My wife and I were looking forward to our stay at the Palace Hotel. And it nearly turned into a nightmare. We booked a queen suite way ahead of time. When we checked in, we were given room 229 which is probably the worst suite room I've ever seen in all my hotel stays around the world. Following is the description of room 229: - for starters, the room smelled musky, i.e., the smell you get from a wet towel left in the closet; - there are 2 rooms, the bedroom and the living room with the bathroom and narrow hallway as "divider." My guess is that the suite used to be 2 bedrooms and then combined; - the bedroom's small windows face the other wing (nearby) of the building. No privacy at all unless you close the drapes all the time; - the bed was old and squeaky. Sheets have a faded color; - the living room set was also old; - the room is tucked into a remote farthest corner of the hotel; - and I can go on and on. I immediately complained to the reception who initially gave me a runaround about the hotel being full that day and "maybe" we can be relocated the following day if we follow up with them. The answer was totally unacceptable to me. I asked to speak to the duty manager but he won't speak to me or reception...My wife and I were looking forward to our stay at the Palace Hotel. And it nearly turned into a nightmare.

We booked a queen suite way ahead of time. When we checked in, we were given room 229 which is probably the worst suite room I've ever seen in all my hotel stays around the world. Following is the description of room 229:

- for starters, the room smelled musky, i.e., the smell you get from a wet towel left in the closet;
- there are 2 rooms, the bedroom and the living room with the bathroom and narrow hallway as "divider." My guess is that the suite used to be 2 bedrooms and then combined;
- the bedroom's small windows face the other wing (nearby) of the building. No privacy at all unless you close the drapes all the time;
- the bed was old and squeaky. Sheets have a faded color;
- the living room set was also old;
- the room is tucked into a remote farthest corner of the hotel;
- and I can go on and on.

I immediately complained to the reception who initially gave me a runaround about the hotel being full that day and "maybe" we can be relocated the following day if we follow up with them. The answer was totally unacceptable to me. I asked to speak to the duty manager but he won't speak to me or reception didn't want to connect me.

Finally, I gave up and called the Esplanade Zagreb to book a room. We told the Palace that we don't mind paying for 2 hotel rooms for the night just to avoid staying in room 229. That's when the Palace realized that we were serious about our complaints. Long story short, they immediately moved us to another queen suite room on the 4th floor (room 404) which is significantly better than room 229 and a view of the park.

In the following days, the hotel sort of "redeemed" itself through the excellent service provided us by the reception staff, restaurant waitstaff and housekeeping. But I must say that room 229 and what we had to go through to change the room to the level of quality that we paid for was a disappointing experience.

The hotel is nice and centrally located. As long as you avoid room 229!More