The Square Hotel

I found it hard to go to 4 (very good) but to be fair it was above 3 (average) We were disappointed on arrival that we couldn’t leave our bags before 3pm check in as the hotel does not actually have a serviced reception. You get a code sent to you when your room is ready, which gives you access to the front door, and your room. No human interaction. If you need anything or any issue with your room you have to make a call on your own phone to reach out to someone. Having said that, we had no issue really except needing more pillows to which we were directed to a room/cupboard on the floor above. Not an issue for us, but other folks might not like this ‘get it yourself’ approach albeit it very polite etc. Family room has pull out sofa bed, which made the room spacious for us (couple) it was spotless and we got in ok. Rooms are basic enough, but adequate. Few English channels and good enough Wi-Fi. Breakfast is served in the lobby/entrance area which doubles as a breakfast room but only holds about 12 people max at a time, so when we arrived 10mins early ..we had to come back. Its signage says The Square smart hotel - but we felt not very clear on their online blurb about facilities. It’s more like Airbnb in that respect. But we do understand their aim and business model. Just could do with more tech in order to be a real Smart Hotel we felt. Breakfast is basic but adequate. It’s really well located though, so we feel armed with the knowledge of some of these points mentioned it may not be a problem for some travellers. Room cleaning is on request, again this is not to some people’s liking but it’s good to be aware. Not a problem for us. Personally, we’d prefer to stay in a more ‘hotel’ like option - owner/manager very helpful but was just lacking something for us. Pros - location, cleanliness, room size, cost. Cons - ‘hotel’ facilities misleading, rooms face into busy/noisy street with rubbish collections in small hours of the morning. No lift, no usable ‘lobby’ area, bed hard (memory foam not to our personal liking)

A nice enough hotel in a good area of Cluj, in the old town's pedestrian area. Rooms were large and on arrival clean and stocked with essential toiletries. However, those were not replenished during the stay, the towels were not changed, what should have been a daily coffee turned into one time only. Trying to ask for anything is futile, the manager, Ciprian, is very rude and scolds guests like they are children. Initially his attitude was somehow bemusing but we understood rather fast that he has no clue what customer service actually is. Everything was treated as a favour, including services paid for. Because of him, an overall mediocre experience.

The breakfast should be excluded from the offer, to avoid interaction with people who are not “trained “ to do the job properly. We have been told indirectly to stop asking for more coffee ( which is, by the way, “high quality from Italy”)and go to a terrace to “encourage the local economy “; we had been told also that the food is “high quality “ but “ this is not all inclusive “, presumably to suppress any intention of asking for more…, which none of us had. We took some water from the hotel and we had been told off, even if we should have a daily replacement for it as part of the offer. And other examples as well, but I am running out of space. Such a shame because the hotel is lovely and really good location as well. People are coming to relax and to have a nice experience, not to be reminded every 5 seconds about the rules of the place and to be told off for nothing. At least in our group case, we travel quite often and we know how “customer care “ should look like and in this situation, we did not experience a great deal of it.

This hotel was clean, quiet and centrally situated. It was easy to check in with the door code. In the morning the proprietor was warm and friendly and the breakfast was delicious. We would recommend this horse to anyone passing through Cluj.