdansk Posejdon : [never stayed] – More information about the hotel

    Mercure Gdansk Stare Miasto : [never stayed] – More information about the hotel

    Mercure Gdynia Centrum : [I’ve stayed here] – More information about the hotel

    Novotel Gdansk Centrum : [I’ve stayed here] – More information about the hotel

    Novotel Gdansk Marina : [I’ve stayed here] – More information about the hotel

    Rezydent Sopot MGallery : [never stayed] – More information about the hotel

    Sofitel Grand Sopot : [never stayed] – More information about the hotel

     

    GNIEZNO

    Ibis Styles Gniezno Stare Miasto : [never stayed] – More information about the hotel

     

    GRUDZIADZ

    Ibis Styles Grudziadz : [I’ve stayed here] – More information about the hotel

     

    JELENIA GORE

    Mercure Jelenia Gore : [never stayed] – More information about the hotel

     

    KARPACZ SKALNY

    Mercure Karpacz Skalny : [never stayed] – More information about the hotel

     

    KATOWICE

    Ibis Budget Katowice Centrum : [I’ve stayed here] – More information about the hotel

    Ibis Katowice Zabrze : [never stayed] – More information about the hotel

    Mercure Katowice Centrum : [never stayed] – More information about the hotel

    Novotel Katowice Centrum : [never stayed] – More information about the hotel

     

    KRAKOW

    Bachleda Luxury Hotel : [never stayed] – More information about the hotel

    Ibis Budget Krakow Bronowice: [I stayed here in 2016, but it was just before I started the blog] – More information about the hotel

    Ibis Budget Krakow Stare Miasto : [never stayed] – More information about the hotel

    Ibis Krakow Centrum : [I’ve stayed here] – More information about the hotel

    Ibis Krakow Stare Miasto : [I’ve stayed here but didn’t write about it] – More information about the hotel

    Ibis Styles Krakow Centrum : [never stayed] – More information about the hotel

    Ibis Styles Krakow East : [never stayed] – More information about the hotel

    Mercure Krakow Fabryczna City : [never stayed] – More information about the hotel

    Mercure Krakow Stare Miasto : [never stayed] – More information about the hotel

    Novotel Krakow Centrum : [never stayed] – More information about the hotel

    Novotel Krakow City West : [never stayed] – More information about the hotel

     

    KRYNICA ZDROJ

    Mercure Krynica Zdroj : [never stayed] – More information about the hotel

     

    LODZ

    Ibis Lodz Centrum : [I stayed here in 2018, but it was just before I started the blog] – More information about the hotel

    Novotel Lodz Centrum : [never stayed] – More information about the hotel

     

    LUBLIN

    Ibis Styles Lublin Stare Miasto : [never stayed] – More information about the hotel

    Mercure Lublin Centrum : [I stayed here in 2016, but it was just before I started the blog] – More information about the hotel

     

    NOWY SACZ

    Ibis Styles Nowy Sacz : [never stayed] – More information about the hotel

     

    NOWY TARG

    Ibis Styles Nowy Targ : [never stayed] – More information about the hotel

     

    OPOLE

    Mercure Opole : [I’ve stayed here] – More information about the hotel

     

    PIOTRKOW

    Hotel Mercure Piotrkow Tryb. Vestil : [never stayed] – More information about the hotel

     

    POZNAN

    Ibis Poznan Centrum : [never stayed] – More information about the hotel

    Ibis Poznan Polnoc : [I’ve stayed here] – More information about the hotel

    Ibis Poznan Stare Miasto : [I’ve stayed here but didn’t post about it] – More information about the hotel 

    Mercure Poznan Centrum : [never stayed] – More information about the hotel

    Novotel Poznan Centrum : [never stayed] – More information about the hotel

    Novotel Poznan Malta : [never stayed] – More information about the hotel

     

    RACLAWICE

    Mercure Raclawice : [never stayed] – More information about the hotel

     

    SIEDLCE

    Ibis Styles Siedlce : [never stayed] – More information about the hotel

     

    SZCZECIN

    Ibis Szczecin Centrum : [I’ve stayed here but before the blog] – More information about the hotel

    Novotel Szczecin Centrum : [never stayed] – More information about the hotel

     

    TOMASZOW LUBELSKI

    Ibis Styles Tomaszow Lubelski : [never stayed] – More information about the hotel

     

    TORUN

    Ibis Budget Torun : [I’ve stayed here] – More information about the hotel

    Mercure Torun Centrum : [never stayed] – More information about the hotel

     

    WALBRZYCH

    Ibis Styles Walbrzych : [never stayed] – More information about the hotel

     

    WARSAW

    Ibis Budget Warsaw Centrum : [I’ve stayed here] – More information about the hotel

    Ibis Budget Warsaw Reduta : [never stayed] – More information about the hotel

    Ibis Styles Warsaw Centrum : [I’ve stayed here] – More information about the hotel

    Ibis Styles Warsaw City : [I’ve stayed here] – More information about the hotel

    Ibis Styles Warsaw West : [I’ve stayed here] – More information about the hotel

    Ibis Warsaw Centrum : [I’ve stayed here] – More information about the hotel

    Ibis Warsaw Ostrobramska : [I’ve stayed here] – More information about the hotel

    Ibis Warsaw Reduta : [I’ve stayed here] – More information about the hotel

    Ibis Warsaw Stare Miasto : [I’ve stayed here] – More information about the hotel

    Mercure Warsaw Airport : [I’ve stayed here] – More information about the hotel

    Mercure Warsaw Centrum : [I’ve stayed here] – More information about the hotel

    Mercure Warsaw Grand : [never stayed] – More information about the hotel

    Mercure Warsaw Ursus : [I’ve stayed here] – More information about the hotel

    Novotel Warsaw Airport : [I’ve stayed here] – More information about the hotel

    Novotel Warsaw Centrum : [I’ve stayed here] – More information about the hotel

    Raffles Warsaw : [never stayed] – More information about the hotel

    Sofitel Warsaw Victoria : [I’ve stayed here] – More information about the hotel

     

    WIAZOWNA

    Mercure Wiazowna Brant : [never stayed] – More information about the hotel

     

    WROCLAW

    Bridge MGallery : [never stayed] – More information about the hotel

    Ibis Budget Wroclaw Poludnie :  [I stayed here in 2017, but it was before I started the blog] – More information about the hotel

    Ibis Budget Wroclaw Stadion : [never stayed] – More information about the hotel

    Ibis Styles Wroclaw Centrum : [never stayed] – More information about the hotel

    Ibis Wroclaw Centrum : [never stayed] – More information about the hotel

    Mercure Wroclaw Centrum : [never stayed] – More information about the hotel

    Novotel Wroclaw City : [never stayed] – More information about the hotel

    Novotel Wroclaw Centrum : [never stayed] – More information about the hotel

     

    ZAKOPANE

    Mercure Zakopane : [never stayed] – More information about the hotel

  • Sopot – Novotel Gdansk Marina

    Sopot – Novotel Gdansk Marina

    I thought that I’d come to Sopot for the day as I wanted to walk along some of the coastline here, which was a successful little afternoon outing for a couple of hours. More on that in another post.

    This Novotel was relatively expensive, coming in at around £40 per night, but I haven’t been to this particular hotel before and it was handily located near Sopot.

    I thought that this was a really beautiful room, clean, modern, in keeping with the sea and quite uplifting. I don’t want to sound like Alex Polizzi, but the cushions on the bed probably shouldn’t be there, as they are going to be thrown on the floor and can’t easily be cleaned. However, that’s one minor negative comment given that I had a suitably glorious room which was really very comfortable.

    And the welcome gift of a mini bottle of wine. I’m not a huge connoisseur of wine, but it’s a lovely little gift.

    And some juices in the fridge as well. My only complaint with the room is that the switches by the bed not only turn off the lights in the room, but also all of the plug sockets. I noticed this in the morning when my laptop was at 0% charge, which wasn’t ideal. I suspect it might be because otherwise elements such as the fridge would remain lit up, but it wasn’t what I expected.

    A plan of Gdansk on the wall, to add to the local theme.

    I initially wondered why there was a gin menu for children, until I realised that was the name of the hotel’s restaurant. Lots of clarity here as well, often Accor hotels don’t put menus in the room, but here the offering of pizza and fish dishes were tempting.

    The highlight of my room was though the view from the window, as the reception staff had very kindly put me on the top floor (the eighth floor) in one of the handful of rooms that was fully facing the Baltic Sea (or more technically I think the Gulf of Gdansk). It was a murky day, but I wondered if it was possible to see Russia on a sunny day, as the city of Kaliningrad isn’t far along the coast.

    The same view by night. They’re not easily visible on the photo (although are clearer when clicking on the image to make it larger), but there are lots of lights from the freight ships.

    One of the areas near reception for children. I think it’s a useful time to say here that my Accor Platinum status proves its value in stays like this, as the upgrade to such a lovely room made it a much nicer experience than say a room at the end of the first floor corridor looking mostly towards the road. For my £45 (room stay and evening meal) I received an excellent room, a welcome gift of wine and soft drinks, a drinks voucher for a local beer, a pizza, breakfast and a room with a Nespresso coffee machine. I’m prepared to accept that was very reasonable value for money.

    This is one of the best designed hotels that I’ve seen in a while. They’ve pushed the reception desk to one side and created a large public space at the front of the hotel. This bar is easily visible to one side and some thought has been put into how it looks, really quite successfully.

    And more credit to the hotel here, they’ve made the effort to find some local beers, which is not a common occurrence in Accor Hotels (although Orbis do a much better job with this in Poland than the operators in the UK). It’s a dark IPA called Festiwalowe from Browar Miejski Sopot, and was a perfectly decent beer. Also, credit to the staff member who served me for not only speaking fluent English, but also being knowledgeable about the beer options.

    My camera has once again distorted the size of this to make it look smaller, it was a Salami Piccante pizza with jalapenos, which all had a pleasant flavour and the dough tasted of a good quality as well. Not badly priced at just over £5, I was half tempted to order another one, but that might have been a bit greedy.

    The breakfast selection was standard fare for Novotel, although they had a few things that I don’t normally see, more on which in a moment. It got busy later on, I think for a BNI event, so my friend Richard would have felt right at home. There was plenty of space for the food and drink selection, but the breakfast room did get completely full just as I was leaving. I mentioned to a couple nearby they could have my table as I was leaving, but I felt a little sorry for the family that looked quite confused and couldn’t find a table. The staff were on hand to help, which was all very attentive, but I was surprised just how busy it got and I wasn’t quite sure where that family was put.

    As an aside, this is the first Accor or IHG hotel I’ve seen in over a year that requires guests to use disposable gloves. I’m really not sure that they make much difference to anything, given the amount of handling people give them to try and get them on. It did though add to the perception of cleanliness in the hotel, with staff often busy cleaning things.

    My little breakfast selection, rolls, salami, gherkins, cheese and the like, alongside tea, orange juice and a heap of fruit in a bowl which wasn’t the highlight of the arrangement if I’m being honest.

    I only noticed they had different doughnuts towards the end of my breakfast, but I felt it only right to try one of each. They were suitably decadent and I might have had more if I wasn’t already full from trying to eat fruit. I’m not sure I’ve seen these in an Accor hotel recently, but their appearance should be more commonplace as everyone knows doughnuts are an essential part of breakfast.

    Anyway, this was a really well managed hotel and I was very pleased with my room and its view. The staff were all friendly, personable and attentive, and everything felt like it was under control in all parts of the hotel. It was really quite marvellous to hear nothing other than the sea crashing onto the beach during the night, all peaceful and calming.

  • Gdansk – I Am Polishing My Polish

    Gdansk – I Am Polishing My Polish

    I got this at the Hotel Novotel Gdańsk Centrum and I rather liked it as a Do Not Disturb hanger for the door. Nice touch I thought.

  • Gdansk – Hotel Novotel Gdańsk Centrum

    Gdansk – Hotel Novotel Gdańsk Centrum

    This is a new Accor hotel to me, the centrally located Novotel Gdansk, which has rooms at relatively low prices at the moment, around £25 per night. Given that Novotel is hardly the budget brand of Accor, that’s a very reasonable price. This is a view of the hotel’s gardens, although some imagination has to be used at the moment.

    The large foyer with its football tables and other distractions for guests, including a number of games consoles. The check-in process was efficient, although I had to wait for a staff member to arrive as if they didn’t expect many guests, although more on that later. All very welcoming though and everything seemed clean and organised.

    A functional and clean room, with a sofa and all the facilities that I would expect. There were no internal or external noise issues at all, so everything was peaceful.

    The welcome gift which I’ve had numerous times before, but I’m always pleased to see it in the room as it’s a handy snack.

    Woooo, a Nespresso machine. OK, I’m easily pleased.

    It felt only appropriate to go for the Żywiec Porter as my welcome drink on my first night back in Poland. It tasted exactly the same as it did a few weeks ago, so all to the good….

    The breakfast buffet arrangement, a very decent selection of cold meats, cheeses and the like. They also asked me if I wanted any eggs cooked and I opted for fried eggs, but I can’t recall being asked this question at an Accor hotel before other than the Sofitel in Warsaw. Which brings me to the situation that I’ve never stayed at an Accor hotel where I haven’t seen another guest, whether at check-in, in the public areas or at breakfast. That did explain the lack of noise issue in the hotel, it all felt a little odd.

    The lack of other guests meant that I had the entire breakfast selection to myself for the 40 minutes that I was there. This usually sounds a lovely thought for convenience and not being annoyed by other guests, but it did feel strange. Anyway, everything was clean and comfortable, so all to the good.

    The reviews aren’t quite as positive as I’d expected and this mostly seems to be down to the rooms being dated. I’m not sure that I understand that from my room, but it’s possible they’re started to renovate and update them and I had a newer decor.

    On a different issue, there was this 1 out of 5 review from a seemingly livid customer:

    “i delivered food to my hotel room ,two days in row,first day it was no problem,the delivery guy comes to my door,second day I order food from wolt again,and the receptionionist calls me and says my food is here,i say ok.do he deliver on my door,then she just hangs up the phone,and i think ok,they will probably come,i wait 5 minutes and still no food on my door,so i go to reception ,and there my food was , and i ask why does he not deliver on door,she say deliverer cannot deliver on room door cause he is not guest,then the whole point of food delivery is wasted.i have never had any problems with having food deliveried to my hotelroom door,and have done it many countries before.”

    On a different matter I was talking to a Deliveroo driver a few weeks ago about this issue and he mentioned that there are a minority of people in hotels who are like this and demand their driver tries to navigate around a hotel through all the security precautions. He has taken to asking everyone ordering at hotels to wait at the front of the building or in reception to collect the food, which seems a very reasonable request to me. It seems very harsh to be so rude to a hotel and attempt to mark them down for trying to keep their hotel secure. But, I’ve digressed again here.

    I had absolutely no complaints about this stay, especially at the low prices that they’re charging, and I’m back at the hotel a couple more times over the next week and perhaps it’ll be a little busier.

  • Warsaw – Ibis Styles Warszawa Centrum

    Warsaw – Ibis Styles Warszawa Centrum

    I’ve stayed at this relatively new hotel before, it’s not really that central, but I liked it previously. It’s also next door, and indeed the hotel is visible to the left in the above photo, to the Ibis Budget that I stayed in last week. The check-in was swift and efficient, with a slightly early check-in being possible which was useful.

    The room is colourful and I like this sense of informality and fun.

    The shower arrangement wouldn’t be ideal for everyone, where a curtain can open it up to the rest of the room.

    The view of the ceiling from the bed. It’s definitely not for everyone, but it is better in my view to sterile and dull. Incidentally, despite this being a new build hotel, they did have windows that open, which is now a requirement of mine in hotels (although it’s sometimes hard to work out which ones have sealed up rooms, but fortunately it’s very few Accor hotels in Poland).

    The welcome gift, these chocolate pastries were delicious.

    I went to the bar to get a welcome drink and was pleased to be offered a choice of five craft beers, as well as the more standard options that are available in Accor hotels. This is a great little enterprise and is a change to when I last visited and had no decent choice at all.

    The breakfast in the morning is included in the room rate and it’s all a little oddly laid out in the space that they have. I found it slightly illogically laid out, but I often find things complex so that didn’t concern me. Some of the items weren’t perhaps of the best quality, although they’ve got a lot of fruit for guests to make juices from which is a decent idea. They’ve also got the honey arrangement that I’ve only previously seen at the Crowne Plaza in Dublin where I stayed a few weeks ago. There were some hot items as well such as scrambled eggs and sausages, although these didn’t look overly appealing. Anyway, there was plenty of choice and other guests seemed happy.

    I liked this whole hotel and paid for it using the Accor rewards points offer, so that was all rather handy. It was spotlessly clean throughout and the staff were always helpful. I thought it was slightly odd that coffee is provided downstairs free of charge at all times, but they provide kettles and tea in the rooms. This is a hotel that I’d come back to though, a really quite lovely stay and there were no noise issues either internally or externally.

  • Warsaw – Mercure Warszawa Centrum

    Warsaw – Mercure Warszawa Centrum

    I’m still working around the last few Accor hotels in Warsaw that I haven’t been to, although this is the last new one of this trip. There’s some odd naming of Accor locations in Warsaw, this one is central, but nowhere near the Ibis Styles Warsaw Centrum or the Ibis Budget Warsaw Centrum, but it is vaguely near (but not close) to Ibis Warsaw Centrum. Anyway, now that’s clear.

    Copyright: Accor Hotels

    For reasons unknown, I forgot for the first time in a long time to take a photo of the room. So, here’s the Accor photo of a similar room…… They didn’t tell me that they’d upgraded me at reception, but they had, this is called an Executive Room I think.

    I did remember to take a photo of this impressive picture above the bed though.

    The view from the hotel room of the neighbouring offices and the Złote Tarasy shopping centre.

    The welcome gift of a large chocolate and fruit, all nicely wrapped up.

    I always like a nice selection of Nespresso coffees, adds a touch of decadence to arrangements.

    And some complimentary drinks in the fridge, and I liked that there was a sign pointing out that they were free, otherwise I’d just worry.

    This signage is a sensible idea as I assume plenty of people have complained about the air conditioning, but essentially, it stops working when the hotel key card is removed and the window is opened.

    My go-to welcome drink of Żywiec Porter in the hotel’s restaurant. I liked that the staff pointed out at check-in that I could have 10% off in the restaurant and put a menu in the room, which was all quite tempting.

    The hotel is well-reviewed on-line and I can find nearly no negative reviews that seem reasonable or are even about the right hotel. And if I sometimes think I’m picky, there are reviews such as this:

    “I am again and each time it gets worse and worse, no disposable slippers, where they were always in the wardrobe before, no cold drinks in the glaciers, before that there was always apple and orange juice in a glass bottle, only one water was left in the room where two people were checked in still for two people, for two people there are two tiny shower gels, so one person can take only one shower in the evening and no gel in the morning. The wardrobe also lacks a set of needle and thread where it has always been.”

    I’m not sure I’d leave 1/5 on a web-site review after a series of positive experiences because of things such as not enough shower gels/shampoos (there would have been four) and no needle and thread, all of which reception could have fixed. Or the very angry guest who arrived at 13:30 and was furious they couldn’t access their room before the quoted time of 15:00, apparently that deserved 1/5 too. I have no idea how hotel managers cope with this nonsense. Anyway, I digress.

    This was another excellent Accor hotel and up there amongst my favourites in the city, although I like nearly all of them to be fair. Friendly staff, clean rooms, well designed building and all really rather lovely. The hotel room was also nearly free as I used up some more of my reward points from the recent Accor offer.

    And more about the hotel and to book it…..