The hotel is situated "in the sticks" about a 30 minute bus ride from the city centre; fortunately the bus seems to run about every 15 minutes, although I always made the return trip from the city before 11.00pm. Unfortunately I wouldn't describe the location as rural or idyllic. Not only are there no vineyards within sight of the hotel, but the hotel itself is surrounded by what appears to be concrete works, gravel pits, major road works, busy main roads and a newly constructed motorway flyover.
The view from my room was not great and it took most of my week long stay to work out the air conditioning remote (essential in high summer). I cannot stress enough how hot and humid it is at this time of the year and the whole time I was in my room (day or night) I was covered in permanent perspiration. I left my window open for couple of nights with the result that I was covered in mosquito bites plus I missed my phone alarm call because I couldn't hear it above the traffic noise!
The whole place was a smoking "free for all" (although this seems to be not unusual in Hungary) and my room was a "smoking room" even though I don't smoke. Nobody asked me if I wanted a non-smoking room even though the hotel looked far from full; Maybe they don't have any.
There was no bathtub and there were frequent water "outages" during the day. When I complained about this they said it was down to the nearby motorway construction and that there was little that they could do about it. A hair dryer was available upon request but not provided as standard, The TV was very small and difficult to see when sitting up in bed The only English speaking channel available was CNN. There was a mini-bar but no tea/coffee facilities. The room contained two single beds with headboards built into the partition wall. As a result whenever the person in the adjoining room jumped on his bed my own bed shook plus I could hear him coughing (amongst other things) when lying in bed with my windows closed!
The hotel was advertised as having WiFi internet but the signal strength was too weak to get a reliable connection. When I complained about this the reception provided me with a LAN cable which although it gave it good internet connection, it meant that you had to physically unplug and reconnect each session.
The buffet breakfasts were quite good with a wide selection of food and Beverages. However my only experience of the Hotel restaurant for Dinner was not a pleasant experience. The conditions at the time were extremely hot and humid, yet the restaurant appeared not only to have no air conditioning but no obvious ventilation either. If there was an option of dining outside on the terrace it was never offered to me. The menu appeared to be very limited and expensive. I opted for steak "Lyons style" with French fries and salad.
If you can imagine sitting in a sauna eating a rubberised steak (which I assumed to be beef ) with onion rings all cooked with a dry chicken stock cube then you'll have some idea what this gourmet experience was like. The chips were hot, though a tad greasy and the "salad" consisted of two halves of an overripe but tasteless tomato on top of the limpest most discoloured piece of lettuce that would have shamed even the worst school dinner.
To be fair the hotel did have a real Sauna plus a large internal swimming pool with an integral spa pool. Unfortunately there seemed to be no outdoor loungers or sunbathing areas even though the hotel had reasonably large secluded private gardens. Some of the hotel staff spoke good English and were friendly and helpful but others were not. My impression was that the Hotel was imbued with a culture of complacency not unlike a 1970' style state owned industry. I found it very odd that certain members off staff insisted in watching me the whole time I took my own money out of my own lockable box while others allowed me some legitimate privacy. The decor was something of a shock unless you like lots of chocolate brown and dark orange together . A word of warning, the taxi service recommended by the hotel cost me at least 30% more then my regular taxi for an identical journey!
Maybe this place is the height of luxury in Hungary ( though I somehow doubt this) but UK or US visitors would find it more akin to 2 or possibly a poor 3 star standard hotel at home rather than the advertised 4 star. I can say without any doubt that I've stayed in far superior 3 star hotels in America and Britain.
- Aquarius Hotel Budapest
