return to worldwidereview.com,
the home of critical reviews
From: world travel Category: Consumer Date: 31 January 2008 Time: 04:36 PM Review: http://www.kyjev-hotel.sk/en/index.html http://www.bratislavahotels.com/hotel-kyjev-bratislava A tower block hotel next to the Tescos. It must be one of my favourite hotels, not because it has high levels of luxury, there are no saunas or cable tvs or swimming pools, but because of the elegance of its 1970s interiors. The 9th floor has the best colour schemes, the rooms with their pale carpets, white walls, oval mirror, low slung chairs, and high-level views may make you think you have died and gone to an off-white heaven or ascended the magic mountain. Avoid a room on the side with the enormous ad filtering the light some disturbing colours perchance to disrupt sleep. The breakfast buffet is pleasurable too, a wide range including bacon, hotdogs, fruit juices, cereals, different types of bread, a few cheeses, pastries, fried and scrambled eggs, tea, coffee, fruit, and leftovers from the previous night's dinner. An end of level boss in muscle strained waist coat limps around keeping an eye on the teenagey staff who are the security guards of the hot tables and prevent hijinks with the toast machine (will always remind me of the university). The wood panelling, the lift which wobbles and doesn't seem to want to stop at the right level before mulishly agreeing, the carpet which smooths it way up to cover the skirting, the semi-circular staircase from lobby to restaurant, the clocks showing times in paris, london, and tokyo, yes all the faded glamour of communist dignity. They are the elements which make the Hotel kyjev or kiev, (there is a hotel bratislava in kiyev).