My home away from home, best hotel in Bucharest (JW Marriott Bucharest Grand Hotel (Bucharest, Romania))

Member Name: crisella74

Product:	JW Marriott Bucharest Grand Hotel (Bucharest, Romania)
Date:	13/02/09 (580 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Beautiful rooms, excellent service

Disadvantages: While I understand the reasons for it, I hate the key card system

Although I live in Bucharest, I stay in hotels here quite often as my husband (which is not Romanian) is being sent to Bucharest on business with accommodation paid and since we love hotels, every time it's like a holiday without having to go anywhere. Marriott hotel, however, it was more my doing. After loving our first stay here, I have joined the Marriott Reward Club, which meant I had a couple of free night vouchers, discount rates on booking and 50% discount on drinks and food. It was a stealer deal and I took advantage of it.


Location and a bit of history:
The hotel is located at about 10 minutes walking from the city center, in the vicinity of Parliament Palace, the second largest building in the world, after the Pentagon. Previously Parliament Palace was called "The House of the People" and it has been build by the former communist dictator Ceausescu. He didn't live to see it finished, let alone move in it and it's probably the most famous building connected to his name. It is highly controversial, and now it houses Chamber of Deputies and Senate and well worth a visit if you ever get the chance.
The hotel is part of a architectonic complex built by former dictator Nicolae Ceausescu between 1980-1989 after a Romanian project, using exclusively Romanian building materials, along with Parliament Palace and the headquarters of Ministry of National Defense. The building was bought from the government in the beginning of 1990 and transformed into a luxury hotel, one of the main shareholders being Fahti Ta-her. The hotel has been turn into a JW Marriott, through the well known franchise system.
The hotel has been a huge success, its turnover in 2007 being over 38.5 million Euros, with a profit of 16 million Euros, according to General Manager, Kurt Strohmayer.


The hotel:
8 floors of luxury, with 379 rooms and 23 suites, 21,528 sq ft of total meeting space, this hotel really is, as they call themselves, "a city within the city". The very first time I have stayed there I was quite impressed. It was during December, they had a Christmas tree and beautiful classy decorations and everything was breathing elegance and opulence. The lobby is massive and very impressing, with marble and green carpets around the reception area. Right as you walk in there are two long hallways on the right and on left, where all the shops are located. And we are talking about at least 20 shops, a travel agency, a book store (quite a nice selection of books in English), a saloon for your beauty needs. As you walk straight from the entrance, the reception is right in front of you, there are quite a few tables with sofas for informal meetings or gatherings and on your right hand side is the Pavilion Lounge, an international Bar. They have a wide variety of drinks, cocktails and, of course, coffee.
The lower floor (I guess you could call this basement lol) has a worldwide brand fitness club (World Class Health Academy) and, believe it or not, a Casino. The hotel guest have complimentary access to the fitness club, pool and sauna and it is really worth your time, but more on that later.
On the first floor you will find the meetings rooms, the restaurants, and The Vienna Coffee House, with the most delicious cakes and an amazing coffees. I was a member in the fitness club for a year and the coffee was a ritual after classes that we all enjoyed. I was also the happy possessor of a reward Marriott Golden Card which gave me a 50% discount on food and drinks, so it wasn't expensive either lol


Rooms:
We had a standard double room which was very spacious. I really liked the furniture, the bed was huge and very comfortable. In most hotels I find the mattress either too hard or too soft but this was just right. There is also a pull-out sofa, a desk for your computer, a nice closet which I thought it was quite big and which incorporated the TV, minibar and a little station for tea and coffee facilities. I am a coffee freak, so that was quite handy. I absolutely adored the carpet, it was dark green with golden speckles, very thick and it looked just gorgeous. I hate it when hotel rooms use tiles, I am a carpet person and for me that is always an important aspect of the room. The bathroom was quite big, had a bathtub and all those little accessories you find in good hotels. I don't actually use the shower gels and shampoos they have in the bathrooms but I love seeing the little bottles there. Oh, and I always take the shower cap lol. It's actually very handy when you're doing a hair mask or dyeing your hair. Any girl will know what I'm talking about :)
They also have robe, hair dryer and the mirror area was very good for makeup, the lighting was just perfect.
I think all the rooms are exactly the same, we probably been there about 5 times, on different occasions, and every time the room looked just the same. I liked the fact that they are quite spacious, we had people coming over for meetings and even if you have 4-5 people in the room it doesn't get claustrophobic. Other highlights: internet, 2 phone lines, iron and ironing board (which actually was very useful, especially since all your clothes get wrinkled in the luggage), mini-bar, practically everything you needed.


Restaurants:
Marriott Hotel has 3 restaurants, 2 bars (actually one bar and one coffee house) and an outside restaurant which is only opened from May to October, due to weather conditions.
Cupola restaurant is situated on the first floor, opened for breakfast, lunch and diner. The specific is international and they have a very nice selection of food that should accommodate any taste. This is where the breakfast is served and I found that they really have a wide selection, from healthy choices of low-fat yogurt, cereals, fruits to those who like a more consistent start of the day like omelet, bacon, sausages, salami etc. Normally, breakfast is included but I remember one occasion when it wasn't included and the bill was about 20 pounds for 2 persons, which it wasn't that bad. I do recommend booking with breakfast included thou, as it works out cheaper and it is really worth having breakfast in the hotel. We also had diner here and it was lovely, the food was very good and the service excellent. They have night entertainment, usually is a band singing and the atmosphere is very pleasant. I have noticed people tend to dress up a little, so while there is no problem getting in there wearing casual clothes, you might find yourself feeling a bit out of place. On Sundays they are holding the Brunch here, so you won't be able to get a table unless you are willing to pay the 40-50 pounds for brunch. If you are into those kind of things, then you'll be happy to know the food is, once again, excellent, with a wide selection. They are also serving champagne and the staff was kind enough to prepare a Mimosa (champagne with orange juice) when we said we would prefer that. They also have a station for fresh natural juices. Children were paying half price and they also have a close by room where they can play, there is a clown with games and face painting and all those little things that make kids happy.

Cucina restaurant is situated on the first floor as well and it's open for lunch and diner. Unfortunately I can't say much about this one, as I have never ate here, but its specific is Italian and it looks quite nice. Maybe next time.

Champions - The American Sports Bar&Restaurant is... yes, a sports bar. They have Tex-Mex cuisine, which basically means a lot of chicken wings, onion rings and cheese potatoes, all very tasty but not good for your waist as I have noticed. I really didn't like their selection of sandwiches, I found it quite bland and unattractive. They have 29 screens playing different sport events, of course, and while generally the place is quite empty, seems to be very popular whenever a big sporting event is broadcasted. Don't go there during the soccer games! Well, actually go, it's quite fun, you get to have a few drinks and lose your voice encouraging your favorite team. During the weekends they have a Kids Corner here, with clowns, games and a lot of fun. My girls loved it and they also enjoyed games machines they have there. Prices vary, but I would say you can have some decent meal at about 20-25 pounds per person.

Vienna Coffee House is one of my favorite spots in this hotel. The coffee it's just amazing and they have a delicious range of cakes. It is located on the first floor, between the Cucina restaurant and American Sports Bar&Restaurant. In the weekends there is band playing classical music or someone playing the piano. There are free newspapers, both English and Romanian, if you fancy enjoying your coffee while reading the latest news.

The gym and swimming pool area are very well equipped, in fact the gym is actually a health club, not personally run by the hotel, so the quality of the equipment and trainers are very high as the annual membership is over 1k. It's free when you stay in the hotel so by all means, take advantage of it, very professional. Aerobic classes include: Step&Tone, Kick, Aqua, Step Express, Pilates, Body Sculpt, Latin Dance, Strength Cardio. The fitness machines are top quality and there are plenty of them, I use to go there 3 times per week and I never had problems finding a free one. The personnel is very attentive and helpful. When signing in you get 2 towels and the changing area is downstairs. They have lockers, showers, hairdryer etc and it's very clean and well maintained.
The swimming pool is quite large but not huge and it's rarely anybody there, which is a great plus. The only time is a bit crowded is on the weekends, when members can bring in their children for free. There is also a Jacuzzi and that is pure bliss, especially if you have been doing a good job in the fitness area.

If you travel for business the facilities are very good. There is an Executive Lounge with computers, printer, fax, and free internet access. You can also mail letters, transmit faxes, hire translators and personal guides, etc
Whatever problem you have, ask the staff as they are very helpful. They all speak fluent English, and some also speak French, German or Spanish.

The only downside was the card system for lift as if you have guests coming to your room you will need to personally come down and pick them up. I remember the first time we were there my sister came down for a visit and we were phone in from the reception to pick her up. My husband was in the shower and our 3 months daughter just fell asleep so there was no way I could go downstairs. I asked them to send her up or have someone from security accompany her upstairs, but they weren't willing to bend the rules. By the time my husband got out of the shower 10 minutes later I was furious, my sister was still downstairs about to burst in tears and everything was humiliating and we ended up making a complaint with the manager of the hotel. That was the only time we had a complain and they were very apologetic about it, sent us a a nice basket with champagne and fruits, but my sister was upset about it for a very long time.

The hotel allows pets for a non-refundable fee (I think it was around 20 pounds), has disabled access, internet in the room for which you have to pay extra, underground parking (10 pounds per day). The price for the rooms vary, on average a double room is between 120 to 200 pounds per night. If you have a Marriott Member Card, as I did, the rate goes down to about 70 pounds, which I think it's a fabulous rate.


All in all, I love this hotel and we would be returning with any chance we have.

Summary: Feel pampered in a great hotel