Review: Sofitel Budapest Chain Bridge [closed for renovations from 4 Dec 2020]
Jul 13, 2017, 2:34 am
#16
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: Helsinki, Finland
Programs: BA Gold (OWE), Bonvoy Gold, HH Diamond, PriorityPass, AX Plat
Posts: 526
Old and worn Sofitel Chain Bridge
Not too impressed with our stay at Sofitel Budapest this week. We had a 2-night family vacation, and as a Accor Platinum-member I had booked a prestige suite which is supposed to be the best class of rooms available in the hotel.
We checked in in the executive lounge, service there was friendly and professional during our whole visit. I was slightly surprised from the start for getting the worst prestige suite in the whole hotel, suite #127 on the lowest floor (my Accor profile states that I prefer high floors) and with the worst view (definitely not so magnificient view that is stated on the hotel's web page). During our first evening we noticed that both the bathtub's shower did not work, and the drainage in the walk-in shower did not work well either as water started flooding out of the shower... Unfortunately that was not all, our King-sized mattress was truly horrible, on one side it leaned so much that I constantly felt that I was falling off the bed. Due to this, during our first night I slept for only few hours, and if my daughter had not already been sleeping in the sofa bed I would have changed rooms already during the night. In general this suite was in a bad shape with worn furniture and dirty fitted carpeting.
I raised the issue the morning after in the lounge and during the afternoon we changed to a new suite (#627). There the mattress was ok, and in general that suite was cleaner and in a much better condition. Staff was very apologetic, but unfortunately there was no proactive effort otherwise shown to rectify the situation - would have appreciated a friendly gesture but none shown.
Breakfasts in the hotel's breakfast room La Parisienne were tasty, they had excellent croissants and tasty eggs benedict. During our second morning though it was quite chaotic as it was full in the restaurant and the staff didn't really have the time to give as good service as during the first morning.
We booked a Tesla transfer to the airport, at HUF 12.500:- (approx €40:-) it was certainly worth the money.
I really feel that suite #127 was not in good enough shape to be allocated to guests and hope that it will be renovated asap. If I would visit the hotel again I would need to make sure that the room will be on high floors (rooms on the 5th floor and above are supposed to have all been renovated), but as per our visit, I unfortunately can't recommend this hotel wholeheartedly as there are many other hotels in Budapest where I do not have to be afraid of being allocated a room in a very bad condition. I felt that this was a hotel where Accor Platinum/loyalty did not make any difference.
We checked in in the executive lounge, service there was friendly and professional during our whole visit. I was slightly surprised from the start for getting the worst prestige suite in the whole hotel, suite #127 on the lowest floor (my Accor profile states that I prefer high floors) and with the worst view (definitely not so magnificient view that is stated on the hotel's web page). During our first evening we noticed that both the bathtub's shower did not work, and the drainage in the walk-in shower did not work well either as water started flooding out of the shower... Unfortunately that was not all, our King-sized mattress was truly horrible, on one side it leaned so much that I constantly felt that I was falling off the bed. Due to this, during our first night I slept for only few hours, and if my daughter had not already been sleeping in the sofa bed I would have changed rooms already during the night. In general this suite was in a bad shape with worn furniture and dirty fitted carpeting.
I raised the issue the morning after in the lounge and during the afternoon we changed to a new suite (#627). There the mattress was ok, and in general that suite was cleaner and in a much better condition. Staff was very apologetic, but unfortunately there was no proactive effort otherwise shown to rectify the situation - would have appreciated a friendly gesture but none shown.
Breakfasts in the hotel's breakfast room La Parisienne were tasty, they had excellent croissants and tasty eggs benedict. During our second morning though it was quite chaotic as it was full in the restaurant and the staff didn't really have the time to give as good service as during the first morning.
We booked a Tesla transfer to the airport, at HUF 12.500:- (approx €40:-) it was certainly worth the money.
I really feel that suite #127 was not in good enough shape to be allocated to guests and hope that it will be renovated asap. If I would visit the hotel again I would need to make sure that the room will be on high floors (rooms on the 5th floor and above are supposed to have all been renovated), but as per our visit, I unfortunately can't recommend this hotel wholeheartedly as there are many other hotels in Budapest where I do not have to be afraid of being allocated a room in a very bad condition. I felt that this was a hotel where Accor Platinum/loyalty did not make any difference.
Feb 18, 2019, 1:46 am
#18
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: Sunshine Coast, Australia
Programs: Accor Diamond, Qantas Platinum
Posts: 485
My comment is that it’s in a fantastic location, but it’s not the best Sofitel in the world. It’s really in need of a reno unless it’s changed in the last 2 years.
Feb 19, 2019, 9:29 pm
#20
Join Date: Mar 2011
Posts: 6
I will be spending 4 nights in Budapest in May and was able to book an Airbnb with 4x the amount of room, full kitchen, laundry, etc. in a beautiful building within 2 blocks of this hotel. Cost less than half. Why put up with all the stress dealing with these hotels?
Feb 20, 2019, 4:52 am
#21
Join Date: Jul 2018
Location: Italy
Programs: Accor Gold, Marriott Titanium, IHG Diamond , Amex Platinum
Posts: 1,484
in fact, I have never understood why people waste their money sleeping in hotels (especially at Sofitels !!) when they can sleep using Airbnb spending less than half of price !
i would propose also to close Accor section on flyertalk forum ....
Feb 24, 2019, 2:53 am
#24
Suspended
Join Date: Jan 2019
Posts: 123
I have never used AirBnB but have read newspaper reports about its growing popularity (although not without its own problems), and can understand why more people are moving from hotels to AirBnB if not satisfied with the direction of hotel loyalty programmes and constant cost cutting/staff shortages in premium/luxury brand hotels.
Feb 24, 2019, 3:42 am
#25
Join Date: Dec 2016
Location: Southeast Asia
Posts: 264
I think comments regarding AirBnB's as an alternative to hotel bookings should be moved into another thread. It's an interesting topic (e.g., what do you do if the apt supplier is just a straw man/third party and not the actual apt owner and something goes wrong?), but few--if any--of the issues involved are specific to the Sofitel Budapest Chain Brigde.
Feb 26, 2019, 7:56 am
#26
Join Date: Mar 2017
Location: Spain
Programs: ALL Plat, HH Gold, Marriott GE
Posts: 1,141
Just received a very nice e mail from Guest Relations for the Sofitel.
We have been upgraded to a room type that does not appear on the hotels web site ..... This is common I understand, but the description seems to be the exact same as what we booked.
But if we want a room with a view ( or not the ally way view ) it will be a small charge of 50€ per night.
This makes it more expensive than booking the room, and removing my original booking.
I hope this is not an indication of how we are going to be "nickeled and dimed" to death at the hotel.
We have been upgraded to a room type that does not appear on the hotels web site ..... This is common I understand, but the description seems to be the exact same as what we booked.
But if we want a room with a view ( or not the ally way view ) it will be a small charge of 50€ per night.
This makes it more expensive than booking the room, and removing my original booking.
I hope this is not an indication of how we are going to be "nickeled and dimed" to death at the hotel.
Jun 23, 2019, 2:03 pm
#27
Original Poster
Join Date: Dec 2014
Programs: Accor ALL Platinum
Posts: 1,110
Before I received this "offer" they had asked me about my flight details and once I submitted it they asked again. Doesn't sound promising.
Just received a very nice e mail from Guest Relations for the Sofitel.
We have been upgraded to a room type that does not appear on the hotels web site ..... This is common I understand, but the description seems to be the exact same as what we booked.
But if we want a room with a view ( or not the ally way view ) it will be a small charge of 50€ per night.
This makes it more expensive than booking the room, and removing my original booking.
I hope this is not an indication of how we are going to be "nickeled and dimed" to death at the hotel.
We have been upgraded to a room type that does not appear on the hotels web site ..... This is common I understand, but the description seems to be the exact same as what we booked.
But if we want a room with a view ( or not the ally way view ) it will be a small charge of 50€ per night.
This makes it more expensive than booking the room, and removing my original booking.
I hope this is not an indication of how we are going to be "nickeled and dimed" to death at the hotel.
Jun 29, 2019, 3:47 am
#28
Original Poster
Join Date: Dec 2014
Programs: Accor ALL Platinum
Posts: 1,110
I checked in yesterday and it’s sad to see how a good hotel has been destroyed by the management.
I booked a superior room and received a junior suite with street view. That’s a three-level upgrade and is of course appreciated. However, the room was in terrible condition and in need of total renovation.
The bed was flat, something that can’t be called MyBed, and the couch was impossible to sit on it, so worn it was. The welcome gift was a small bowl of a few simple fruits. That came together with a letter stating that “superior loyalty deserves superior treatment.” Not quite as what I call superior treatment.
I went to see a guest relations manager whose name was on the welcome letter. She wasn’t working so I asked whether there’s someone else from the guest relations or from the management. There wasn’t, I was told.
Then it turned out that the person I was talking to and who didn’t seem to understand my concerns was a front desk manager himself. He was repeating that he will forward my feedback to the management and that there’s nothing he can do.
I asked is that really so. I had to remind that the problems we encountered could be easily solved now when we still are at the hotel.
A front desk agent standing next to the manager kept on staring at me and sighed a couple of times. Very unprofessional and impolite, totally unacceptable, not only for a “five-star” luxury hotel but for customer service in general.
They clearly don’t understand here how important a customer feedback is.
Finally, the manager offered to move us to another room, to a prestige suite with river view to be precise. But the upgrade seemed to be more like a punishment than a service recovery: the suite had very strong smell of drainage.
We opened all windows, went out and expected the smell to disappear. Unfortunately, it didn’t. It was still there when we came back. Taking a shower was basically impossible. The smell in the walk-in shower was so terrible, unbearable, stronger than anywhere else in the room. It was like rotten Camembert to put it in a nice way.
This moldy suite shouldn’t be given to anyone, it’s a health risk to stay in it.
So I went to club lounge and told what had just happened. A super friendly lounge attendant with right attitude came to smell our suite, got the point, was very apologetic and said we can have drinks at the lounge while she will go downstairs to solve the issue with the manager.
I said we are fine with any room that doesn’t smell and is in a proper condition. After a while she came back and helped us moving to a new prestige suite on the same 4th floor floor, now with street view.
This suite is dated, clearly from the 80’s when the hotel was built, but at least this one doesn’t smell and the bed is very comfortable MyBed. I wonder why this room wasn’t given to a platinum member in the first place.
Other remarks: the variety of food at the lounge has been downgraded significantly. I feel sad for those who need to pay for the club services. Also the breakfast in the main restaurant is worse than before, especially the bread selection is scarce.
Improvements: broken tiles in swimming pool has been fixed and the bath amenities in the spa are now L’Occitane. Drink voucher can now be used for anything that cost up to 4000 HUF. I had a gin and tonic, my partner chose champagne. Previously, one could only get house wine or beer.
Conclusion: When a hotel is in this condition, one could think that the management works even harder than normally to make (returning top-tier loyal) customers happy. But that’s not the case here. I won’t return before the hotel has been renovated. I was told that the renovation should start in autumn and it will last two years. The hotel won’t be closing but the repair works are done in stages.
I booked a superior room and received a junior suite with street view. That’s a three-level upgrade and is of course appreciated. However, the room was in terrible condition and in need of total renovation.
The bed was flat, something that can’t be called MyBed, and the couch was impossible to sit on it, so worn it was. The welcome gift was a small bowl of a few simple fruits. That came together with a letter stating that “superior loyalty deserves superior treatment.” Not quite as what I call superior treatment.
I went to see a guest relations manager whose name was on the welcome letter. She wasn’t working so I asked whether there’s someone else from the guest relations or from the management. There wasn’t, I was told.
Then it turned out that the person I was talking to and who didn’t seem to understand my concerns was a front desk manager himself. He was repeating that he will forward my feedback to the management and that there’s nothing he can do.
I asked is that really so. I had to remind that the problems we encountered could be easily solved now when we still are at the hotel.
A front desk agent standing next to the manager kept on staring at me and sighed a couple of times. Very unprofessional and impolite, totally unacceptable, not only for a “five-star” luxury hotel but for customer service in general.
They clearly don’t understand here how important a customer feedback is.
Finally, the manager offered to move us to another room, to a prestige suite with river view to be precise. But the upgrade seemed to be more like a punishment than a service recovery: the suite had very strong smell of drainage.
We opened all windows, went out and expected the smell to disappear. Unfortunately, it didn’t. It was still there when we came back. Taking a shower was basically impossible. The smell in the walk-in shower was so terrible, unbearable, stronger than anywhere else in the room. It was like rotten Camembert to put it in a nice way.
This moldy suite shouldn’t be given to anyone, it’s a health risk to stay in it.
So I went to club lounge and told what had just happened. A super friendly lounge attendant with right attitude came to smell our suite, got the point, was very apologetic and said we can have drinks at the lounge while she will go downstairs to solve the issue with the manager.
I said we are fine with any room that doesn’t smell and is in a proper condition. After a while she came back and helped us moving to a new prestige suite on the same 4th floor floor, now with street view.
This suite is dated, clearly from the 80’s when the hotel was built, but at least this one doesn’t smell and the bed is very comfortable MyBed. I wonder why this room wasn’t given to a platinum member in the first place.
Other remarks: the variety of food at the lounge has been downgraded significantly. I feel sad for those who need to pay for the club services. Also the breakfast in the main restaurant is worse than before, especially the bread selection is scarce.
Improvements: broken tiles in swimming pool has been fixed and the bath amenities in the spa are now L’Occitane. Drink voucher can now be used for anything that cost up to 4000 HUF. I had a gin and tonic, my partner chose champagne. Previously, one could only get house wine or beer.
Conclusion: When a hotel is in this condition, one could think that the management works even harder than normally to make (returning top-tier loyal) customers happy. But that’s not the case here. I won’t return before the hotel has been renovated. I was told that the renovation should start in autumn and it will last two years. The hotel won’t be closing but the repair works are done in stages.
Last edited by wkndtraveler; Jun 29, 2019 at 12:36 pm
Jun 29, 2019, 7:56 am
#29
Join Date: Apr 2019
Location: Zagreb, Croatia
Programs: Accor ALL Platinum, Qatar Airways Privilege Club Platinum
Posts: 282
Thank you very much for the informative review! I was considering this hotel for my next stay in Budapest, but now I see there's no value for money here and, as it would be my first stay at a Sofitel, I'm worried it might put me off Sofitel for good. 
Jun 29, 2019, 11:45 am
#30
Original Poster
Join Date: Dec 2014
Programs: Accor ALL Platinum
Posts: 1,110
I don’t want to say that you shouldn’t book this hotel but indeed there’s is a big risk that the stay will affect your image of Sofitel in a negative way. Personally, Sofitel is my favorite brand but at the moment this hotel isn’t up to typical Sofitel level.