I just finished my third – and surely not the last – stay at the Sofitel Budapest Chain Bridge, first time as a Platinum member. I’m absolutely satisfied with the stay. For the first time I felt that having a Platinum card actually means something. I became Platinum five months ago and have since then stayed at a bunch of Accor’s hotels, including some Sofitels, but this stay was extremely comfortable.
Which room did you book and which upgrade did you receive?
I booked a superior room (second lowest category) and received suite (four category higher). I didn’t even have to beg for it.
How are the rooms?
I’m not sure what type of suite we had. We were told that it’s a prestige suite but I’m not really sure about that since there are bigger corner suites in this hotel. However, our suite on the 5th floor was really nice. It consisted of separate bedroom and living room. Bathroom was cramped and it had only bathtub without walk-in shower. The suite also had sofa set, large writing desk, two big flat-screen TVs, Bose audio system in both rooms, and Nespresso machine with good amount of coffee capsules. Good sleep was guaranteed by soft-like-a-cloud My Bed. The lovely bath amenities were from Hermes’ collection. Four bottles of still water were waiting for us in the room. On the second day we had to call to housekeeping to replace the water. Despite the comfort, the suite started show wear and tear. The view from two huge bay windows was amazing: Chain Bridge, Buda hill and close park.
What was good?
- Flawless Platinum recognition. Decent upgrade and other Platinum benefits were provided without need to say or remind anything.
- The hotel has both nice executive lounge and spa with big swimming pool and two saunas. A rather rare sight in Europe.
- The atrium of this hotel and views from windows amazes me every single time.
What was bad?
- No turndown service at all. We were apologized when mentioned this during check out.
- No newspaper provided although it’s a benefit for Platinum and Gold members in Sofitel. Not a big deal, however, since we found newspapers at the lounge and at breakfast.
- No more sparkling wine at breakfast (they used to serve it during weekends)
- Free wifi was very fast but it stopped working on the last evening and wasn’t fixed until the next morning.
Did you get club lounge access? How was the lounge?
We were escorted to the lounge on the 8th floor to check in. The lounge itself was very nice as other flyer talkers and I have reported earlier. However, food remains the same. Only cakes were different. The lounge was extremely busy this time, some food ran out and customers had to remind the staff about it. When I asked some more chocolate pralines I was told they don’t have anymore. Soon after that one of the lounge ladies brought her own Lindt chocolate bar to me. I tried to decline but she insisted me to take it. But how can’t they have food enough…
What about welcome drinks, welcome amenities or any other special perks?
We arrived at 11:30AM and were told that our room was ready already. Checking in was fast, took max 5 minutes, and we didn’t need to show any ID. Two vouchers for welcome drinks were handed over. We were also offered two glasses of sparkling wine while waiting the check in to be done. The vouchers were usable for juice, soft drinks, local beer or local house wines, just as before. Fruit platter and few goodies with welcome note signed by a front office manager were waiting for us in the room. Fruits and sweets were replaced next day. Late check out was first granted until 2PM but on the day of departure we were told that we can keep the room until 4PM if we wished. We were also able to stay at the lounge as long as we wanted after checking out.
Value for €? Would you return?
Really good value for money. Booked a rate without breakfast and paid about 125 euros per night. Since we had the lounge access, we got free breakfast and were able to choose to have it either in the lounge or downstairs in the restaurant. I could any time go back to Budapest just because of this hotel. It’s one of my favorite Accor properties in Europe.