Hotel Royal Botanic

Ok, I stayed here from 20th April until 28th April. Booked a double room (always good extra space!) and having flown into Warsaw and then rented a car to drive the 2 hour drive to Lublin, I arrived around 2pm to check in. The hotel is set in lovely grounds with a huge garden and places to walk and admire nature. You can also eat outside and there is plenty of free parking at the hotel too. My room was on the second floor and was neat and tidy and clean, although the furnishings are outdated and could do with upgrading. Hotel staff were polite and spoke English - except the cleaners, who, when I wanted another pillow, did not understand - but we sorted it out. They were very friendly. On the whole, the staff are very polite but don't smile that much. But if you engage with them, they open up a bit. The room had a bottle of water, flat screen TV, (channels are a bit limited), large bathroom with a good shower (hot water each morning was fine) and minimal toiletries, so bring your own! No robes or slippers either but there is a hair dryer. I stayed 7 nights and also ate at the hotel too, as well as elsewhere. Breakfast is a buffet, available from 7am until 10am, with quite an extensive variety of food, but it does not change much. Dinner is available from 4pm until 8pm after which the Chef goes home. There is a bar too. Note that as in most places now, staff are minimal so the bar girl probably serves the dinner and also attends the Reception when needed. Overall, I liked the hotel and would stay there again, even though I am used to more extensive facilities. Pros - Wonderful gardens, small but good food menu, rooms are comfortable and very clean and the hotel is mostly quiet. Free WiFi is also good. Cons - No room service, no robes or extensive toiletries - as found in other hotels. Also they have a pair of McCaw birds in the hotel, living in a cage about 10 times smaller than it should be - a bit cruel. And when they shout it's like listening to a Dinosaur! Be ready for it to happen!! Serving food only between 4pm and 8pm is not good. The road leading up to the hotel from the main highway, is not in the best condition. Drive slowly to take it easy on your tyres. One big issue for me - there was NO EMERGENCY INSTRUCTION NOTICE IN THE ROOM! So if we needed to evacuate in case of fire for instance, no instructions are provided. (I later noticed some instructions on a wall on the ground floor, but these were in Polish. This hotel has international guests and so needs these instructions on the back door of each room - and in Polish, English, German and French too!. Overall, my stay was very acceptable. Once I got used to the screams of the McCaws, it was fine. I walked in the grounds, had a satisfactory breakfast and ate a very good Pizza for dinner from the Bar Menu. Room cleaning was excellent and the cleaning girls are very helpful if you need anything. I must also give thanks to the lady

After several written and telephone inquiries and booking intentions, the hotel unfortunately did not manage to book 4 double rooms. Again and again only half-valid and incomplete information came back via email and the staff was not willing to help, let alone sell the rooms. It's a pity, but this is no way to deal with guests willing to book.