JDiver

I checked europcar (their horrible website!) and I'd say you got a reasonable deal - I imagine the costs of operating and insuring in Romania can be quite high. (I've used them in other countries, including French Polynesia on Moorea, and had decent, competitive rates with europcar.)

The PointStretcher is a good deal at this property - the prices are, well, breathtaking. Enjoy!

N.B. As any tourist city, Bucharest does have its share of pickpockets and would-be stealie boys - I had two young Roma guys pick up on me walking early in the morning with my camera, and ducked into a restaurant to ditch them before I was hit. (They were originally coming from in front of me toward me, passed me looking purposeful - and after some yards turned around and began shadowing me. I know enough about these scams from well over fifty years of worldwide travel to be aware; the last time someone tried something serious, I stymied five guys in Istanbul who attempted the "bump and distract" game after I visited an ATM - I'd much rather be a bit clever than for the situation to get physical.)

opushomes

Yes, one of my normal web-sites is Eurocar. There also seems to also be a Romanian Europcar as well as AB car rental. AB was actually cheaper, but, but, one review on all the internet. Could one of the scammers written it especially since they wanted advance payment via an e-mail type form. No thanks.


Just like anywhere in the world I try to always be aware of my surroundings and the people around me.

San Diego 1K included this comment which does not show up in this thread.

"If you have a GPS system with Europe maps, check and you might well find you have Romanian maps preloaded."

What is this GPS thingy?? We drove Munich to Athens thru Kosovo only with paper maps. Only got lost once because I then did not speak German and people shouting "Brucke zerstort" did not register until we got to the missing bridge.

opushomes

The link my trip report including a review of the hotel is:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=858034

comfortablynumb

Hi, has anyone ever stayed at this property ?

If so, have you had any luck with upgrades to the Executive Floor ? I asked for an upgrade when I made my reservation today in the "comments" section.....

Any other comments or opinions of their stay here ?

This is my third trip to Bucharest, first time staying at the Hilton.

Thanks

KENNECTED

It's hard to find a property on FT that a FT member has not stayed in or commented on.

Question about Bucharest Hilton

In case you're unaware there is a "search" feature here which is a big help.

comfortablynumb

Thanks Cheap Elite. No, I didn't utilize the search feature, was kind of in a hurry today with this last minute trip and didn't take the time. There was a lot of good info in the link you provided. I especially liked the trip report by opushomes, it had me LOL.

Uncle Lars

I was upgraded, as a lowly Gold, with my wife and daughter last summer. We greatly enjoyed the Executive Lounge, though it was quite small. I had the honor of going up for evening drinks with three different women (my wife, my sister-in-law, and a friend of a friend) over three nights, and the attendant gave me the same nice smile each time. The location is quite lovely, next to the Athenee Palace and Piata Revolutei [spelled wrong. no doubt: where the dictator gave his last speech]. The location is quite good for wandering, being close to the Art Museum [pockmarked with bullet damage related to the aforementioned dictator's signoff], and several nice green parks as well. The "Palace of the People" is the only sight that is a long walk away, and the train station is as well in case you are heading out from there. You can see flashes, just brief flashes, of a Paris-type atmosphere in Bucharest if you are in the right location and mood! The streets are wide enough, anyway.

We greatly enjoyed both this place and the Sofia Hilton [whose location is perhaps a bit less convenient to the sights and nice neighborhoods of that city].

Canarsie

You were close...Piaţa Revoluţiei.

HLS2002

I stayed last week on the Visa Signature 25% off rate. Unfortunately, they actually insisted I pay with that card, so I was stuck with the 3% foreign currency conversion fee that's associated with all my Visa Signature accounts. The rate was still relatively good for this hotel, about USD 220/night, all-in. This was the best deal I could find and was for the most modest room.

As a diamond, I was upgraded to the largest suite when I arrived. It's in a corner with a nice view and has a full living room and two bathrooms (Crabtree & Evelyn products). Apparently, there's one such suite on each floor. The two TVs in the room hadn't been updated to flat screens yet, even though I noticed new TVs in some regular rooms. There's a Nespresso machine, but I didnt test it out.

Instead, I used the Illy machine in the lounge throughout my stay. Although I was not actually on the executive floor, I had full executive club privileges. I had breakfast, snacks, and self-serve drinks in the lounge. I'm not sure how the lounge staff knew I was entitled to lounge access, because they never asked me and there's no key-based access restriction. They did ask some other people. Maybe they keep diamond photos on file.

There are two computers near the lounge with free Internet access, but Internet in the rooms costs something additional.

The hotel's location was excellent. It's not a Four Seasons, but I'm not sure there's anywhere better to stay in Bucharest. I was fully satisfied with the very nice diamond recognition.

Condition One

Thanks for the update. I just booked a weekend stay there for next month. So it appears the best way to get to the hotel is FlyTaxi. As I have a 6:15am flight departure, I'm a little concerned about obtaining a taxi that early in the morning. Is that going to be a problem?

I also noticed that the Hilton has "Requests on Arrival". One of the options is VIP arrival at Otopeni Airport inclues limousine pick-up and a fast track through immigration procedures for 250 RON. Quite steep. But fast track through immigration? It can't be that bad...can it?

Canarsie

I know people who had to catch an earlier flight from the Crowne Plaza in Bucharest and had no problem getting a taxi, so you should have no problem either.

I would probably alert the front desk the day before to ensure that a taxi cab awaits you at the desired time.

HLS2002

FlyTaxi seemed like kind of a racket, but they've cornered the airport market. I just took the 783 bus for RON 7, return. I realize that won't be practical for your early morning return to Otopeni. You'll have to do a taxi for that one (but potentially one that charges half as much per km as FlyTaxi).

The 250 RON Hilton arrival offer seems pretty bad. Even the worst cab scam shouldn't cost so much. Immigration was quick at OTP last week. The only curiosity was considerable perusal of my passport photo and request for secondary ID. This never happened to me before anywhere. For some reason, the immigration officer must have been concerned the passport picture could've been swapped (I don't have any passports with the digital photo yet, which may be becoming a novelty).

CAlex

I live in Bucharest and I can recommend the following:
- don't get anything extra at airport. It's a pretty small airport, exiting should be smth like 10-15 minutes without luggage and 15-25 minutes with luggage.
- if you pay by corporate card then get a FlyTaxi in front of airport. They are clean, fast, safe, a trip to Hilton will cost ~70-80 RON (3.5 RON/km). If you pay from your own pocket I recommend to get put of airport, go to the right for 50 meters (going downhill) and there you will find ~30-40 regular cab drivers, who will take you to the Hilton for ~40 RON, provided that they use the meter (1.6 RON/km).

At 5AM in Bucharest from Hilton any taxi will take you to airport in 20-25 minutes. if you check-in online then you only need to be there at 5:50 AM.

Condition One

Great! Thanks for all the advice!

Condition One

Well, once I got to OTP, I saw a FlyTaxi stand in the baggage claim. Prepaid roundtrip voucher with a 25% discount came out to 147 RON. You can pay via credit card or cash.

The day of my arrival, I saw that I had been pre-upgraded to a Junior Suite on the Executive Floor. It's a pretty decent size, and I have no complaints. The Presidential Suite was available at the time too, but after I checked in, I noticed it was gone on the website. Looks like some other person got it. The hotel rooms and hallways will start looking faded in a couple of years. The current decor and carpets isn't exactly modern.

The Lounge has soda and water all day. In the afternoons, they bring up delicious cake and pastries from the bistro downstairs. There are also mini-sandwiches and fruit. In the evenings, they have 3 hot items (chicken wings, vegetable skewers, jalapeno poppers, fried ravioli, meatballs, tempura fish sticks, and onion rings over my 2 days there). There are some PCs for you to use for free, but I didn't use them. You can take breakfast in either the lounge or the restaurant downstairs. Food offerings are typical of European Hiltons (i.e. excellent). There's an omelette station in the restaurant.

Hotel Internet is 51 RON for 24 hours, and 30 RON for 1 hour. Food prices in the Bistro, Roberto's (Italian), and room service are what you would expect to pay in a restaurant in the US. Which means a typical Bucharest restaurant is considerably cheaper.

The concierge (Daniel), was extremely helpful. Sightseeing tours by Jolly Tours can be arranged through him. Tour prices depend on the number of people signed up. For instance, the Snagov and Mogosoaia half day tour is 105 Euros, 65 Euros, and 50 Euros for 1, 2, and 3 people, respectively. So if you're going by yourself, it'll be 105 Euros. On the bright side, I believe you'll get the tour guide by yourself.

The hotel is within walking distance of most tourist museums/attractions. Watch out for traffic though. Taxis are dirt cheap.

I had a 6:15am flight out of OTP. The night before, I arranged for the concierge to book my return FlyTaxi trip at 4:15am. When I checked out at 4am, I was given the FlyTaxi car number, and was steered towards a table of coffee, tea, and croissants. A very nice touch. After my cup of tea, I noticed the taxi had arrived, and it was a quick 15 minute trip to the airport at typical Bucharesti driving speeds (80 mph!).

When I told the hotel staff that the last time I was in Bucharest was in 1995, a staff member deadpanned, "I hope you'll enjoy your visit this time." I could barely recognize Bucharest from my last trip. All the Western shops and companies have invaded. I never imagined that I'd see high end watch stores and other boutiques here. There are still Soviet-era buildings, but they're disappearing fast. I think I'm going to focus my travel on former Eastern European countries next year before they've lost their charm...err, flavor.