Check-in is swift with my passport being exchanged for a huge paperweight of a keyholder with the instruction to swap back if I go out - I am not going to forget that this is in my pocket!!!
The room itself is immaculate, tasteful, modern and provided with almost everything I need for my overnight stay. There is no in-room internet facility which is a bit of an oversight for such a modern hotel and nor is there coffee-making facilities. There is however - A MINI BAR !!!
The hotel brochure on the desk is quite brief but does have a useful city map and there is a "coffee-table" type hardcover brochure from the local tourist board singing the city's praises in glorious technicolour and 2 languages.
Those that know me will recognise where this is going, for those that don't, let me briefly explain my hotel routine. (It's a comfort thing!)
On arrival at a hotel the first thing I do is search out the coffee-making faciliies (if available), then light a cigarette, make the coffee and sit to read the hotel gumph with my cigarette and my coffee.
And so, here there is no coffee machine, but I do have a mini-bar, this I can live with. I open the mini-bar and it looks pretty well-stocked to me: aperatifs, nightcap and breakfast all sorted. Hmmm, perhaps not - a thorough search, reading every bottle's label, reveals that there are 2, and 2 only, beers in this so-called mini-bar and that everything else is either water or is non-alcoholic - YIKES!
This wasn't actually a major disaster really as the night clerk was more than happy to get a couple of beers from the bar when I returned later evening. Also the internet thing wasn't a problem either as the lobby has a complimentary machine.
All, in all, this was an excellent hotel, and should I ever be in this neck of the woods again will definitely be first on my list.
