Our check-in at this hotel set the stage for an unpleasant stay. We were greeted (?) by a rather brusque, dismissive, suspicious, and cold, to the point of being rude, woman at the front desk. Upon inquiry, we were informed that none of the amenities, pool, massage, or sauna were available.

The elevator was tiny (barely fit 2 people and luggage at the same time), noisy and a little scary. The halls were draped in plastic (obviously under repair - although we never saw or heard any work being done) with barely enough lighting to see. Very creepy this place; somewhat reminiscent of Texas Chain Saw Massacre-Romanian style.

Although clean, the room was small and had wooden bedposts hidden (by bedspread) on the corners of the end of the bed. By the end of the first day both of us had various sized bruises on our knees and shins from constantly banging into them.

The bathroom was clean but also small and unremarkable. Note the proximity of the toilet to the sink in the pic. The shower had sliding plastic doors that you rolled together to a close. I was for a time "locked in” the shower since I couldn't get the poorly (actually un-) lubricated doors to open.

The hotel was quiet. In fact, eerily, spookily quiet. Except for seeing people at the breakfast buffet, we never saw even one other guest.

Ah...the breakfast buffet! It was nightmarish. First of all, the carpet in the buffet area was filthy dirty, wavy, and frayed to an unacceptable level. The food was minimal at best. There was not enough food for the number of patrons there and there was no sign of any foods being replenished. The staff that was there appeared to be an unhappy lot. The food that was there did not look in the least bit appetizing. The rolls did not taste fresh; ditto for the look of the cold cuts and the coffee was more akin to hot brown water. After our buffet breakfast we went out of the hotel for some real food.

I felt like I was visiting a hotel in Romania during the Cold War. This hotel exemplified what the picture of life in communist countries was often depicted as being: Cold, drab, impersonal, worn out with miserable staff who cared not a whit about the customers and only eyed them with suspicion.

The only saving grace to this place was the view of the Orthodox Church next door and the Palace of Culture behind that. At night both are illuminated and something to behold. As we took pictures of the church from our window we could hear church music and a choir. Delightful! but not the doing of this seedy hotel and its miserable staff.

We checked out (more like, escaped or ran out!) early after a few days of this and went to another hotel to complete our stay.

We would not recommend this hotel. There are far better places to stay in this classy, wonderful, vibrant city of Iasi.