No, no, no, not THAT Grand Hotel Europe!
Written: Apr 12 '03
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Large room; restaurant good for dinner; friendly and helpful staff (evenings).
Cons: Lacking thought and the fine touches; restaurant poor for breakfast.
The Bottom Line: They seem to know what they should provide but don't do it properly. Most staff friendly but let down in the morning.
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| vodkaboy's Full Review: Best Eastern Grand Hotel Europe |
GRAND HOTEL EUROPE
No, not the world-famous one in St Petersburg. This is the Grand Hotel Europe in Baku, Azerbaijan. Though you could be forgiven for confusing them, as the name is identical and this hotel’s logo is five stars!
Normally when I am in Baku I stay at the Hyatt Regency. This time when I arrived, I was told that the Hyatt was full so I had been booked into the Hotel Europe. We tried the Hyatt again, offering my Platinum card number and asking if they really couldn’t squeeze me in, but it was a definite “No”. So I had to sacrifice the points that I would have earned, and stay somewhere else! It is quite telling that I actually didn’t mind missing out on the Hyatt points as I would have the opportunity to review another hotel – I must be an epinions junkey!
The Hotel Europe is a tall, newly built hotel quite nearby. It is Turkish-managed and has the reputation of being the best hotel after the Hyatt, so I decided, well, at least it’ll be a new epinion for me!
RECEPTION
I arrived straight from the airport. Entering into the main door, the reception desk itself is very small and staffed just by two young ladies. It is on the right as you enter, and no more than two people could be served at once.
In front, up a few steps, is an alcove with the elevators on once side.
To the right, around behind reception, is the Caspian Bar. To the left is a corridor leading to the Caviar Restaurant, and beyond that a hair dresser, gift shop selling such items as Russian dolls and tacky souvenirs as well as useful things like shirts, shoes and batteries. Beyond that is the conference and exhibition centre.
Check in was very quick, or would have been if my cell phone hadn’t rung half way through a one minute process! The two girls were both pleasant and friendly.
Something that intrigued me, as well as signing the registration card, I was also asked to sign the back. There was a declaration that I am fully responsible for any guests in my room!
“But I won’t have any guests in my room,” I asserted.
“Maybe you will,” she smiled. (was this a hint?)
“No, I won’t have any guests,” I stressed.
“OK, but maybe you will, please sign” she insisted.
What is this, a knocking shop? Well, there is a voucher for a free drink at the disco. Okay, I signed.
In the morning when I came to check out, shortly after nine, there was only one receptionist on duty. She was cheerful and friendly but was covering reception and answering both the switchboard and house phone so, every few seconds, had to leave me to answer a call. At one point there were two lines on the switchboard ringing, the house phone, and she was billing my credit card all at the same time!
ROOM
I was rather pleased to find that I had been placed in a suite. Walking in I entered the living room area which is quite large and spacious, about 20 feet long and 15 feet wide. Looking around as I type this, there is a two seat sofa against the wall, facing towards the window, with a small table o each side bearing a table lamp. In front of the sofa is a low table, and there are two armchairs opposite. Beyond that is another small, round table with two more chairs, which seems almost superfluous. On the right there is a cupboard containing minibar and in-room safe, with a 14 inch TV on (almost 50 channels and only about 5 in English). A window runs most of the length of the room with a great view over the city, and to the left is a small writing desk which I am sitting at now, watching the TV in reverse in the mirror in front of the desk. The desk has a cheap plastic phone, a desk lamp. There is one spare socket underneath and the phone point is easily reachable if I were to want to dial up from my laptop.
The bedroom is about 2/3 the size of the living room with a comfy double bed, desk with TV, plenty of wardrobe hanging space. The bath room is large and airy. The windows also run most of the length of the room but don’t quite meet in the middle, so I may get woken by sunlight tomorrow morning! There is a good sized balcony with a remarkable view over the city. Unfortunately it is empty; there is no furniture, no chair in which to sit and watch the sun go down over Baku city.
The room is certainly large and comfortable; clearly some effort has gone into offering plenty of furniture, lamps, the basics. However where it is lacking is the quality, and the thought that went into the extras. The sofa and armchairs are certainly comfortable. However the TV screen is a bit small, bearing in mind how far away you are sitting! Also there is not a single chair facing the TV. The work desk is small - I could barely fit the laptop and an open file on without moving the phone or lamp off the desk. The desk is a little low and the chair a little high so I can hardly get my legs under the desk. The furniture looks nice at first glance, but seems to be IKEA or something similar. The light all comes from a stand lamp and five table/desk lamps so the room is dark; one overhead light could have replaced three of the table lamps.
There is a kettle with tea and coffee making, excellent. Unfortunately there is no milk or milk powder!
It’s 11pm as I am writing this and there are lots of odd, disconcerting noises. First my phone rang, just once. I picked up in the living room but the phone seems not to work. I went into the bedroom but it had stopped ringing. Now every couple of minutes there is a chirping noise which could be a phone; it is so quiet that it must be next door. Or maybe the air conditioner. There was a rattling crash from just outside, on the 4th floor, a moment ago. Maybe it was the wind.
On a positive note, the air conditioning works - which is more than can be said for the last two hotels I have stayed in over the past seven days !
FACILITIES
There is an outdoor full size pool; I walked past it this evening on the way to the night club and the wind was blowing it into a frenzy! There is also an indoor fitness centre with plunge pool, sauna and gym. There is a good size conference centre with several rooms accommodating up to 250 people. There is a small business centre near reception with a couple of PCs offering internet access, printing, copying etc but only open to 7pm.
Down in the basement is a Billiard Room. I stuck my head in and saw two pool tables (both occupied) and a TV tuned to Eurosport.
As I type this, the lights are flickering. So I guess they have a generator but it ain’t half annoying!
Something to their credit. On the flight to Baku I discovered that some stupid idiot had stuck his or her chewing gum on the bottom of the armrest and it ended up all over my trousers. The hotel laundry only accepts clothes for laundry up to midday and I didn’t arrive till 4pm. I took my trousers to the girl at reception (No, I was not naked from the waist down, I had some chinos as well !) and explained that I needed them done urgently and less than 3 hours later they were back in my room, spotless. Well done and thank you.
RESTAURANTS
Not a very wide choice. Well, in fact a choice of two: Eat in or go out!
The “Caviar Restaurant” has two honours. It is the only restaurant in the hotel and its named is the most common cliché in the region! That said, the menu offers a good choice of seafood and the service is good. I dined this evening on a seafood salad, with baby shrimps, smoked salmon and crab sticks with lettuce, flaked cheese and olives. For the main course I had an Azeri lule kebab which was an excellent platter of barbecued minced lamb wrapped in local bread, spread on chopped onions, pomegranate seeds, sliced cucumber and tomato. With soft drinks it came to under $30 and was good. The starter was a bit bland but the main course was excellent.
The view from the window is very inspiring, across the city, unless you get a seat further into the restaurant in which case you can hear the wind howling but not see much!
In the morning the breakfast was nothing special; there was a buffet offering fruits, salads, cheese, cold meats, and some local specialities such as a very delicious halva and some chunks of honeycomb. Each table had a photocopied form offering omelettes or your choice of eggs, inviting you to tick your choice of filling. The service was lacking though; the waiter could not raise a smile and spoke in grunts. When I finished my coffee nobody offered a refill and, when I looked around to ask, there was nobody there except one waitress chatting away on the phone.
The Caspian Bar must hold the “second greatest cliché” in the names competition. I went in at a little after 10.30pm and it was deserted apart from the bartender.
Purely in the interest of research for Epinions - that, and the voucher for a free drink - I checked out the night club, “Tunnel Disco”. It opens at 10pm and I arrived at 10.30 so it had barely woken up, To get to it you have to exit the hotel and walk alongside the pool then turn right. The wind was howling like a caged animal, and there was a smattering of rain.
The security was good, all guests go through a metal detector, then down another flight of stairs. The room is semi-circular, with a bar the length of the flat side. Around the semi circular dance floor are about 15 or 20 high tables and chairs. The bar people were cheerful and friendly and, bang on 10.30pm, the first pair of girls walked in. Both tall, both bottle blonde, both scantily clad and both beautiful. I decided to head back to my room, without any guests to be responsible for, to finish my epinion!
SERVICE
Generally pretty good, all of the people seem to be friendly and cheerful, one or two are slightly lacking in English but so what.
One little thing I found lacking was no “turndown service” nobody comes round at 6pm or 7pm to remove the bed cover and turn down the duvet. Now personally I don’t care about having the corner of the duvet turned down, or about the chocolate on the pillow, but for me the turn down service is also about checking that you have clean towels for the morning, that the room is clean and tidy before you come back to go to bed, etc. I expect it from any 4 star hotel, and if they don’t do it then, for me, it is a 3 star joint.
The service was noticeably less efficient or friendly in the morning in the Caviar Restaurant and Reception was foolishly short staffed at 9.00am, though the single very busy girl was pleasant and cheerful.
SUMMARY
It gave the impression that someone had a checklist of what they thought people wanted: big bed? Check. TV? Check. Nice wooden furniture? Check. Tea & coffee? Check. Restaurant with a good view? Check. And seafood? Check. However, they hadn’t really understood the reasons, or exactly what people wanted, so some of it didn’t hit the mark. The desk was fine but not comfortable to work at; no milk or creamer for the tea and coffee; the restaurant was very good in the evening (when many people will eat out) but fell short at breakfast (which most people will have).
Overall the hotel was more than adequate, perfectly acceptable, but needs some more attention to detail.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
vodkaboy
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Location: Somewhere over here
Reviews written: 168
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I've been thinking. That's an improvement.
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