King's Hotel Budapest

This hotel was satisfactory only because we were on third floor with no lift and very little space in room.The service however was very friendly and helpfull.

There are so many positive things I can say about my stay in King's Hotel. The staff were polite, but not pushy, and the room was clean. I requested a non-smoking room because I am an asthmatic, and was placed on a non-smoking floor. There wasn't even a trace of cigarette smell. The room decor is simple but very effective - white walls and sheets, with simple brown/rust bedspreads and curtains (The moulded plastic "painting" should go in the bin, though!). The hotel is very quiet and secure - there are staff at the counter 24 hours, as far as I could tell, but I was able to come and go with my room key without having to converse with anyone if I chose not to. I felt totally at ease walking around the area at night. I had a mini fridge, a TV, two beds (I only needed one), a combination safe, two bedside lockers, and an ensuite with shower. The shower pressure was amazing, and there was always plenty of hot water to pummel away the shoulder strain of a day spent seeing Budapest's sights. The TV didn't seem to have any English-channel options aside from a music channel, but I had brought my AV-adaptor and luckily there were AV ports at the back of the TV (a Grundig flatscreen) so was able to view videos from my mp3/mp4 player via the bigger screen. I was very glad to avoid the eye-strain of squinting at my little 2" screen! I am a late sleeper and never availed of the free hot buffet breakfast (7am-10am) so I can't offer an opinion on that. In spite of the fact that I often had "Do Not Disturb" on my door until noon or 1pm, I always returned to find that my bed had been made and my towels had been changed - the cleaning staff were efficient and quiet. Now, a couple of small negative points: There were a few ants in my bathroom. I confess that I didn't make any complaint about this, so I don't know what the staff would have said or done about it, but it didn't bother me too much. I never saw more than 3 or 4 at any one time, and they were never so aggressive as to make their way into my sleeping area, so they found themselves on a fast route to a porcelain afterlife. I kept my toothbrush and toothpaste in the bedroom to be on the safe side, but really it wasn't a huge problem unless you have a major phobia (I would have been inconsolable if it was scorpions, for example!). Slightly more troublesome was the lack of ventilation in the room. The night I arrived, the radiators were on at maximum levels, and I could hardly breathe with the heat. I managed to turn them down so that they were no longer heating, and the heat from the hallways was more than enough to keep my room cosy. However, in spite of the high ceilings, I often found that I had to get up in the middle of the night to open the window for some fresh air. I would have loved to leave it open all night, but it was a big window at waist height and opened onto a communal balcony area, so I wouldn't have felt comfortable doing that. I think the windows should have a locked/open position so they can be locked in place with a small amount of air circulation. There was an Air Conditioning unit above the window but I could never get it to work - it doesn't bear thinking about how stuffy it must feel during the summer. As with the ants issue, I didn't broach this subject to the staff. When I checked in, the concierge mentioned that I had booked the very last room, so I didn't feel like facing the disappointment of my complaint being rejected (a more forthright soul than I might have fared differently!). On the last 2 or 3 nights of my stay, I found the room much less stifling, perhaps partly because the temperatures outside were getting lower. Incidentally, I brought my portable nebuliser in case of an asthma attack - I sometimes have to use it at home because of varying factors like dust levels and contact with allergens. I didn't even have to take it out of my luggage, because the place was so clean and allergen-free. King's Hotel is in a great location for seeing the city - even without getting metro tickets, there are dozens of sightseeing options within walking distance. It is in the heart of the Jewish Quarter that served as the Ghetto during World War II so the streets have a depth of history as you walk through them. A stone's throw away is the beautiful Great Synagogue on Dohany Street, the largest in Europe and the second largest in the world. A short walk away from the hotel, on Dob Utca, there is a remarkable memorial in honour of Carl Lutz, a Swiss diplomat who helped to save many Jews from the horrors of the concentration camps. The plaque quotes the Talmud: "He who saves but one man is as if he had saved the whole world". I recommend getting a 3 or 7 day travel ticket at any of the "Casse" ticket points in the metro station (Astoria station is about 6 minutes walk away, and Deak Ter is only slightly further). Unlike the single-trip orange metro tickets, you don't have to validate them or keep buying new ones for each change-of-line, so they save a lot of headaches. They cost about €12-15 compared to the €31 you pay for a Budapest Card, and you can use them on the trams, buses and HEV too (within the boundaries of the city). The 3-day Budapest Cards feel very convenient at first, but I didn't manage to avail of as many discounts as would have justified the expense, so I switched to the ordinary travel cards after that. All in all, I had a wonderful time in Budapest and it was due in no small part to my great accomodation at the King's Hotel. (I got an incredible rate via Roomex and I'll definitely use this site forever more!) I would stop off at cybercafes and find myself typing that I was on my way "home" to the hotel - this is one of the first holidays I've had where I really looked forward to arriving back at my room. If you like a quiet, clean, secure hotel in a good location, King's Hotel is the one for you.