I've been booked the Phoenicia Grand Hotel by my collegues in Romania, and I must say that I really enjoy my stay there. I've been already in Bucharest, and, like many Eastern cities, not always you find services you may expect for what you pay. Well, this is not the Phoenicia case.. very nice hotel, brand new, owned by an Arabic company (I was told so), it is a nice and big structure on the road connecting the Octopeni International Airport to the city. With a big parking lot just in front of it, the hotel can offer you two restaurants, a casino, a Gym, a night club, two bars.. even if I did not try any of these.. I've been given a double room, at 2nd floor. Already entering the room, I was surprised by the room itself.. a big bed, with plenty of space around it, a nice and clean bathroom, with plenty of free items.. a good frigo-bar, not overpriced.. I read that sometimes "walls" seems to be too thin, but, fortunally, I did not face this problem.. Now, as always, positive and negative considerations: THE GOOD The hotel itself - brand new, clean, good English language at the reception, free internet cable connection in every room.. tried the Italian restaurant for a quick salad: the "Calcio" restaurant is a well-known franchising brand in Bucharest, not overpriced and with a good service. Position is 30 minutes in non pick-hours from the International airport and the city center. Huge and wonderful breakfast - really one of the best I've tried, with many items cooked-on-request, and immediately filled up when finished. THE BAD Of course, they are not perfect.. So, you can note that on the TV you have 30 channels and you do not understand in what order did they save them; or you can wait up to 10 minutes in front of the reception for somebody to answer to your needs. During breakfast if you stop a waitress asking something (like a coffee), she will answer in a rude way.. parking in front of the hotel is free for 15 minutes.. then you have to pay.. THE UGLY Position: if you are a tourist, this is not the place for you. Long long way to reach the center, long long time in pick hours.. Air condition: it is placed under the window - if you keep the curtains closed, air cannot fresh the room. Otherwise, you can be waken up by the early morning sun. As you can see, very few bad points against a lot of good points.. I'd suggest this hotel for business travelers, for the hotel services and fro the quality/price ratio (I spent 100 euro/night in B/B). A very good hotel, not in the best town position.. but if you are in Bucharest for working reason, this is the hotel for you.

What a pleasent experience from the staff to the restaurants to the travelers we met while we were there. A must if you vist this city.

We had quite a pleasant stay at Phoenicia Grand Hotel, Bucharest. It is quite a bit out of town, although it is possible to walk to a tube station and catch a tube into town (I do not recommend catching a taxi into town due to traffic). It is very convenient for Bucharest Baneasa Aurel Vlaicu Airport, which is within walking distance (but probably a bit too far to walk if you are lugging your suitcases). It is also fairly convenient to Bucharest Henri Coanda Otopeni Airport although not within walking distance. Staff were quite friendly and helpful, and breakfasts (I believe this is generally included in the room rate) were very good - wide range of food including an omelet bar. The restaurants (Italian and Lebanese) were reasonably priced and the quality of food was good. There is also a garage in front of the hotel that sold decent sandwich rolls (the garage also have a mini-restaurant). One problem we had in various rooms we stayed in was leaking bath tub - every bath tub had a leak, which makes me suspect that the bath drain wasn't properly connected to the drain on the floor. Also sound proofing in the rooms was not too good and we could often hear the people in the next room talking on the telephone or having the TV on. But overall the rooms were pleasant enough - reasonably sized and clean. It was also nice that they disinfected the bath, loo etc between each guest. Laundry services were reasonably priced at just over 1 Euro per shirt for ironing, and wash and iron was about 2 Euro per shirt. Internet (wired) generally worked well. Some rooms do not have a working Internet connection (even if there is a port), so it is worth checking with the reception when checking in. Each room we stayed in had a functional desk area and a table and chairs. Wardrobes were rather shallow so once men's winter clothes were hanging in there, the door did not close properly, but this is probably a minor problem. There were sufficient shelf space etc to put things away. Overall our stay was quite pleasant even though there were minor niggles such as leaking bathtub, Internet stopping working and door lock problems.

This hotel is modern Romania in a nutshell. When I stayed there it was open only for two months, so everything was brand new. It looks like a scaled down copy of some of casinos in Vegas. There is lots of grandiose to the design of the interiors, however the quality of the building leaves a bit to be desired. I stayed there a few times, in different rooms - in each something was broken. In one even floors were not level. Also, the fitness needs improvement and new (not used) equipment. Having said that I have to say that the staff was friendly and breakfast good - wide selection and of good quality. Also, restaurants offer good food. So, overall my stay was quite ok.

Questo hotel rappresenta una sintesi della Romania moderna. Al mio soggiorno, era stato aperto da solo due mesi e tutto era nuovo di zecca. Sembrava una riproduzione in scala di un casinò di Las Vegas. Il design degli interni è molto grandioso, ma la qualità dell'edificio lascia un po' a desiderare. Vi ho soggiornato diverse volte, in camere diverse e ogni volta ho trovato qualcosa di rotto. In una camera, addirittura, il pavimento non era uniforme. Il centro fitness dovrebbe essere migliorato e avrebbe bisogno di attrezzature nuove (non usate). Detto questo, posso aggiungere che il personale era gentile e che la colazione era di buon livello, con un'ampia selezione e cibo di buona qualità. Anche il ristorante serve buon cibo. In generale, il mio soggiorno è stato abbastanza soddisfacente.