"It's very difficult to rate the experience accurately.
On the plus side:
The rooms were spacious, the bed comfortable, the breakfast better than anticipated, all of the staff welcoming and lovely and the proximity ideal.
On the negative side:
The rooms were clean, but really needed a general deep clean, especially the shower heads, corners etc, and the carpets were well worn/discoloured.
To enter the 'hotel', which shared space with a number of businesses and private dwellings, it was necessary to unlock the front door by using a keypad code. We failed miserably...twice! We are not total dinosaurs, but we are older and less tech savvy than other people.
The reception area is small but the young man who greeted us was very pleasant and professional, as our rooms were not quite ready. Unfortunately, my friend's room was situated on the 2nd floor and mine on the 5th, at the front of the building.
Again it was necessary to use a key code, this time 6 numbers! Thank goodness for mobile phones on which to save the number and instructions!
Having been out for an evening meal we returned (again failing with the front door)
and were fortunate to be let in by someone exiting the property.
A huge negative is the inaccessiblity to a member of the hotel staff, after 7pm. I would never again choose a hotel without a 24 hour reception. Here's why.
On the first night my TV didn't work. After breakfast I asked if it could be fixed and the reception staff went with me to check it out. It didn't work so she was going to get someone to sort it out while we were out. We had taken a trip to Auschwitz and didn't return to the hotel until after 9.30pm. This time we did manage the front door!
I went to my room on the 5th floor, pressed in the key code, the mechanism made it's usual unlocking sound, but the handle would not open the door. This was the start of a very arduous attempt to get hotel support. I had no battery left on my phone.
Using my friend's phone we managed to get an answer to our call...eventually...and the staff didn't believe I had done things properly to use the keypad. She asked us to return to my room...1 lift down, walk to lift at the front of the hotel, another lift up...and as we stated, it didn't work. She digitally changed the key code but that didn't work. We returned to my friend's room and waited while the member of staff contacted 'her manager' to see what to do. After 20 minutes or so we were instructed to go downstairs, fine a key lockbox, photograph the keys, identify the key to the reception office and go inside to fine another key box in order to use the master keys to the room. At this point we were horrified to find that the keys to my room were not on their corresponding numbered hook! The response on relaying that information was that they didn't really use the number system, and we found the keys elsewhere in the box. Back up to the 5th floor...no joy whatsoever. Back to my friend's room, where we awaited further instructions!
Eventually, I was offered the room next door to my friends, so I had a bed for the night. No clothes, toiletries, my meds and phone charging cable though.
After a sleepless night, and still in the previous days clothes, I waited for the reception staff to arrive...after 9am. We went back to my room and the door would not open. Eventually a man arrived to try to fix the lock. He opened the room for me to get all of my belongings and I returned to my new room, where the key code didn't work! It had been cancelled at 11am as I wasn't registered as being the occupant.
After this exhausting process, we enjoyed the remainder of our day in the old town and experienced a Chopin recital in the evening.
In this technological age, you wouldn't expect any of the above to happen, and if it did, you would hope that the hotel's management were more 'available' to assist you.
The door lack mechanism was completely replaced!!!"
