FlyerTalk Forums - View Single Post - Matild Palace, a Luxury Collection Hotel, Budapest, Hungary [Master Thread]
Old Jun 4, 2022 | 9:03 pm
  #11  
r0m8470
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Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: SEA
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Lovely 4 night points stay - among best hotel stays we've had

CBellero has some good pictures - and my review do not have any pictures - too lazy to sort out from my phone.

Here's our experience - cheers.

Context:
4-night stay, using a mix of points, certificates, and paid rate, thanks to Bonvoy customize payment feature, as part of our 3-week Europe late Spring vacation. Currently, holding Bonvoy Platinum status.

Pre-check in:
Emailed to make sure that there is enough bottled waters in the room, dental kits, slippers and shaving kits. We also had email correspondence regarding laundry services since we were traveling light. 5 days prior to check in, our Suite night award cleared and we've got confirmation of upgrade to a corner 1 bedroom suite.

Check in:
Very smooth. We were offered welcome drinks. Agents explained everything, then a very lovely Sophie took us to the room and gave us a short room tour. She also explained the benefit of topping off the minibar daily.

Room:
Corner 1 bedroom suite on the 4th floor. Room has a large living room, with 2 windows. 1 window facing Kossuth Lajos avenue. The bedroom is good sized, with a King bed and really beautiful headboard piece. The bathroom is very nice, with modern smart automated bidet toilet, separate tub and shower and the tub has very ornate blue and gold tile accents. Very tastefully done. Power curtains and sheers, and light control panels for both living room and bedroom.

Plenty of USB port and power ports. Two large flat screens, the one in the living room is embedded to the wall. Minibar is extremely well stocked, with snacks and drinks. Nice couch and working desk in the living room, easy chair in the bedroom too. Very high ceiling throughout. Bathroom amenities are from Aqua Di Parma.

Breakfast:
Comped as Platinum bonvoy as part of the welcome gift benefit. Two restaurants on the premise - Cafe Matilda and Spago - and breakfast is served at Spago. Great selection, very nice traditional Hungarian sausage, pastries, cereals, cold cuts, hot items options and we can order anything off the menu. We ordered french toast, eggs, truffle omelettes every day. We had options to sit inside or outside every day, we chose to say inside though. Breakfast staff are all wonderful.

Rooftop bar:
The hotel has a super hip rooftop bar called the Duchess. This is where all the cool, young and hip folks are letting loose I guess. We visited actually during the day where the bar was still closed but they kept the area unlocked and open so we just roamed free and took tons of pictures. We got great view of Pest and its rooftop and the Buda hill.

Dining:
We ate dinner at Spago one time when we were there. Food and staff were fantastic. It was pricey, hey it is a Spago after all - but as a splurge, we think it was great.

Cafe Matilda was having its first day of service the 2nd day we were there. We took a look around but did not try. The cakes in the cafe look awesome though. The decor of the cafe itself, I think, would make it worth your while to spend some time for a coffee there.

Gym and spa:
Very modern and well equipped. We were given a tour of the spa as well, but did not partake on any service - no time, with the beautiful city of Budapest and its many attractions and sights.

Hotel property itself:
The hotel is a Unesco world heritage site, beautifully restored. It is 1 of the twin palace buildings. The other one across the street - Klotild palace - is being restored and will open as a St Regis hotel sometime next year. The building has a grand Belle Epoque architecture. The lobby is vibrant with tasteful decorations mixing classical elements and modern architectural touches. This is one of the most beautiful hotel that we have ever stayed at and certainly the most memorable and the most architecturally stunning. The hotel team supposedly took five years to restore this palace, and it was five years really well spent.

Staff:
The hotel has security people continously patrolling the outside - you can tell them from the crowd - and an army of staffers taking care of customers needs inside. Front desk, concierge, bell staff ~ all are great.

Negative:
Only one - and we were not sure why. We bought some cakes from a cukrazsda, and kept them in the fridge. Within like 30 min, we start seeing ants coming out of the baseboard, not going to the fridge, but they're out and looking for something. We asked housekeeping to come out, and came they did. They sprayed some ant spray, and the ants did not come back. The lady housekeeping supervisor suspected that our cakes are the culprit, so we ate them and get rid of the packaging right away.

Bonus:
When we had dinner, we met Herr Wolfgang Puck himself! He was visiting this property and his latest outpost, and he made rounds on every table. Our server actually learning that we were done with our meal, and Herr Puck was still a few tables away, asked him to come to our table. What a treat! We got a restaurant recommendation from him for our then-next week visit to Vienna and got to chat with him and took pictures with him.

Summary:
The hotel stay is definitely one of the highlight of our trip to Europe this time. This is easily among the best hotel that we've stayed at. Everything about the hotel screams really high quality and high standard of service. We will be back, and it made us a believer of the Luxury Collection brand. Meeting Herr Puck is also an extra delightful treat!
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