Walking. Gossip. Travel.

Tag: Novotel Warszawa Centrum

  • Warsaw – Novotel Warszawa Centrum (Repeat Visit)

    Warsaw – Novotel Warszawa Centrum (Repeat Visit)

    I’ve visited the Novotel in Warsaw several times before, including last year during the period between the lockdowns. The service then, as with my previous stays, was excellent and so I was in the city for my birthday this year, I thought that I’d stay here. It later occurred to me that this might have been a mistake, as there’s nothing like previously high expectations being dashed. However, all was well, and indeed the service was as impeccable as ever.

    On the morning of the booking I received an email from the hotel saying that I’d been upgraded. I’ve never had a hotel tell me this in advance and it seems a really quite clever thing to do, as the guest gets a warm glow of knowing the room will be better than paid for several hours ahead of their check-in. The check-in process itself when I arrived at the hotel was efficient and the staff member was personable and welcoming, and I appreciated the happy birthday comment.

    My room was on one of the top floors and I had hoped before booking that it would overlook the Palace of Culture, as those views over the city are some of the finest from any hotel that I’ve stayed in. Richard had booked into the hotel the day before and had been upgraded to a larger room which was also rather lovely, so he was equally pleased with the whole arrangement.

    I was delighted to see this view from my window and, perhaps rather sadly, I enjoy watching all of the trams, cars and buses shuttling about.

    The same view at night.

    And the hotel had gone far beyond what they needed to, with a slice of birthday cake (which was delicious) and some welcome gifts and a letter. It’s fair to say that this was really rather lovely and touching. As an aside, the cake seemed to have just been placed there, and I suspect that the call made by the receptionist to someone during check-in might have been them arranging for it to be brought to the room or at least checking that it was there. Either way, this is a nice thing to see when arriving.

    These were absolutely delicious, suitably decadent and they went well with the provided Nespresso coffees.

    The Żywiec Porter which was my welcome drink from the hotel. The member of staff in the bar was polite and helpful, bringing the drinks over to the table for us. Richard had saved his welcome drink up from his check-in the night before, and apparently was pleased with his wine option.

    The room was a little expensive by Polish standards, coming in at £55 per night without breakfast, but I very much like the welcome and comfort of the hotel so I think it’s very good value for money. And as a choice for my birthday, I was very pleased with the entire process, all really rather lovely and I appreciated the e-mail on the morning of check-in telling me I had been upgraded and they were looking forwards to welcoming me back. I think I’ve been to something like 100 Accor hotels, and the Novotel Warsaw is as far as I’m concerned the best managed of any of those locations. Really quite marvellous.

    And here’s a link to book and find out more.

  • Warsaw – Novotel Warszawa Centrum

    Warsaw – Novotel Warszawa Centrum

    I’ve stayed at this Novotel before and it was a well-run hotel and so I decided to make it my final accommodation choice for this stay in Warsaw. It’s centrally located and near to the railway station so I can get the train back to the airport.

    The room was upgraded and this was clean, comfortable and had excellent views. It seems to have been modernised relatively recently and it was functional with plenty of power points. I never turn TVs on in hotel rooms, but it was a noticeably decent size.

    The staff member at check-in was helpful and humorous, so that was a rather positive first impression. I wasn’t much bothered when he spoke to his colleague in Polish as I could understand it was something about broken IT, but he then apologised for this and said he hadn’t meant to speak in Polish in front of an English guest. Not that Poles should have to apologise for speaking Polish anyway.

    This was the welcome gift bag offered by the hotel, orange juice, some sort of tea thing in a tube and meringues. I noticed when I got to the room that the hotel hadn’t given me the welcome drink voucher, but I decided the orange juice would suffice as I was on the 25th floor and didn’t fancy going straight back down.

    The view from the room and there are some more photos here. Last time I stayed my room pointed the other way and this time I was hoping to get a view of the Palace of Culture and Science building, which is the entirely out of place Soviet style building on the right of the photo. I probably should have just asked at reception to get a room pointing this way, but it didn’t matter, as I was in luck anyway.

    The breakfast is no longer self-service, but staff serve customers what they want from the hot and cold options. It all worked efficiently and there weren’t any queues when I was there, but I look forwards to the time when this isn’t necessary. The hotel has usefully put a QR code in the room so that guests can find out about various elements of their stay, this is the only one I’ve stayed at which has done this.

    And my selection, although I went back for more rolls and croissants. The signage for items was clear, so it was useful to know what I could order from each staff member.

    So, that’s the end of my Warsaw trip in terms of accommodation and I managed to stay in seven hotels, six of them Accor and this was the only one that I had stayed in before. And it was certainly one of the best, everything was clean, professional and comfortable. I was also pleased that it’s possible to open the window, it’s quite relaxing to hear the noises of the city. There is perhaps something ridiculous about when hotels spend a fortune in sound-proofing their rooms only for bloody guests like me commenting they like hearing the road noise, but there we go.

    Hopefully I’ll stay at this Novotel again…..

  • Warsaw – Views from Novotel Warszawa Centrum

    Warsaw – Views from Novotel Warszawa Centrum

    More on the rather lovely Novotel Warszawa Centrum in another post later, but these were the views from the room. I was very pleased with this, although intrigued how that poster on the hotel opposite seemed to disappear over the hours….