Warsaw – Ibis Styles Warsaw Centrum

[as a footnote, albeit at the top, I commented about the lack of beer choice in this hotel in 2020, but they now have five craft beers, so I love the hotel more now]

Firstly, I wonder whether this is the ideal name for this hotel, as it’s not really in the centre of Warsaw and might cause a little confusion for travellers. There is an Ibis Styles which is much more central, known as Ibis Styles Warsaw City, which is nearer to the Old Town. Anyway, it was central enough for me and was in walking distance of the city centre.

The last time I came to this site it was to an Ibis Budget (which is still there, just a few metres away) and at that time, this Ibis Styles was just the twinkle in the eye of a hotel designer. I’m actually a little confused as to the design of this hotel, it seems very clunky, with a smallish reception area leading on uncomfortably to the restaurant area, something which I’d assumed was forced by the limitations of the building.

Until I remembered that it was a new building…. The doors here aren’t the entrance doors, this space would make more sense if they were, as they’ve got the reception desk shoved to one side and this space doesn’t really seem used. Usually, there would be free unlimited coffee here, but the health situation has meant that the machine is out of action. There are though coffee making facilities in the room.

The corridors are bright.

The room I was given and it’s fair to say that it’s colourful. I like this playful nature to Ibis Styles, it’s modern and on-trend. I think the theme was canoeing or something similar.

More of the theme.

This is bold from the hotel, which is a bathroom which is visible from the bed. The curtain to close this off is also on the bed side, so the person in the shower doesn’t have much control here. I was in the room alone, so it didn’t much matter whatever happened, but it’s an interesting concept.

There was no welcome gift in the room, or so I thought, but then a staff member came to the door to give me cake. It was much better than this photo suggests and much appreciated. I’m easily pleased.

I don’t really like the Winestone restaurant theme which Accor used, something I’ve complained about separately. But, Warsaw Mercure Ursus managed to get around the problems with the theme and delivered a perfectly decent experience, so I was tempted again at this hotel. I didn’t get very far, the restaurant is too formal for my liking (even with the introduction of bright lights, weird seating and swinging chairs, which is all too formulaic for me) and they had the exciting option of just lager in terms of the beer offering.

So with no beer of interest, I abandoned any effort of eating there and I just had a Pepsi as my free welcome drink. Although that was served slightly warm in a glass with no attempt to put ice or lemon in it, so I have to admit to leaving most of that. I gave up at that point and just left…..

The breakfast was included in the room rate and I must admit to getting a bit muddled up how the whole thing worked. Some things were served by staff, some seemed to be served by staff or help yourself and some other things were just help yourself. So, I likely got something wrong, but I did my normal thing of following other people when unsure. I don’t do that because they might be right, just because the hotel staff are likely to be less annoyed if it seems multiple people are confused. In the above photo, it’s possible to see the ham and cheeses all pre-served on plates.

And, my little effort, which tasted fine and entirely met my requirements. The hotel wasn’t expensive, so this breakfast was a perfectly decent start to the day. And the staff were doing their best, with everything being clean. Actually, everything in the hotel seemed clean and organised, they were taking the current health issue seriously.

I liked the lift.

All told, this was a perfectly well run hotel and the staff were welcoming and helpful. Not that I’m going to get too concerned about the design of the building, but it was a bit cobbled together, although the modern design of the rooms made up for that. It’s quite a brave theme for a hotel to run with, but I think it suits the Ibis Styles theming well. The welcome drink was a waste of time, but I was satisfied enough with the room and the free cake, that made me feel sufficiently welcome. For those who don’t mind a little bit of walking to get to the centre, then this is ideal, although it’s by no means the closest Accor to the centre of Warsaw.