Bossa Nova is an absolutely wonderful boutique hotel, perfect for a holiday stay. Here is my review based on a 12-day stay in August 2016. Tl;dr version: it was outstanding. 1. Location. The hotel is located in a comfortably quiet yet not very remote part of Szklarska Poręba. It takes some 10-15 minutes to get to the town centre on foot, with the first restaurants and shops starting already after 5 minutes. It is just far enough to be away from most of the noise; here the peace is only disturbed by an occasional car. On the other hand the hotel is a very good starting point for hiking in Karnokosze, especially towards Śnieżne Kotły or Szrenica. It is also some 10-15 minutes on foot from the Szrenica chairlift and other ski lifts of the Szrenica Ski resort. Note: the construction works near the hotel some previous reviewers complained about are over. 2. Architecture. Bossa Nova is located in a historic, ca. 100 years old building which has been thoroughly and meticulously renovated (or rather rebuilt). It is a rather small venue with thirty-odd rooms. Once you enter, you can easily tell that someone has spent lots of time planning event tiniest elements, their shapes, colours etc. and that owners really care about this place. Hotel has a large and quiet garden with tables, chairs and even deckchairs which you can freely use, should you be lucky enough to encounter sunny weather. 3. Rooms. We (a couple) used a standard room (called “Premium” at the website). As other reviewers pointed out it’s not terribly big, but we found it entirely sufficient. It was equipped with two comfortable beds set together (unfortunately no double bed, but it was not promised on the website, and I understand flexibility requirements for such a small hotel), three chairs, large desk, wardrobe, safe, small refrigerator for guests’ own use and a flatscreen TV with good selection of programmes, although mainly (only? I’m not sure) in Polish. The room was relatively dark due to quite small window, but this is an obvious and fully understandable limitation of historic architecture. To compensate for that, there were plenty of light fixtures ensuring more than enough light (something not always present in hotels). Bathroom was relatively small (using it by two persons at the same time is rather impossible), but very ergonomically arranged. The room had no air conditioning, but there was a powerful fan in the bathroom which forced quite good air circulation through the room, although obviously it was necessary to open the window to cool the air down. There are no rooms with balconies, which may be an inconvenience for smokers. 4. Breakfast. Buffet breakfast is served from 8 to 10 in the hotel restaurant at the ground floor. Selection of products is good and quality is very good, although you do need to remember that a thirty-room hotel will obviously not be able to provide exactly same variety as a huge chain hotel with hundreds of rooms, and that is very well, as otherwise it would have to waste lots of food. The selection has certain Polish flavour to it, so you get fresh bread, two or three types of equally fresh bread rolls, some cold meats and several types of cheese, some hot sausages (type of sausage changes daily) and certain typically Polish treats like “vegetable salad” made of boiled veggies and mayo, pork pâté or chicken jelly. Once you enter, staff will ask you if you would like to get some scrambled eggs, which are cooked for every customer individually (note: these are Polish style scrambled eggs, which are not as thoroughly mixed as ones served in many Western countries). What is not immediately apparent, is that you can also order other egg dishes free of charge, like fried eggs for example. I also heard other guests ordering pancakes/crepes (although I’m not sure if these were complimentary or not). There was also very good coffee and selection of fruits. During the first week of our stay there was no cake or anything similar, although please bear in mind that cake is not a typical component of a Polish breakfast (BTW – the Polish breakfast tradition is also a reason behind limited hot options some reviewers complained about). During the second week, when the hotel filled up to the full capacity (and there were more kids), they started to offer excellent home-made cake though (different every day). All in all, the breakfast was a very pleasant experience. The atmosphere in the breakfast room is also very relaxed and quiet with appropriately calm music being played. 5. Other services. Bossa Nova has its own restaurant, operating from 13:00 till 22:00 (kitchen closes at 21:00, at least nominally – see comment on service below). Except for normal à la carte meals, it also offers dinner sets for guests. We haven’t used the latter, the former are absolutely outstanding (see my separate review for the restaurant, which I will publish shortly). There is also a nice bar, with excellent selection of good alcohols (there is an actual selection of single malt whiskies, and not the most popular brands) and some interesting craft beers. The guests can use two different saunas (can’t comment on them, haven’t used), and – a highlight of the venue – a small audio/video room (private cinema). Hotel has a selection of films and audio records, so you only need to book your time slot. Sometimes it will also show some sport events broadcasted by TV, if the guests are interested (note: there are no TVs in the bar). Sound quality is excellent, as the room is specially designed for the purpose. You can order meals and drinks from bar/restaurant to the cinema room too. Use of this room is complimentary and definitely worth a try! Hotel also offers a selection of spa/massage services at additional charges, although we have not used them. In the winter guests can use a storage room for their skiing equipment. 6. Personnel. All the staff members (and owners – if I recognised them correctly, they were present serving guests too) are very friendly, helpful, attentive and professional, and also ready to go an extra mile to ensure customer satisfaction. Once I came out of the cinema room, where we watched a volleyball game, and asked for a menu, without noticing what time it was. After I was offered one, once the waiters saw I was looking at food, I was politely informed that it is past kitchen closing hour (as it happened almost half an hour), but they would check with the chef if he is still available. I protested that it’s my fault and I don’t have to ruin anyone’s free time due to my untimely hunger, but they would have none of it. They called, checked, exchanged some friendly jokes with the chef, and insisted that I order meal, to my complete embarrassment. Needless to say, meal was excellent as always. 7. Quality. Quality of absolutely everything in this hotel is so high, it deserves to be noted separately. It applies to services, food, finishing of the rooms, building itself, staff, you name it. Actually after a few days I tried to find at least one broken or dirty thing. Just for the sake of it. Some dusty place, some paint peeling off, anything. I found absolutely nothing. The biggest quality complaint I can make is that the motion detectors which control lights at the entrance to the lift at the 3rd floor are a bit misplaced and don’t immediately catch a guest coming from rooms 35-37. Yes, that’s literally the worst thing I could find over twelve days. 8. Value for money. This place is not very cheap compared to other offers in Szklarska Poręba (although at ~75 € per night in high season, it’s not very expensive for a four-star hotel either). Is it worth the extra cost? It depends. If you only look for bed and breakfast, I am quite sure you can find a cheaper place, which will keep you rested and fed. What extra Bossa Nova offers is not exactly tangible. It is a cosy, almost family-like atmosphere, with calm music, nice décor, silence. It is something which made quality of my stay much better, even something which makes this hotel one of my favourites not only in Poland, but globally. If you care for such additional features, I am quite sure you will not regret a cent spent here. 9. Message to the owners (as I know they do read these reviews). First of all thank you for the excellent stay. I am absolutely sure we will come back. Then some small recommendations – there are two things which you could do to serve your guests even better. One is a list of breakfast offers. As I said, it’s not apparent that you can order something else than scrambled eggs. I knew it from other reviews and website, but if I didn’t it would have taken me several days to realise. Secondly, it would be good if you could organise some place to wash dirty boots after hiking. Once I did return in somewhat muddy boots and I really did not want to bring all this dirt into the hotel; besides cleaning boots over toilet was quite inconvenient. I’m quite sure that the ski storage facility could easily play this role if it was provided with a tap and sink. Bottom line: this was one of the finest holiday hotels I have ever stayed in.…
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.