Arriving by taxi, from the airport (50 lei! approximately GBP12 for 12 kms), at nearly 11pm, the hotel exuded an interesting atmosphere. Nobody at Reception but the sound of televised soccer emanated from behind a partition wall, behind Reception. I went to say something through the open door only to be spoken to in Romanian by the only other person in the lobby: I took it as 'the receptionist is elsewhere'. On the other hand, it could have been 'Don't disturb the soccer viewer!' The atmosphere was like something from a movie - what genre? I leave that to you to decide. Anyway, a helpful young fellow came down the stairs and, it seems, he, the receptionist, had been called away on some matter.
My 'first floor' room, i.e. GROUND floor, was a standard room but, nonetheless, well-appointed. Marble (or faux marble) bathroom tiling looked good; though note there is no tub, just a large walk-in shower. The range of condiments went beyond simply shower gel! A razor and cream in a packet, comb in a packet and so forth... with a brand something like 'Agua del Tierra'. There is an easy-to-operate safe in the wardrobe; I refer to setting the safe number because, over the years, the setting of entry codes for some has defeated me. Certainly, for one person, there were enough coat hangers and, also stored in the wardrobe, were shoe-shine buffer and shoe-horn. The mini-bar was well-stocked and prices not too ridiculous. OK, so what about the bed? Two singles were pushed against each other - no problem; on one a small cardboard notice advised that 'Our beds are custom-made. For an extraordinary repose and exquisite dreams'. I eventually got to sleep about 01.00... On the second day, I needed a steam iron and ironing board; again, no problem from Reception and it's only mentioned because there have been difficulties getting such at 'good' hotels over the years. The bedroom floor is wooden, lacquered or varnished, and I mention the detail because it does permit an involuntary experiment; padding about the room in socks provided me with the intelligence that the floor is fairly well cleaned for I only picked up one very long blonde hair! I figure if the room was carpeted, the hair would not adhere to the sock but I could be wrong.
Just off the lobby, are four PCs providing internet access (free), most welcome as I did not bring a laptop and could not, therefore, avail myself of the free wi-fi. Breakfast is buffet style and quite adequate if not amazing. Not that many staff were encountered so it's difficult to measure whether they have been on a 'Welcome Host' event! The barman was somewhat brusque but 'what the heck'; reminds me to mention that local beer (two types) was 10 lei in May 2011, about GBP 2.50. Actually, it was 8 lei at the bar and when proffering a ten note got no change; assumed that there is a shortage of smaller denominations. Wrong! I found out the next day that there are actually one lei notes...
And so we come to my fourth and final night; I decided to eat in; the restaurant opens at 19.00; so, I went down about 19.30 and found nobody around. Upon going to Reception, it turned out that the barman from upstairs was also the waiter and he duly came downstairs. Now, I had by this time, assumed there might be a skeleton staff but I am fairly sure the barman also cooked my two courses. I might be wrong, I don't state this for effect. The other strange thing on my last night was that the air-conditioning was making exactly the same noise but I do not think it was doing anything. Since arriving, the day time temperature had been around 26/27 degrees and I really felt warm that final night. Whatever I did, the room did not seem to get any cooler; the Siemens controls showed settings of Automatic, one, two, and three speed fans; I could not get it to make any difference whatever the setting. So, would I return? Yes but I know this hotel is not more than the four stars displayed.
By the way, the journey from hotel to airport was exactly HALF the price of coming in a few days earlier! Just under 25 lei. Interestingly, I offered the driver a 50 lei note as I did not have smaller. He was very apologetic and said he had no change... did I have euros? Yes but not the precise amount...and he had no change... so he got a 10 euro note... not so different to the 50 lei equivalent I paid coming in!
This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC