This review is for the Slavija Lux Hotel which is owned by JAT Airways and claims to be a 4 star property. It is situated opposite the hotel Slavija which claims to be a 3 star property but which currently doesn't seem to have a separate listing on Trip Advisor.
The Slavija Lux is a modern looking property from the outside which is situated next to a huge, busy, and frightening roundabout. Serbian drivers are extremely aggressive and seem to be intolerant of pedestrians and each other, so take car when crossing the road. If you do manage to negotiate the roundabout, a 20 minute walk will bring you to the main pedestrian shopping area and a little further to the Kalemagdan park and the Fortress. Belgrade is not geared up for tourism so you will not find any open top tourist buses, and we only managed to find one 1hr river cruise that operated twice a day.
We could have taken the JAT Airways bus from the airport, the last stop of which is right outside the hotel. However, this bus only runs once an hour so we took a taxi which cost about 1350 Serbian Dinars (£13.50).
On arrival, we were given a room on the 5th floor and our passports were retained by reception, as I believe they have to notify police of our arrival within 24hrs. We collected them later that day. We then made our way up in the lift and along the dark wooden panelled corridors to our room.
Our twin room was adequately sized with 2 single beds, 3 bedside tables, a desk and chair, a small wardrobe, and a chest of drawers. There was satellite TV with about 40 channels in various languages, a small mini bar, and aircon.
Although the room was clean, the decor was very dated and more like a hotel in 1985. The furniture was pretty awful- old and worn, and covered in cigarette burns, even tho this was a non smoking room. The bed was too soft for my liking and gave me a bad back. The cotton sheets were really rough and not at all pleasant to sleep in. The aircon was a total waste of time. Even on the coolest setting, we couldnt get the room cool. The window opens, but the noise from the traffic on the roundabout was unbearable. Even with the duvet removed from its cover, it was still too hot to sleep. Other people in the hotel said their aircon was the same.
The bathroom, again, was old and probably cleaner than it looked. The sealant was dirty in various places,some of the tiles were cracked and the sink was loose on the wall. There were cigarette burns on the edge of the bath, and soapsuds came up thruough the drain in the floor when you used the shower. There was a brown hairdryer which looked like it had been made in 1978! Complimentary toiletries were provided although it looked like these were bottles that had been refilled! The water was only hot in the morning- if you tried to shower in the evening the water was almost cold.
Breakfast is served in the restuarant on the top floor of the hotel and was pretty awful. None of the cold food was refrigerated, so the milk was warm etc. There is a roof terrace with tables and chairs outisde the restaurant but you are not allowed to eat breakfast out there- even if there is nowhere to sit.
This hotel is the worst "4 star" property I have ever stayed in. It is more akin to a 2 star by Western standards on everything except the price. Frankly, I find it unbelievable that any country's national airline thinks that this hotel is of an acceptable standard for a 4 star hotel in 2008.
One final thing, be extremely wary of using credit cards in Belgrade. Don't let them out of your sight! We ate at a restaurant called Via Del Gusto which appeared to be a nice restaurant. On checking our credit card bill on returning home, an additional £38 had been taken from our card without our consent.
This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC
