http://www.hotelchatter.com/ Hotel Reviews, Hotel Ratings, Hotel Openings en-us Copyright 2008 - SFO Media 2012-02-15T03:36:14Z HotelChatter HotelChatter http://www.hotelchatter.com/images/hcwhite.jpg http://www.hotelchatter.com/tag/Budapest%20Hotel%20Reviews http://www.hotelchatter.com/story/2007/7/16/54226/6990 <![CDATA[<img src="http://www.hotelchatter.com/files/3873/New_York_Palace_Budapest.jpg" class="imgborder"><p> <p>The newest luxury hotel in Budapest has a strange history. The building which now houses the <a href="http://www.hotelchatter.com/hotel-reviews/New+York+Palace+-+a+Boscolo+Luxury+Hotel/ian/238232"><b>New York Palace Budapest</b></a> started life in 1894 as an arts center with "the most beautiful cafe in the world", became an insurance company, lost much of its beauty during the communist era and now, finally, is enjoying a new life as a small luxury hotel.</p><p>This week's <a href="http://travel.nytimes.com/2007/07/15/travel/15check.html?ref=travel">NY Times</a> write-up from Matt Gross gives a pretty balanced view on the New York Palace, which is trying to compete with other Budapest luxury spot Gresham Palace. The building itself--especially inside the lobby--is jaw-droppingly impressive, but appearance isn't everything. Matt found a few small flaws during his stay:</p><blockquote><p>But the Wi-Fi was amandak 2007-07-16T11:21:24-05:00 http://www.hotelchatter.com/story/2006/10/26/222448/12 <![CDATA[<p><img src="http://www.hotelchatter.com/files/admin/four_seasonsbudapest.jpg"><p><a href="http://www.fourseasons.com/budapest/"><b>Four Seasons Gresham Palace</b></a> in Budapest tops the Conde Nast Traveler readers poll, even if the web site does say "coming soon.<p>There are seldom any major upsets in the annual Conde Nast Traveler Top 100 Hotels list, out on newstands now. After all, only a random sampling of not-very-busy subscribers gets to vote. Plus who is truly globetrotting enough to evaluate all the hotels in more than one or two cities---much less the entire universe of hotels over a whole continent? So reputation, fame, and good PR usually tip the scales.<p> Nevertheless, it was a surprise to see two Istanbul hotels take the #4 and #5 spots in Europe and to see Hungary's Four Seasons Gresham Palace rank Tim L. 2006-10-27T09:58:02-05:00 Search HotelChatter string http://www.hotelchatter.com/search/