Originally Posted by
nicolas75
The famous maxim "location, location, location!" has its limits, in a luxury market that has - fortunately - largely evolved since the glorious days of Conrad Hilton and the construction of the InterContinental Budapest.
While the InterContinental Budapest's club lounge is up to market standards, and while the rooms do have great views (like the Marriott just around the corner or some of the rooms at the Four Seasons), the fact remains that the rooms - including the suites - are tiny and inferior in design to a second-rate Holiday Inn (and it's embarrassing that the Crowne Plaza, the former Hilton that has since been refurbished, is more luxurious in design).
Beyond the usual suspects (the former Le Méridien now Ritz Carlton, the Four Seasons, the Matild Palace, a Luxury Collection hotel), there are some very superior properties in Budapest in terms of comfort (for example, Kozmo Hotel Suites & Spa).
Yes, the InterContinental Budapest urgently needs a complete renovation of the rooms (as does its neighbour Sofitel) if it wants to remain up to luxury standards. Otherwise, it will end up like its cousins in Prague and Bucharest.
And fortunately, a new Kimpton is planned.
As for the W Budapest, the project is still not finalised.
Inter-Continental was actually the first Western hotel chain in the country, with the Duna Inter-Continental in 1968.
Hilton didn't reach Budapest until nearly a decade later, in 1977, with the Budapest Hilton up in the Castle District that they still operate.
For some reason, InterContinental gave up their flagship hotel in Budapest during the privatization period and it moved to Marriott. IC then took their much smaller Forum Hotel Budapest, built in 1981, and converted it to the Inter-Continental brand. Forum Hotels were moderately-priced business hotels, not first class hotels like InterContinentals in that era, so it makes sense that a 1981 Forum property would show its origins.
