Barcelo Old Town Praha

"Be cautious: Golden Angel Suites by Adrez Living, Praque advertises rooms with misleading photos and descriptions, then assigns guests different units after upon arrival. We booked a single-floor layout apartment with parquet floors and street views based on photos and descriptions, but we were assigned split-level with stairs, dirty and stained carpets throughout and overlooking the courtyard. We are both senior citizens, and No stairs layout and No carpeting were essential to us and strongly influenced our decision to book this unit. I am just wondering if this unit existed at all. They don’t have a reception desk. Guests must report issues through WhatsApp texting, where an AI system decides whether to respond or forward the message to a live representative. We found the process deeply frustrating and demeaning. After very long trip we spent a lot of time communicating with AI back and force instead of relaxing and enjoying our journey. Although the hotel appeared to be quiet and empty, management claimed that they were fully booked and were unable to offer any alternative apartment or make further changes to our accommodation and we will need to remain in our assigned unit for the duration of your stay. Golden Angel Suites claimed we were assigned “the same apartment category as booked but the layout can vary slightly between individual units within the same category.” We strongly disagree that Single-level and Split-level, “no carpet” and carpeted throughout are the same category units. Hotel management has never accepted any wrongdoings and ultimately blamed the discrepancies on the third-party booking platforms, even though all booking platforms available on internet showed the same information, including Adrez’s own website. The apartment we were assigned was not even shown on the company’s website and any other booking platforms on internet at the time of booking and it wasn’t there as of today. So, we didn’t even know what the price was. Could be less than we paid for the unit we booked. There are more reviews where unsatisfied guests couldn’t get the rooms they paid for or expected based on the listing photos and descriptions. Will see how quickly paid 5* reviews will appear on top of mine. We are very upset and disappointed!"

"Booked this as the final night of a trip for my elderly parents, following a great stay at sister property The Botanist. Unfortunately the room here didn’t come close to the same standard. Scuff marks ran along most of the walls, there were grease marks in places, and unidentified liquid stains on the walls in both the entrance hall and around the bed area — alongside other general signs of neglect throughout the room. None of this looked recent; it was clearly the result of long-term wear that hadn’t been addressed. We arrived after a long day of driving, tired and ready to settle in, so finding the room in this state was the last thing we needed. When raised with staff, we were told guests should expect this kind of damage since rooms can’t be repainted after every guest — a response I found hard to accept calmly, though I was not rude, just direct about my disappointment. Housekeeping staff themselves acknowledged the damage was old and wouldn’t clean off. The hotel said they were fully booked and couldn’t move my parents to another room, and offered a 10% discount instead — but no discount changes the fact the room wasn’t fit for the price, and that’s not what we were asking for. Looking at other reviews here, this seems to be a recurring issue rather than a one-off. Rooms should be properly checked and refreshed between guests, or taken off the market until they meet a reasonable standard. Disappointing given how good our previous Adrez experience was."

"Check In: In theory, easy. After booking, they immediately sent over a confirmation link where you enter your name/passport etc to check in online, and then later they sent a keycode for the doors. I am sure that, when this works, its seamless. Unfortunately, our code did not work. We called the security desk (big button on the front of the building) and a woman came out immediately. I don't think she worked for the apartments, rather as security for the building, but she put us in touch with the apartment people. They quickly issued a new code there and then. This one worked fine for the duration of our stay, no issue. One thing I will say, we booked in the morning at like 10am and when I asked if it would be okay to send the code (they usually do it within 24 hrs but we were due to be there about 3.30pm), they replied right away - and the code was sent by lunchtime. Very quick turnaround which we appreciated as it was a last minute booking. Location: Excellent! You're on the street between the Powder Tower and the Astronomical Clock and Old Town Square. Loads of restaurants around, lots of exhibitions and galleries and many shops, both high end and general. If you turn the corner to the left (when leaving the building) you have the Golden Praline (luxury Belgian chocolate), a small mini mart (crisps, booze, pop, water, basic toiletries), and if you keep going round you'll find the Hotel Pariz with its excellent art-nouveau bar/cafe (Tony's) that offers delicious food, champagne and has a piano player on select nights. Around there you'll find some high end shops, too. Turn right from leaving instead and you have the Black Madonna with excellent breakfasts, several convenience stores and small bakeries, gift shops, and a medieval tavern with entertainment. Keep going and you'll come to the Old Town square, and here you can book and be picked up for multiple tours. There's also galleries, couture shops and some lovely historic buildings around there. For eating you're spoiled for choice, but we would recommend for good Czech food Blatnice and Dvě Kachny. Ribs of Prague has massive slabs of meat and great chips. There are also Italian and Asian restaurants and multiple sweet treat shops. For drinking, the Hotel Pariz, the Piano Bar, and Hemingway were our favourites; many nice cocktails and great atmosphere. Atmosphere: The street the apartments sit on is a throughway between areas and so has a lot of foot traffic, but not really any cars. Its lively but not crazy, and we found it was quite safe. You're well within the Old Town charm without being dumped on its busier doorstep. There are cobbled walkways. The apartment block itself is clean and quiet with marble floors and big windows. Room: Very good. We got an attic room because we did not want noise from above, and we were well rewarded. It was a duplex so the downstairs had a table/chairs and small kitchenette with a microwave/stove etc. There were plenty of cups, glasses and mugs. We didn't use much down there save some glasses because we always like to eat local but its good if you need it. Good fridge, too. Upstairs was the bedroom and bathroom, both spotlessly clean and very pretty. The bed was huge and comfortable, with plenty of pillows, facing a big TV with Tivo/Netflix etc. The bathroom was spacious, towels were clean, sink was great, and I could go on about the bath for some time because it was super deep and really comfortable to soak in. There was also a shower and some complimentary shower gel. We had an excellent night's sleep each night. Our only gripe was that you couldn't keep the air con/heating off; it always auto-turned itself back on. You can turn it up or down, but not off completely. This made the rooms very dry. Noise: Its a busy walkthrough outside, but with the windows closed we didn't really hear the street. The only thing that bothered us was some work next door but that's beyond the hotel's control and typical for a city centre. It wasn't all day, just started early. Again, closed windows took the edge off this. We didn't hear a thing from the rest of the apartment block inside, which was great. Service: A bumpy check-in but all quickly rectified. For any other queries, you can Whatsapp their virtual assistant and if there's anything it can't help with, it reaches out to the actual customer team. They got back to me super quick on my enquiries. Its very minimal human interaction so if you have specialised needs/requirements that require extra attention, bear that in mind. The security lady at the front will also store your luggage securely for you, if you have an early arrival or late leave time. The two different security ladies there were very helpful. Checkout was automatic. You can also request a late checkout by email / Whatsapp. Overall this was a good location, very clean and comfortable, and great value for money. We would easily stay here again as a base to explore more of Prague."