Tuesday 12 October 2010

Hotel Review: Hilton Prague Old Town

The Hilton Prague Old Town was chosen for a number of reasons. Whilst no longer fanatically devoted to the HHonors scheme, I still prefer to keep a healthy balance, so if there's a reasonably priced Hilton in town, I tend to use it.

Prague has two Hiltons, both Old Town and the "original" Hilton Prague (near Florenc Metro) were within a similar price band. I've stayed a couple of times at the Hilton Prague and it has one of the best lounges in Europe, however, it is a little more out of the city than the Old Town Hotel and I had a bit of fun with the bill last time.

As this trip was primarily to get pictures of Prague, I decided to try the Old Town.

Check-In was above average, my elite status was recognised and an upgrade was given. I was asked if I needed newspapers, wakeup calls or a reservation for dinner.

The room was on the ninth floor and of a reasonable size, I've had bigger and I've had smaller. I prefer not to rattle round. The decor was fine, corporate bland, there was a decent sized desk, a "comfy" chair and a good king-sized bed. The bathroom, whilst perfectly serviceable, looked jaded and a little outdated. Storage room was fine for hanging things, but very poor for non-hanging things. The luggage rack was good in that it was large, but strange in that it was a chunk of plastic coming out from the wall which didn't feel in keeping with the rest of the room. The heating/Ac controls were only mildly confusing to a geezer like me and the Heating/AC fans proved to be reasonably quiet.

As it turned out, the bed was extremely comfortable and I slept extremely well. It was also more comfortable than the chair for general lounging whilst reading a book. Whilst jaded, the bathroom was fine, although the loo roll had obviously been sourced from the German Hiltons due to its sandpapery tendency. Housekeeping were very good and offered turndown service on all three nights - declined on one as I was just out of the bath, a small tip was left in appreciation.

I had access to the Executive lounge, which whilst not as nice as the one at the Prague Hilton, was fine for my purposes, there was a decent breakfast each morning with staff offering hot drinks. Whilst the bread was a bit naff (too many stays in Germany), the rest of the offer was fine, I usually had apple juice, a bit of fresh fruit, ham, cheese and bread. In the afternoon, there was cakes and small sandwiches available - the small sandwiches were unmemorable, the cakes were rather nice. In the evenings, the lounge was quite busy and there was a wide selection of drinks, cold nibbles and hot nibbles. The hot nibbles were a bit *meh*, but there were some nicely done cold snacks on a stick. Except for the Saturday evening, it was not crowded.

I didn't bother with any of the other hotel facilities, the bar looked fairly empty and I dislike formal dining alone, although the restaurant did look more interesting than the usual standard from Hilton.

Check-Out was a little perfunctory but pleasant, I was offered a taxi, but declined choosing to take the bus that goes from just outside the hotel. All in all, I would happily return.

Good: Bed, Desk, Lounge
Bad: Storage Space in Room, Bathroom Decor

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