Usually, being on the higher floor is a benefit. In this case, I gladly traded my top floor spot for a smoke-free 1st floor room! Photo by: Evan Berman

I spent 2 nights in Budapest and decided to stay at the Ramada by Wyndham Budapest City Center. A decent hotel, my only issues were the smoking that occured in my assigned room prior to arrival and the hardness of the bed. In all, the Wyndham Rewards points that I earned were far more than enough to outweigh any issues!

This hotel review is part of the Eastern European Experience. For more information on the trip, follow these links:

Intro

Flight: United Economy Class B737-800 CHS-ORD-SEA

6 Hours in Seattle

Centurion Lounge, The Club SEA, and United Club: SEA Lounges

Flight: Turkish Airlines Business Class B787-9 SEA-IST

Istanbul Airport’s Famous Turkish Airlines Business Class Lounge and IGA Pop Up Lounge

Flight: Turkish Airlines Business Class B737 MAX 8 IST-BUD

2 Days in Budapest

Hotel: Ramada by Wyndham Budapest City Center (This Article)

SkyCourt Lounge, Plaza Premium SkyCourt, and Platinum Lounge (Schengen): BUD Lounges

Flight: Lufthansa Economy Class A320-200 BUD-MUC and A321-200 MUC-ZAG

24 Hours in Munich

Starkbierfest Munich

Hotel: H+ Munchen (Wyndham)

Lufthansa Business Class Lounge MUC

Flight: Croatian Airlines Economy Class Dash 8 and ATR 72-600 (Twin-Prop Plane) ZAG-SPU-ZAG-SJJ-ZAG-BEG

2 Days in Split, Croatia, the Beauty of the Adriatic

Delicious Food in Split

Hotel Vestibul Palace in Split, Croatia, a Small Luxury Hotel of the World (Hyatt)

Primeclass Lounge ZAG

6 Hours in Zagreb

Wine Tasting and Learning about Croatian Feelings

2 Days in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina

Restaurants in Sarajevo

Hotel Aziza Sarajevo (AABooking)

Business Lounge SJJ

Air Serbia Premium Lounge and Business Club: BEG Lounges

Flight: Swiss Airlines Economy Class Embraer E190-E2 and A220-300 BEG-ZRH-LJU

2 Amazing Days in Ljubljana, Slovenia

Food Scene in Ljubljana

Day Trip around Slovenia: Postojna Cave, Predjama Castle, Bled Castle, and Lake Bled

Hotel Emonec Ljubljana, Slovenia (Rocketmiles)

Flight: Air Serbia Economy Class ATR 72-600 and A319-100 LJU-BEG-SKP

1.5 Days in Belgrade, Serbia

Restaurants in Belgrade

Hotel: Hyatt Regency Belgrade (Hyatt)

3 Hours in Skopje, North Macedonia

Primeclass Lounge SKP

Flight: Wizz Air Economy Class A321-200 SKP-MXP

14 Hours in Milan and Monza, Italy

Hotel de la Ville Monza, Italy, a Small Luxury Hotel of the World (Hyatt)

Sala Montale and Emirates Lounge MXP

Flight: Emirates First Class A380-800 MXP-JFK

Conclusion

Intro:

I had 2 nights in Budapest and I chose to stay at the Ramada by Wyndham for both. I’ve mentioned several times how Wyndham has a wonderful rewards program, especially how redemptions for Vacasa rental properties starting at just 15,000 points per bedroom per night (13,500 with a Wyndham credit card) can provide excellent value. While most Wyndham properties are anything but luxurious, Ramada is a decent mid-tier hotel and Tryp by Wyndham and Wyndham Grand properties can be quite nice. I chose this hotel as there was a promotion at the time where if you had a stay of 2+ consecutive nights, you would earn an extra 7,500 points. In total, I earned 10,552 points from this short stay, nearly enough for a free night!

This stay was not without drama. I arrived at approximately 8:30pm after two consecutive days of flying and was eager to relax in my room and take a shower. The front desk agent was friendly and welcomed me to the property, thanking me for being a top-tier Diamond member. He gave me the keys to my room and asked me to let him know if there was anything that would make my stay better. Typical stay so far, right? When I opened the door, the room stank. It took me a minute to realize what that was– the people who stayed before me had smoked in the room. I was spending two nights and needed some quality sleep so I ended up asking for a different room. The only other available room was on the 1st floor with no view, but I preferred a room without smoke to the view from the top floor! I will review the differences between the rooms in each section where they apply.

Booking:

As usual, I evaluated using points or paying cash. As you may have surmised, Ramada by Wyndham is a Wyndham property and as such Wyndham Rewards Points are the relevant currency. This time, cash was the better route. I paid 205.70 Euro ($221.36 at the time). The points pricing would have been 15,000 Wyndham Points per night.

This cheapest price was for a Queen Bed in a “non-smoking Superior Room.” Wyndham room rates vary and this time the Cardmember flexible rate was cheapest. This is great as I was able to make adjustments to the booking had something come up and I needed to change/cancel.

Value:

As mentioned above, one night at the Ramada by Wyndham Budapest City Center costs $110.68 via the Wyndham website. I could have redeemed 15,000 points per night at this hotel (13,500 with a Wyndham credit card), but this is a redemption below 1 cent per point and I value Wyndham points at 1.1 cents per point. Had the hotel award price been 7,500 points per night, I would have redeemed but as such it was a better deal to pay cash.

10/10, Excellent. While I did not redeem points and paid cash, $110 per night is quite reasonable even by Central/Eastern European standards. I earned nearly enough points for a free night by paying for these 2 nights which is what makes this such a terrific value!

View:

As mentioned in the intro, I was originally assigned to room 503, which is on the top floor of the hotel and has a decent view of nearby buildings at night. Unfortunately, after the room change, there was no view at all, the window looked out at a wall.

8/10, Very Good. While the view from the 2nd room was nonexistent, I don’t fault the hotel for this. After all, they gave view one of the nicest views available. This was nothing special, but it was better than nothing!

Service:

While there appeared to only be two employees working during my 2 night stay– the man who checked me in and worked at night and the woman who checked me out and worked during the day– the service was reasonably good. The man apologized profusely and checked up on me the next day when I saw him again to make sure the new room was better. While it would have been nice to have the hotel realize that the room which was ostensibly non-smoking reeked, I realize there is not much that can be done to make that stench go away in a short time.

8/10, Very Good.

Furniture:

This room had 1 queen bed, and once again I was treated to a blanked but no top sheet. It is remarkable how European hotels appear to not have top sheets! In my reviews of hotels in Norway, I remark how even at high-end Choice Cambria properties this is the case and as you will see in the othe hotel reviews on this trip, that was once again my experience. The basic problem is that you will either be hot (under the blanket) or cold (nothing on top of you). It is nearly impossible for me to sleep at an appropriate temperature this way, though I do run hot and like to turn the AC on high and use just a top sheet.

The only real negative with this hotel was the bed was harder than I prefer. Not that it mattered– thankfully I am a great sleeper– but it would have been nice to have a bit more give with the mattress when laying down. For those wondering, the Marriott brand Westin has the most comfortable hotel bed that I have slept on so far. If anyone wants to get me a nice Christmas present, I’d love this bed! 😉

There was a small chair to sit at the desk. Unfortunately, it too was devoid of support and I did not use it during the stay. The desk itself was decent and big enough to set up a workstation, had I been working on this trip.

7/10, Above Average. The bed and chair were both on the uncomfortable side. While I am not terribly fussy and spend little time in the hotel during vacation, had I needed to do work I would have been unhappy with the comfort.

Bathroom:

While the sink and toilet were the same in both rooms, the shower was slightly different once I switched rooms. Overall, the bathroom setup was… interesting. There is a tiny sink as shown above, then a toilet tucked into the corner of the bathroom– there is no reason why the sink could not extend further. Finally, the shower was also separate, to the right of the sink the in the other corner. As a whole, this bathroom seemed to prominently feature empty space.

Here is the difference in showers:

The toilet was tucked away from the rest of the bathroom:

8/10, Very Good. As many readers know, I love a good waterfall shower and that gives serious brownie points. The design was a little strange and had I shared the room with someone, the sink would have been far too small.

Location:

As is implied by the name, the location is in the middle of the city of Budapest. Budapest is spread out, so you cannot walk to everything, but being just a couple of blocks from the Danube as well as most restaurants and other tourist items was terrific.

10/10, Excellent.

Electronics:

As with most of the hotels I stay in, this one has a medium-sized tv, though I did not check it out. The wifi was decent, though I did not have to work on this trip so no Zoom test this time! There was a password required to use the password which is a small security measure I appreciate.

9/10, Great. I appreciated having a password requirement for the wifi!

Food and Drink: 

The hotel offered breakfast, but it was not included. I have harped before about how this is a weak point of the top-tier Wyndham Diamond status you get from the Wyndham Rewards Earner Business Card. As such, I ate in the city.

N/A.

Overall:

8/10, Very Good.

My stay at Ramada by Wyndham Budapest City Center, was solid. The price was quite good and the return on points was exceptional. While the bed was a bit hard and the bathroom not ideal for 2 people, overall I had a solid experience and would not hesitate to return to this hotel the next time that I am in Budapest.

Next up: I headed from Budapest to Munich. The review of the lounges in BUD and review of the Lufthansa Economy Flight are coming up.