Danubius Hotel Astoria City Center

“Two stays, 3 rooms, 1 review”

I booked a round trip from SC, USA, to Budapest, with side trips to Vienna and Prague. Therefore, I stayed in this hotel on two separate occasions. The 5 stars is from my first stay as it was the longest. On my initial arrival they had my room ready after I had traveled all night. IIRC, I wa… more

I booked a round trip from SC, USA, to Budapest, with side trips to Vienna and Prague. Therefore, I stayed in this hotel on two separate occasions. The 5 stars is from my first stay as it was the longest. On my initial arrival they had my room ready after I had traveled all night. IIRC, I was about an hour earlier than check-in. This was MUCH appreciated. They requested I pay up front, which was different than other hotels I have stayed in but this was my first time in Hungary, so when in Hungary, do as the Hungarians. My room was on the third floor and very spacious. I had elected to have the non-renovated rooms without the coffee maker. I loved my room! The only issue was trying to figure out the A/C. Upon requesting help, I was told that the windows had to be shut. My thought was why is someone opening the windows.....then when the A/C did not produce, I figured out why people were opening the windows. The nights got down to 55 degrees and I had those windows open! I slept fine....no street noise (I was on the third floor, this is important) and on the side of the hotel that was not on the street (also important). They provided a free large bottle of water which really hit the spot after traveling all night. The room also had a refrigerator. The bathroom was about standard size for an European hotel, with a standup shower. The sink area was not large but was big enough for this solo person to layout my toiletries. When I first arrived I had no hangars and a request to the front desk and I had hangars in 5 minutes. Likewise, once they did not leave all my towels, and housekeeping was up with more towels in minutes after I let the front desk know. No one or thing is perfect; it is how you respond. And their response was fantastic. I also opted for the breakfast each morning which had a variety of hot and cold items, with fresh fruit, juices, and machine which produced a variety of coffees. The front desk was very helpful when I was attempting to use the BKK app (which I highly recommend you download for metro/bus/tram travel) and helped me figure out the best routes. Which brings me to location, location, location. While this hotel is not in the most visually appealing location, it's location was superb for getting around on public transportation. The subway (Metro) is right there (though the straight down escalator to the bottom was scary for me and I hung on for dear life); the E100 bus from the airport stops right there; and most tourist locations that I wanted to visit (for instance the Szecheny Baths) had a bus with a stop at Astoria. My first stay was fantastic - now to my not so fantastic second stay. First of all, they upgraded me to a renovated room which sounds great but wasn't. First of all the room was tiny. I stayed in monastery guest houses in Italy and this room was smaller than any of those rooms. The bathroom was nicer than in the old room. It was also hot! The thermostat was set to 26.4 C, which is 79.52 F and could not be lowered to make it any cooler in the room. According to the Front Desk, this was set for the whole hotel. When I opened the windows, I was assailed by street noise. I was not on the main street side but I was on the second floor. No fans were available. They were going to send up maintenance to see if they could get the room cooler, but I requested a room as I had booked, not the upgrade. The Front Desk walked me up to a 2nd floor "old style" room and I immediately said yes. The room was at least twice if not three times the size of the "upgraded room". It also had two large windows which I could open because this room was also hot. It was not as stuffy because it was so much larger. Again, I was not on the main street side of the hotel but still on the second floor, which meant all night of street noise (from the main road filtering in) and of people screaming at each other after leaving a bar in the area. It was not a good night sleep and I had to be up at 3:00AM. I'm leaving my review at 5 stars because the majority of my stay was great; the Front Desk did what they could do to mitigate the issues from my second stay; and I would return to the hotel and recommend. For my tips: get the non-renovated rooms, request an upper floor, and request non-street side. The upper floor is key - the 3rd floor was no noise and the 2nd was a screeching nightmare. If it is the least bit hot, you will have to open the windows.

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