Grand, Beautiful, Great Location, Nice Spa…read more
Arrival experience We arrived by train and walked to the Carlo IV from the station. Upon reaching the entrance, the porters immediately assisted with our bags (there are two flights of stairs at the entrance). Check-in was slow and was like stepping back in time with a manual data entry process of all passport info for all guests. Mobile check-in using the BonVoy app didn't speed up the process and ended up wasting our time. And the receptionist kept taking phone calls which slowed the already glacial pace of check-in. The arrival experience and check-in needs to be updated to the modern age. Andrew the porter was a very helpful, nice young man.
Room overall (room 414): Small room with a king bed but functional. Small desk, one side chair, two small nightstands, closest/wardrobe. Electric kettle for boiling water. Small mini-refrigerator crammed full of mini bar items. Upon arrival, we noticed that a Coca-Cola in the mini-refrigerator was half consumed. We sent a message through the BonVoy app about it. The half-consumed bottle stayed there for our entire three night stay. Also, one big gripe about our room: this is supposed to be a luxury hotel, but the TV is an ancient, tiny Philips TV that looked like it was 15 years old. It was a truly crummy TV. Finally, the carpet is older and stained.
Bathroom: Beautiful but small bathroom. Combo tub and shower, and the tub was deeper than a standard tub. Good lighting. Included a bidet which made the bathroom very cramped. Excellent toiletries including shampoo and conditioner.
Bed: Older but decent mattress. The mattress was not as good as standard Marriott beds in the U.S.
Sleep quality/noise: The hotel is not noisy but we did hear some noisy guests arrive late one night. So sound insulation from hallway noises is not great. But that's going to be the case for any hotel with small rooms.
Housekeeping: Thorough and very good housekeeping service. We left a tip each day, and the housekeeping staff accommodated requests for extra towels.
Pool and gym: Excellent pool and spa. We enjoyed swimming in the pool (approx. 20 meter length). And the steam room was great! Outside of the steamroom was a cold water plunge tank; the cold water plunge was refreshing after a good swim and a long steam. Relaxing on a lounge chair in the spa was a nice way to end a day of walking across Prague. Tip: Enter through the changing room and take a shower first. It's etiquette in most of Europe to fully shower before entering the pool.
Restaurants: On site restaurant provided a nice breakfast buffet. The breakfast buffet staff were very nice and brought us coffee or espresso each morning. The buffet included fruits, yogurt, hot items like oatmeal, eggs, sausages, bacon, and more. And the selection of cold fish and cold cuts was nice. One minor gripe- some of the fruit was not good. For example, the pineapple was overripe to the point of being bad, and sometimes the honeydew melon was cut with huge amounts of rind remaining. The watermelon on the second day was not ripe.
Concierge Lounge: n/a in this hotel
Concierge desk: Jana at the concierge desk was sweet, pleasant, and very helpful. She provided several useful tips for us and secured a very good dinner reservation at a boutique restaurant (the Blue Duckling).
Parking: valet parking available
Overall staff attitude/service: Although check-in was painful and slow, overall staff was nice. The porters were all super-friendly, and Jana at the concierge desk was a gem. And the guest services manager sent us a half bottle of sparking wine to apologize for the mini-bar issue we reported using the BonVoy app. Although the half-consumed Coca-Cola was never replaced, the gift of the sparkling wine was very thoughtful and showed some responsiveness to our message.
Misc: photos are of room 414
Tips: (1) This hotel is located very near the main inter-city railway station. We arrived by train from Warsaw and walked to Carlo IV. The walk was about 5 minutes, and it was all downhill. Even with luggage, it was an easy walk. (2) Many restaurants are within a 5 minute walk. (3) If you enjoy walking, the whole city is within walking distance from Carlo IV. We walked from the hotel to the Castle one morning. It was a fun hike. Total round-trip that day was about 11 miles of walking. (4) If you prefer not to walk everywhere, there's a convenient tram stop just 50 meters from the hotel entrance. Trams cost 24 Kr / person / trip. Tram tickets are sold at the Tobak shop across the street from the hotel. (5) Prague is one of the few major European cities where credit cards are not universally accepted. We strongly recommend changing at least $50 US to local currency for random purchases like water, ice cream, and tram tickets.