Spent a week at the Capitolina taking in the area and found it to be ideal. The services provided were what we wanted - a clean, well-maintained room with good heating and A/C, nice bathroom and sufficiently wide-ranging buffet breakfast. They have good English skills but if you speak to them in Romanian they don't try and show off their English. There is a prompt room service for food which gave me the best penne carbonara I've ever had.

It doesn't have restaurant facilities (but we wanted to dine out), common areas to hang out in (but we wanted to see people in the town), bars, night porters or all the other things that elevate the star ratings and the price. But if you don't need those, why pay for them?

I was staying at City Central Hotel (great place) up the street and extended my stay but they were booked so I moved to the nearest hotel, Hotel Capitolina.

It smelled like stuffiness and disinfectant everywhere. I question the frequency with which they stream clean their carpets? I left the windows in my room open all day and it was still smelly when i got back altho not as much.

At least the bed was clean and comfortable and there was 'net access in the room.

Bathroom was recently renovated but not of the highest quality, but that's not a dealbreaker for me. Some things were starting to come undone already. The shower was an event, somewhat of an ordeal but an entertaining story (see photo). Actually, the stereo radio in the shower was great.

Breakfast was good. The staff were nice.

I wonder though, and this is in other places in cluj - why people don't open windows more to let fresh air in?

I stayed at the Capitolina during a conference and was very impressed. The price was very reasonable, the room was modern and clean, and the minibar was well stocked. Staff were very friendly and helpful. A real bonus was the availability of free internet connection in the room - not wireless, but I was able to connect my laptop easily. Although it doesn't have some of the facilities of big hotels (gym etc), I would definitely stay at the Capitolina again.

Our first room had dried urine on the toilet seat (despite the seal over the seat proclaiming it had been sanitized) and the television was broken.

Desk and floor staff were very friendly and helpful.

They moved us to a different room on the second night. This room did not have a working air conditioner; the air was warm and humid. We had to sleep with the windows open but due to the construction on the street, vehicles would pass over a steel plate making a load "klang" regularly through the night and frequently after 5 AM. We barely slept.

We asked for a (paltry) 5 euro discount for the second night without A/C. The desk staff said that only the manager can discount and that he wasn't going to be in that day.