Plaza Boutique Hotel

"I chose this hotel because it had good reviews on TripAdvisor and elsewhere but I think a lot has changed. I opted to pay in advance a non-refundable fee as it appeared good value given the great reviews. However a few days before I arrived I received an email from the hotel that they no longer had a reception or restaurant at the hotel. Access was remote by keypad with the same code for the front doors and room door. There was no way of securing the room door from the inside either, which worried me. As a solo traveller I deliberately do not choose AirBnB-type accommodation as I like the security of a 24 hour staffed reception. I also like to have a lock on the inside of the door if I am in. This all worried me a lot before I arrived but I had already paid and it was non-refundable. My room was on the 1st floor and was pleasant enough. The carpet looked a bit worn but it was quite clean. There were plenty of sockets for charging although no USB ports. There was a desk and chair but no mirror over it so not that useful as a dressing table. There was a small hanging area and shelves for storage. No hooks in the room for coats which was a disadvantage. In the room was an iron and ironing board, kettle, cups, safe, TV and fridge. This was not working. To get any kind of service you have to ring another hotel about 5 minutes walk away and someone did come and change the fridge for one that worked. The bed had two huge pillows, no normal size pillows, which were fine if you were sitting in bed watching TV but not fine for trying to sleep. The bed was two singles pushed together rather than an actual king size bed. I might have slept better if the workers working on what I think had been the breakfast restaurant did not start work before 8 am when I was there. I think they are turning it into an entirely separate restaurant but were quite noisy quite early. The TV had some sort of a fire stick which gave you the option of also watching Prime or Netflix if you logged in. I had my iPad and it would have been easier if I could have streamed from that to the TV as I have Sky Go but I couldn’t. Also as I have a basic Netflix package I couldn’t sign into the TV Netflix either, but luckily someone had left their Priime logged in! There was a decent size shower with a rain shower and hand held shower which I like, with great water pressure, and the towels appeared very new. I did hang up the towels to indicate that I did not want them changed and they kept giving me clean towels. I also put some clean towels in the cupboard so they didn’t accidentally get wet and they still kept giving me more towels!. Not a complaint just an observation. I do have a couple of complaints, the main one being a weird orange light, or rather a string of orange LED lights all around bed that didn’t ever go out! When you pressed the switch they became dimmer, but were still a little illuminated all through the night. The second complaint was about the heating or air con - I set the air con as per the instructions but don’t believe it ever worked. Event though it was set to 19, whenever I checked the room temperature was 26!! And I had to open the window to cool the room down. I would not stay here again if I visited Krakow because of my concerns about personal safety but if you are in a large group then it would be fine, the location is convenient for trams and it’s not too far to walk to the city centre."

"I stayed here on my solo holiday and this hotel has some pros and cons Pros - it’s in a good location with easy tram access and walk into old town was about 35 mins The area is very quiet The rooms are large and very clean minus some stains on carpets You don’t have cleaning people bothering you and making noise early hours The shower was very good Tv in the bedroom had Netflix / prime etc Cons - There is not reception staff and no where to store baggage so you have to walk up to sister hotel I had a maintenance man turn up at my room and come in unannounced not long after I arrived which I wasn’t made aware of which could of been a very awkward situation as I was about to get undressed. So it would have been nice for someone to have contacted me before sending him over. The aircon and heating units were both broken but I didn’t need to use them so that wasn’t a big deal The tv in the bedroom had a glitch but again was still watchable so not a big deal. All in all if you want somewhere quiet then I would recommend here but obviously if you want the whole hotel vibe with breakfast and everything then this isn’t the right hotel for you. You need a code to get in the main door , reception door and your room door and they are all the same code - this was sent via email and text. It’s basically an online check in rather checking in at reception which wasn’t an issue for me. Plenty of food places around and grocery stores there is also a really nice park and church just around the corner which is a lovely walk. I would stay here again :)"

"To be honest - this is more of a review of issues caused by Jet 2 than it is of the Hotel. That said, the current facilities leave this nowhere near the 4* is is advertised to be. We were informed 5 just weeks prior to the break that the hotel restaurant was closed for refurbishment and breakfast would be at the sister hotel 400m away. The opportunity to change hotels was given, with any difference in cost being due. However having booked in sale season, no other properties (even this one) could compare in price. In addition we had booked pick up at this address on pre-paid excursions - so moving was not really a viable option given the late notification fromJet2. So we were advises that the restaurant closed and BREAKFAST would be at the sister hotel.- what was not mentioned was that the hotel also had no reception and upon arrival we would have to call the sister hotel for door code access to the hotel. So after a few attempts, with number busy or not answered, some 20 minutes later in the rain and cold we were finally sent by text a code number to enter. PS- There is also now no bar available at the hotel which Jet 2 did not advise... Breakfast began at 7:00am - however our excursion pick up time was 7:30am meaning we were unable to walk to sister hotel and back in time for breakfast on that first morning. Breakfast delivery to room was not possible at all before 7:30. On check out we were informed that whilst the hotel provided a luggage room (standard) - this was only at the sister hotel too. So 400m with suitcases over cobbles, in the cold/rain was the only option. of course -then back again for airport transfer pick up later that day. This property is no better than an unmanned airbnb and certainly nowhere near 4* due to the lack of facilities. I believe Jet2 would have known of the refurb prior to our booking and should have amended their site to reflect this. THE HOTEL IS STILL BEING ADVERTISED AS B&B today with no mention of the sister hotel breakfast/no receptionist/no bar/no luggage room on site. If the advertising had not been mis-leading and had reflected this we would have avoided this property."