Negative experiences in Budapest
Written: May 01 '05
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Some things are the same 16 years later
Cons: Some unfriendly people, spoiled food, hotel dispute
The Bottom Line: My daughter said never again to Budapest and I agreed.
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| andika's Full Review: Hungary |
We were 16 years ago in Budapest at the Novotel Congress and my daughter wanted to go back there because of their warm and nice indoor pool so I booked rooms again at Expedia.com. 16 years ago we tried the hotel Gellért's pool which was icy cold and the hotel Termál's pool on the Margit Sziget, which was also icy cold!
She wanted to add a day more later so I wrote the hotel directly which the Tourist Manager of the Novotel Congress replied to by email. When we arrived we were taken to the 7th floor to a non smoking room with a king size bed although I had ordered a smoker's room with 2 beds. First the receptionist said there is nothing else free on that floor and he was wondering if I really ordered a room with 2 beds! He went to check and I looked for my printed out receipt that my daughter took downstairs. She was rudely handled by the other receptionist downstairs which made her reply with a loud remark in English that made other tourists look up.
Later the young receptionist came back, apologized and gave us the requested room at the 2nd floor, he also asked which wine we like and brought up a bottle of (very dry) white wine as consolation. The pool was the same as we remembered, the bartender a very nice person so we enjoyed that part of the hotel.
Only when we checked out and got the same nice receptionist was the next surprise, he asked me if we really had breakfast every day which is charged with $ 20.- each person. I said we never did so he took it off from our bill and I paid the rest in cash that were some drinks from the mini bar and a bill from their restaurant and phone calls. At the pool bar I always have paid cash.
Our trip has other negative experiences, my daughter got very sick on the first day at the very busy Turkish buffet restaurant Szeráj so the whole trip was spoiled and we couldn't go to see the Castle as planned nor anything else, she had to stay in the hotel.
The last negative experience occurred at the airport where I was forced to check in my carry-on, the British Airways customer service lady being rude telling me it's not as in the US that everything is allowed, never mind that I offered to pay for the plus weight (it was 13kg and she said only 7 is allowed in Europe) she was complaining about. I offered to check the laptop and told her I had inherited some porcelain figurines from my mother at whose funeral we were in Budapest! She said they don't guarantee for the laptop but she will put a Fragile tag on the carry on with the figurines that she insisted to be checked in. 2 of my favorite figurines broke!
Recommended:
No
Best Suited For: Couples
Best Time to Travel Here: Mar - May
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Epinions.com ID:
andika
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Reviews written: 1
Trusted by: 0 members
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