A few blocks away from the Danube, and most of the museums and shopping along VI Váci, Italy's Boscolo family launches a stylish five-star hotel palace in the heart of downtown Budapest. Built in 1894 to house the New York Insurance Company, the structure's illustrious history between wars and fascist regimes resulted in a five-year reconstruction by the current owners to restore the building – perhaps even better than its original state. Guests enter from a congested city street with outdoor seating from the hotel's in-house cafe – empty perhaps given the hotel's grittier surroundings.
 
The lobby displays what the Boscolo family does best, creating rich avant-garde spaces like the circular gold leaf check in area next to a six-story indoor atrium that is focal point of the hotel. All guest rooms and common areas open onto the light and airy courtyard that is reminiscent of a baronial palace, in fact prettier than most any museum or palace in Budapest.  Still working out the kinks, the hotel features an in-house spa with Turkish bath and indoor swimming pool that are equally striking and well-equipped. Not known for their service, the Italian owners have found ill-companions in the Hungarians – who offer even less-attentive service. Phone lines ring endlessly if they connect at all, the front desk operates on inefficient laptops that no one knows how to use, and the restaurant should be deemed self-serve.

The Room:

In a swift rococo-mirrored elevator with groovy mood music, guests find their way to one of 107 rooms facing the hotel’s six-story open-air atrium. Heavy white-stained doors open to generously sized rooms featuring muted-gold and brown colors topped-off with an abstract Italian chandelier. The most stylish of Budapest’s luxury hotels (albeit the only competitor is the Four Seasons), rich wooden walls and well-selected furnishings seem to leave a comfortable impression despite lacking artwork or anything besides fabric on the walls. The marble bathroom is well-equipped with bathtub and picture window, but feature a plastic-floor in the stall-shower that was slippery and cheap. The Etro bath products were a nice touch as well as the thick linens that could have been Frette - but weren't. Rooms feature windows overlooking the main street and surrounding neighborhood, double-panned and resistant to noise and heat. On our visit the television never worked and mini-bar was hot – but since the phone never worked we could only complain during checkout.