Clarion Hotel Prague City cool location, not so cool in hot summer

Clarion Hotel Prague City is a hotel I have stayed at several times over the past two years. I love the Vinohrady location with residential neighborhoods and laid back pubs and the ease of reaching the hotel via Metro from Prague Airport.

What I don’t like about Clarion Hotel Prague City is the air conditioner does not adequately cool the room on hot summer days. I knew this about the hotel after staying here 4 nights in July 2017.

I double booked hotels in Prague for our 2-night stay with a booking at Holiday Inn Congress Centre Prague at Vysehrad. Kelley and I walked over to the Holiday Inn last New Year’s Eve, so she had some memory of the hotel location.

There were reasons I wanted to stay at Holiday Inn Congress Centre Prague. First, is I never have stayed at the hotel before and I figured the air conditioner had to be better than Clarion Prague City. I also like walking around the green spaces of Vysehrad, especially on hot days when shade is desirable. We spent New Year’s Eve at a great pub and beer garden within the Vysehrad castle walls. Some of our favorite restaurants and pubs are near the Park Inn Prague at the bottom of Vysehrad hill.

Kelley said she prefers being in a hotel in the older parts of Prague. Holiday Inn Congress Center is a modern looking hotel. Clarion Hotel Prague City won out for our 2-night stay.

Clarion Hotel Prague City

Most rooms at Clarion Prague City are nearly identical with only slight differences in room arrangement. We stayed in room 101 in January, which was far more spacious than average and included a couch. Room photos of three different rooms are shown in my previous posts, along with photos of the hotel features.

Loyalty Traveler - Clarion Prague City 10,000 Choice Privileges points reward stay (Jan 19, 2018). Photos of larger Room 101 stay.

Loyalty Traveler - Clarion Prague City great Vinohrady location (Nov 7, 2017). This post describes how to reach the hotel from Prague Airport using cheap bus and metro 32czk/$1.40usd. I paid 8,000 points per night for 3 nights in a standard room very similar to our #205 room.

Loyalty Traveler - Hotel review Clarion Prague City reward stay (July 27, 2017). This stay was 10,000 points per night last summer when we stayed 4 nights.

Since this is my fourth review of Clarion Prague City, the only different aspect I can add that was not covered well in my other posts are photos of the buffet breakfast and room.

There were also two different features in room 205 compared to other rooms I stayed in at this hotel.

Handy travel buddy device in the room is something new from my previous stays. The same Handy device was also in Hotel Indigo Krakow. Here is the Handy website and their sales pitch to hotels with a demo. It contains information on local attractions and maps.

While I did not check out this device carefully at Clarion, I did read the information card accompanying the device at Hotel Indigo Krakow. After reading the charges for losing the device 300eur, cracked screen 100eur, and more damage fees, I placed the device back in its holder and never looked closer at what it offered.

Clarion Hotel Prague City Breakfast Buffet

There is a sign on the buffet counter listing items you can have cooked to order, including an omelette, fried eggs, eggs and bacon, eggs and ham.

According to the sign, “If you are interested, please contact our stuff”.

I missed photos of breads, toaster, cereals, milks, and whole fruits like oranges, apples, bananas, plums and kiwis. There are also two machines for espresso, latte, cappuccino and pitchers of juices and water.

Clarion Hotel Prague City is generally one of the best reward value hotels in the city. This stay cost us 16,000 points per night and was our most expensive reward stay at Clarion Prague City yet. We had never paid more than 10,000 points per night on any previous stay.

I purchased 200,000+ points during April 2018 U.S. Travel Association’s Daily Getaways for $5.00 per 1,000 points. Essentially, these were $80 hotel nights when the published room rate was 105eur/$120usd per night.

Main complaint was air conditioner in the room was weak and the intense morning sun started heating the room up by 7am, even with the curtains closed. Also, there are only a couple of English language stations on TV, but that is pretty standard at hotels in Czech Republic and Central Europe.

Still, I love this hotel location in Prague.

But after two hot summer stays, I will likely give preference to a different hotel in Prague if I have another summer stay in the city. Park Inn Prague is the only other hotel I have stayed at during hot summer days. The air conditioner at Park Inn Prague worked well during our summer 2017 stay.