Czech Republic Prague Marriott Hotel

[Chris26WI]

Stayed via priceline in Renaissance and Marriott now for overall one week. Overall, I would say, the Marriott is the better house of the two - mostly because its a newer hotel (1999) while the Renaissance is still in the end 80s-begin 90s style, a bit old fashioned already.

Both are in the same street in the city center (Praha 1), almost exactly opposite of each other, so convieniant if you have bad luck in priceline and have to change the hotels during the stay (what happened to me, as i had bid for several periods of one week and sometimes got the Marriott, sometimes the Renaissance - This was an extremely busy week in Prague now, Ice hockey world cup and EU joining date). A metro station (Namesti Republiki) is just below both hotels.

The service level in both hotels is quite nice and on deluxe level. In Renaissance they did evening turndown service every day in my room without asking for it - while in the room of my colleague who had a non smoking room they didnt. Each time I got a quite nice double room in the front part of the building, quite large and the furniture was alright (queen size bed, tv, desk, 1 comfortable chair, 1 chair, minibar, steam iron, bath tub..etc.). They charge 18.50 EUR for breakfast buffet (american), 14.50 EUR for continental.. thats why we didnt have breakfast in the hotel. Its extremely difficult to find a cafe outside near the hotels where you can get breakfast before 9am... so we left the hotel every day without breakfast (business trip).

The Marriotts lobby is much nice and in typical high class marriott style. Makes quite a difference to the Renaissance lobby. You can use the elevators to the rooms only after putting your keycard in the slot in the elevator. The rooms are a bit different.. so first time I had an extremely nice room with two queen size beds facing the street, a little "Erker" (dont know the english word, sorry) with two comfortable chairs and table, the rest is standard Marriott furniture (TV cupboard, minibar, steam iron etc.). No tea/coffee facilities in the rooms (same as Renaissance). The bathrooms are much nicer in the Marriott as well, nice lightning, nice large mirrors, though the bath tube seemed a bit small to me. Turndown service only on request. Second time they wanted to give me smaller room in the back facing the inner courtyard, so I wanted another room and took the offer to upgrade to executive floor room for additional 50 EUR a night. Well, the room was quite the same than the room i had before, just same plants, more bathing amenities in the bath room, a rose in the bathroom, regular turndown service in the evening. Access to the executive lounge (6th and 7th floor), which is nice, two internet terminals free to use, smoking area in the first floor of the lounge, non smoking area and bar/breakfast/buffet/area in the second floor of the lounge. The breakfast buffet is ok, but only "upgraded continental breakfast", so no american breakfast, and the lounge was really crowded during the two days for breakfast (but maybe because the hotel was almost fully booked now), difficult to find an available seat there. Breakfast in the lounge only till 10am, not 11am as in the lobby restaurant for breakfast. The evening buffet is a bit small, only 1 to 2 warm food, some snacks etc.. - have had much better experiences with other Marriotts here. So finally, I would say the 50 EUR upgrade charge is not worth the money. However, the Marriott is a very nice hotel, 5star for sure - while the renaissance has the less attractive rooms and overall interior. Service level in both hotels is about the same.

Both have fitness and inhouse pools.. but havent been there.

Pictures of Prague Marriott:

Pictures of Prague Renaissance:

[Braindrain]

I stayed here for 4 nights on a Priceline bid of $130 USD/night. That's an excellent price for this hotel.

Upon arriving at the airport, I took the Cedaz shuttle for 90 Kc. It took me Namesti Republiky and the Marriott was about half a block away. I had to ask the driver since it curved around the square and out of view.

The exterior of the hotel is extremely new and the lobby was just beautiful. I had a very smooth check-in and the service encountered throughout the entire stay was superb.

The rooms are quite large and have been updated and no longer show the old Marriott red and green colours. The beds were very comfortable and had a very thick mattress pad to boot. The mini-fridge wasn't the automatic kind so you could put outside drinks in it. The furnishings were great, the bathroom very nice, and the air conditioning superb. This was the 4th hotel in my vacation and was one of the best.

I need to plug in my digital camera, camcorder, and laptop, and the Marriott came through with plenty of electrical sockets. There is a good working area around the desk and offers high-speed Internet. I used the Internet cafes around town which were a lot cheaper.

From Namesti Republiky, you can take the metro to anywhere else in the city. Walking to the old town square took about 5 - 10 minutes. There is a supermarket in the adjacent mall and another one (Albert) in the underground metro area.

One thing I was shocked about was how much eating costs in Prague. The prices were higher than both Vienna and Paris! One of the best deals (and great food) was in the restaurant called Rendez-Vous which is in the little mall connected to the hotel.

I just loved this hotel and would definitely stay here again.

[Sciamano]

We've stayed at this hotel last summer. Five nights at around $100 per night.

The hotel itself is beautiful.

It's in a very good position, just a few steps from Republiky Namesti, which gives you access to the subway.

As already noted, there is a supermarket right next to the hotel, which is very convenient.

The old town is very close, and it's just a 15 minutes walk to Charles' Bridge.

No mention of PL at check-in, but the hotel was full when we arrived, so we were assigned a smoking room with a king size bed. It was really smelly, so we asked if we could be moved to a non-smoking room, and they told us they would do that on the following day, since a couple of large groups would check out, making some non-smoking rooms available again. The promise was kept, and the room we received was very similar to the one we stayed in the first night, only without the smell. :)

Rooms are large and clean. The bed was very comfortable and the air conditioning worked very well.

Bathrooms were of adequate dimensions, very clean, and equipped with standard amenities and toiletries.

Both the doorman and the concierge were very nice. The latter (a nice young lady) suggested a couple of restaurants and reserved them for us.

We didn't find that eating in Prague was expensive at all. Unless you choose the "fanciest" restaurants, eating is pretty cheap. We went to "Nebozizek" on Petrin Hill, a very nice restaurant with a great view of the city, and spent something like $18 per person.

Same thing at "Seven Angels" in the old town, which is the oldest restaurant in Prague.. very good prices.

My favorite restaurant was "Metamorphis", which is right behind Tyn's Church. There is a Pizzeria at ground level but the "real" restaurant is downstairs. Very nice, very good food, great service for under $40 per person.

Also, if you want a nice and cheap breakfast close to the hotel, go to the Caf

[GlennTheBaker]

Just returned from a 3 night stay at the Prague Marriott - our second visit to the hotel. We got it via PL for