Majestic Hotel, Lviv, Ukraine

This hotel reminds me of the hotels I stayed in when I was in Serbia. The lobby and the general areas of the hotel are lavish, but they are not the least bit reflective of what awaits you in the rooms. It also hints at a past that was grander than what it's present holds. The staircase is the epitomy of regalness. My room was on the third floor, and I used the stairs as much as possible. The elevator was a small unattractive modern affair. Something to be avoided, when the other option was marble floors and rod iron hand rails. But what about the rooms themselves? First off, the standard 'double' room is not big enough to put a third bed into it. There were three of us, and we had had these enormous rooms in Poland that adding a third bed didn't put a serious dent into the space within we had to maneuver. Not so in Lviv. The rooms were tiny and very basic. A Hotel 6 kind of basic. Polyester bed spreads, furniture that had seen better days and was not upscale to begin with, and barely enough room to turn around once you were out of bed. Not the lap of luxury and nothing about the lobby prepares you for that. The dining room and the bar were in between. Not nearly as grand in style as the lobby promises, but not as spartan and worn down as the hotel rooms themselves. The service was exceptionally nice--very attentive, helpful, and warm. As a guest you felt welcome--and well fed at the breakfast buffet (again, not quite up to the standards of our Polish hotels, but very nice). But you leave feeling that the hey day of the hotel was behind it, and hoping that it would regain some of it's glorious past.