£ód¼'s Qubus celebrates its first birthday in 2007. Therefore, we have a chance to stay in a brand-new, contemporarily-designed hotel, one of the series of 11 facilities belonging to the Qubus chain, which has properties mainly in the south and the west of Poland.
Putting equal emphasis on tourists and business travelers, the hotel offers the latter mainly individual stays or possibly a training course for a small group. One 40-square meter conference room doesn't make the Qubus ready to accommodate large training groups.
Nicely designed rooms feature mini-bar, broadband Internet, TV SAT and air-conditioning.
Good, central location, less than 5 minutes from the "city's showcase" and at the same time one of Europe's longest shopping streets – Piotrkowska Street.
Unfortunately, there aren't any recreational facilities, such as a swimming pool or a gym.
Rooms
If we compare the Qubus to a car, it would be a hotel that's still in the "break-in" period. Everything here is new, with no signs of use, a bit undiscovered and still not quite tested.
Most of the rooms are standard singles and doubles. The singles could use more space. In case of need, we can move to an apartment.
Every room has a bathroom with shower or bathtub (in apartments). Everything is pristinely clean. Tranquil beiges, browns and whites. Everything's new, new, new.
The Qubus passes the first tests with flying colors. A definite advantage is the fact that rooms are equipped with quick internet connection, mini-bar (not in all rooms), air-conditioning and modern LCD televisions. Additionally, there are radios, quite a good selection of foreign-language satellite channels and paid theme channels (pay-TV). In an apartment there's also a computer.
We can choose among rooms facing the street (quite busy) or the car park.
From an architectural standpoint, the hotel is fully adapted to the needs of handicapped persons; however, it only offers one specially prepared single handicapped room.
The Qubus offers smoking and non-smoking rooms on separate floors.
Restaurant
The hotel's restaurant, named "Ogieñ" and the drink bar smell of newness, but above all, of coffee. Deep chocolate-brown color of floors and furniture creates a tranquil and warm ambience. It's impossible not to notice the fact that it is a very modernly and interestingly arranged interior.
The menu features quite a bit of traditional Polish cuisine and selected international dishes. One of the chain's guidelines is to offer similar menus in all its hotels, so that no matter what the location, guests can enjoy familiar dishes. In the 30-40 PLN range, a tempting proposal is the France Art Chicken with bacon, vegetables and baked potatoes. If we'd rather have something more exquisite, let's open the menu on the page featuring the Balsamico Duck or the Polish-style Pike-Perch.
For coffee lovers there's a special coffee menu, featuring among others, mocha with whipped cream and cinnamon syrup, cold coffee with Bacardi rum and Bailey's Irish Cream and many other aromatic surprises.
We can't have a meal delivered to our room - the hotel doesn't offer room service.
The restaurant is air-conditioned.
Conference
If we seek a place where hundreds of people could meet, we should cross the Qubus off our list. The hotel has one conference room, which can accommodate up to 40 persons, e.g. it's perfect for a small meeting. It is air-conditioned and equipped with professional audio-visual and projection gear.
Additional Services
Guests who have cars can leave them in the hotel's car park for a fee of 30 PLN per day. The car park is guarded.
It's possible to use the safe located at the front desk.
At the lobby and in the restaurant we can use Wi-Fi service free of charge.
