Bucharest Trip – Day 3 : Ibis Styles Bucharest City Centre

My hotel for the first two nights of my stay in Bucharest was the Ibis Styles Bucharest City Centre. The others, quite sensibly, managed to stay in the same place for the entire week, but I was on a mission to complete the 6,000 points offer from Accor which involved staying at three hotels for two nights each. Which meant that I stayed here for two nights, then moved to another hotel in the city, then came back again. It’s sub-optimal in many ways, but I like getting Accor points. Incidentally, I’ve been inundated with requests for the return of my Accor blog (well, I had one person asking if I was still doing it) and I’m actively working on that.

The hotel has a modern design and some considerable thought has been put into it. My check-in process was handled by a staff member who was on the phone to a customer the entire time which wasn’t entirely ideal, but I appreciated the efficiency of the operation. The welcome went as expected and I was given a room on the fourth floor. There are low and high tables for those wanting to get a drink, get some work done or meet up with others, with a separate restaurant area at the rear.

For anyone interested (goodness knows who) this is the menu in the hotel’s restaurant.

I didn’t like this room at first sight. I didn’t mind the concrete ceiling and that element of minimalism, but I like having a desk. But, more on that in a moment.

Matters improved considerably when I discovered my welcome gift of cakes and a juice in the fridge. I was becoming rapidly more forgiving. I sent this photo to the group WhatsApp and Bev claimed she thought I had a coffin in the room. She was just jealous that she didn’t have a coffin shaped table in her room I think, she’s quite dark like that. But, of course, I didn’t say anything.

And then I discovered a fold-up desk, so I felt just a little guilty for jumping to conclusions. A few years ago, I was on a panel which discussed the new room design and I mentioned the importance of a desk, even if it just folded up. I’m not saying that they paid any attention to me, as ultimately most people don’t, but they have made a sensible decision here. The other table (on the right of the above photo) is also of an adjustable height, so can be used as a standing desk or a bedside table.

Steve was staying at the hotel, so we had breakfast together on the mornings that I was actually staying there. I don’t much go for hot options at breakfast, so I was suitably surprised and delighted by the cold meats selection. And olives, I like olives. And that red paste, I’m not sure exactly what was in it, added to the proceedings.

The selection from the following morning.

There’s plate one and I did try, despite my previous comment about the hot food, a few of the hot sausages. I wasn’t that engaged with them, so I didn’t repeat that exercise.

Here’s the hot food selection, which doesn’t really inform my two loyal readers as they can’t see what’s in them. There was a choice of, I think, eggs, fatty bacon and sausages. I make regular comments about how bacon should be cooked, including for those who read through my Norwich Market posts. I have agreed, and I am unanimous in this, that bacon should be served crispy and slightly burnt. The Americans know how to do this.

The cereals selection and there was also a juice station with five different juices, served alongside large glasses. This is most unusual, as usually hotels offer little tiny glasses for orange juice which requires me to take around four of them to the table.

Some of the breads and pastries, with a separate doughnut selection which I really quite enjoyed.

And biscuits.

And here’s another plate. I think everyone gets the idea of what I liked….

Anyway, I liked this hotel and my room had a pleasant view. There were no noise disturbances in the hotel either internally or externally and I enjoyed my Ursus Black welcome drink. Steve had a problem with his coffees not being topped up to which he was told that this wasn’t something that reception could do anything about and he had to speak to house-keeping before 18:00. This feels an entirely sub-optimal situation, there’s no reason why the hotel couldn’t have spare coffees behind reception, but there we go, I fortunately didn’t experience any issues.

I’d merrily stay here again and I liked how modern the hotel was, something which Ibis Styles often gets right. The service was friendly, the room was clean and I felt that I received good value for money. I paid £110 for these two nights, including breakfast, but the Accor offer means that the rate was effectively £70 for the two nights. The hotel is very well reviewed and seemed to be at near full occupancy during the time I stayed here, with it being around a twenty minute walk from the city centre.