It may be the best of the upmarket places in town (and I'll recommend it because you have to stay somewhere) but that ain;t saying much. Good: the location right across the river from three of the wheels; the staff in the lobby bar; cleanliness.
Not so good: everything else. The front desk staff seems to have been worn out by the unremitting flow of demands from large groups - they are also trying to answer the phones at the same time. Once checked in you get strangely shaped and tiny twin rooms (we were told there are no double beds in the place) with elderly TV's, a small fridge right there in the room with you, groaning A/C and green wallpaper. The breakfast buffet which we ate in the company of a vast and multilingual horde of bus parties was the tiredest and most limited collection of .... stuff we had in two weeks of travelling while the Jardin restaurant where we had dinner is also pretty ordinary apart from the location. This is a pity as the street food in Hama was some of the best we had.
Everyone who stays here will survive the night; anyone who travelled in Eastern Europe in the 70's will feel right at home.
- Apamee Cham Palace Hamah
