Hotel Review DoubleTree by Hilton Košice, Slovakia

My first night in Slovakia after arriving from London Luton Airport on Wizz Air to KoÅ¡ice International Airport, Slovakia was spent at DoubleTree by Hilton KoÅ¡ice, Slovakia. This was a hotel night I booked for 64.70 EUR on an advance purchase nonrefundable rate feeling with 99% certainty that I would get a best rate guarantee claim approved against a 60.00 EUR rate from a competing online travel agency rate. I felt so certain about this BRG claim that it is the first time I booked a nonrefundable rate and applied for a best rate guarantee. My claim was denied.

Turned out the hotel had an even lower 58.80 EUR HHonors Advance Purchase Discount Rate hidden within special promotions offers. I now know to watch for that tricky low rate placement, however, the two DoubleTree hotels in Slovakia are the only instance I have ever seen of the lowest advance purchase rate for a single hotel night hidden within promotion and special offer rates.

DoubleTree Hotel view of StarÃ© Mesto (Old Town) KoÅ¡ice and St. Elisabeth Cathedral. Chrysso Boutique Hotel is building in immediate foreground.

Arrival

On a Saturday evening I arrived at Kosice International Airport to find the bus only runs every 2 hours on weekends and I had just missed the bus. I hate taking taxis, but that was the only option if I did not want to sit 90 minutes at the airport. I saw a sign in the airport for recommended taxi service, called the number and within ten minutes there was a taxi at the airport for me. The set minimum rate was 10 EUR for airport pickup. The taxi meter read 9.70 EUR when we arrived at the front door of the DoubleTree. Nothing I had seen along the way looked too appealing with several miles of strip mall like commercial retail shops, McDonaldâ€™s and businesses on the main road into the city and high rise apartment buildings set behind those. The weather was clear, hot and dry and still in the low 80s at dusk.

The woman at the reception desk spoke English, not fluently, but sufficiently proficient to let me know I had been upgraded to a suite. Nice.

The fruit plate was very welcome and a preferable amenity to chocolate and sweets for me. I also had a warm cookie given to me at reception.

Not too much to say about the suite. I basically used the bed, bathroom and desk during my brief stay. I checked out the gym and ate breakfast. There was a Saturday night wedding party happening in the same room where breakfast was served Sunday morning. The bar looked nice, but I never had drink or food there.

After a shower and change of clothes from pants to shorts and t-shirt since it was in the low 80s when I arrived at dusk. At reception I asked for a city map and the same woman who checked me in told me there was a wine festival happening on the main street. When I told her I prefer beer, she suggested a place called Hostinec and told me I would find it on the right side of the main old town street. Despite ten days in Slovakia and seeing the word hostinec a few times in different towns, I only learned a couple days ago, while back in California, that â€˜hostinecâ€™ is Slovakian for â€˜pubâ€™.

There were all kinds of activities happening in the Stare mesto of Kosice. I covered my Kosice city impressions in this post.

Loyalty Traveler – Two cozy days in KoÅ¡ice, Slovakia

DoubleTree Kosice breakfast

I did not take any photos of breakfast. There were hot eggs, bacon, sausage, beans and various fruit, yogurt, sliced meats and cheeses and breads. The breakfast spread did not impress me. Each of the five different hotels I stayed at in Slovakia provided complimentary breakfast with the room. DoubleTree Kosice and DoubleTree Bratislava were free breakfast only due to my Hilton HHonors Diamond status. The contrast between the two DoubleTree properties is the DoubleTree Bratislava is the breakfast buffet I rank as the best with the best staff service. In Bratislava, after taking a seat in the dining room, I rarely made it to the buffet and back to my table without my plate being cleared. Kind of annoying actually as I had to use another napkin and cutlery from one of the other three place settings at the table every time I went to the buffet for something. A pot of coffee was placed on my table. In Kosice, there were staff in the room, but the only interaction during breakfast was to ask me my room number. I repeatedly went to the buffet for another cup of coffee and the hot foods were not cooked very well. The bacon was the worst cooked bacon I have seen in some time.

There was a basement gym, but I did not take a photo and canâ€™t remember anything about the room, except it seemed small for a 10-floor hotel.

DoubleTree by Hilton Kosice was a fine hotel in a good location for walking around Stare Mesto, the old town city center with most of the sights a person visiting Kosice will want to see. Within minutes of walking out the doors I was at the wine festival and a couple hundred meters past that spot I was at an outdoor free rock concert on the main street of the city center on a Saturday night. Pints of beer were under $2 at numerous pubs and restaurants and meals were $4 to $8 at many restaurants. Over the course of 48 hours in Kosice I never heard anyone speaking English as their primary language. Yet, there were enough people around who spoke English well enough to provide services I needed and most signs and menus are in Slovak and English.

My second night in Kosice I booked a hotel suite at Chrysso Boutique Hotel, located 2 minutes walk around the corner from DoubleTree Kosice. That hotel can be seen in the first photo of this post in the Stare Mesto view from the 10th floor of the DoubleTree. A three room suite for $109 was truly impressive and that hotel overshadowed my DoubleTree hotel stay with the potential value to be found staying at local independent hotels in Slovakia. Aside from the two DoubleTree hotels, my other 7 nights in Slovakia were independent Slovakian hotels.

Loyalty Traveler – Hotel Review Suite Boutique Hotel Chrysso Kosice Slovakia.

DoubleTree by Hilton Kosice is ranked TripAdvisor #1 of 21 hotels.

DoubleTree by Hilton Kosice is HHonors category 4 and currently 30,000 points per reward night.