Art’otel Budapest Luxury Hotel

Detailed Review

In the city centre, on the banks of the River Danube, equally 10-minute walk from the world-heritage-site Buda Castle and the downtown pedestrian shopping area. Three blocks from Batthyány Square metro station. 23 km from Ferihegy International Airport.

The first contemporary lifestyle hotel of the region featuring a multimillion-dollar retrospective of Donald Sultan, a world-renowned American artist.The hotel integrates four baroque residences restored to their original beauty. 149 superior guest rooms, with 8 single beds, 43 queens, and 98 twins. The majority of these room offer postcard perfect views over the Parliament, the Chain Bridge, the Matthias Church and the Fisherman's Bastion.

Independent Reviews

Art'otel
By Jamie Dunford Wood

Well positioned on the banks of the Danube on the Buda side, at the foot of castle hill, the 165 room Art'otel ('for those who live and travel art fully', says the brochure hopefully) is a blend of new and old . A modern riverside construction backed by a restored row of three 'fisher' houses, linked to the new by an inner courtyard. The hotel is part of a small but growing chain - there is one in Berlin and another planned soon for London. The point of them is that they are themed hotels - themed around the work of a single artist. In this case American Donald Sultan , who is responsible for the prints and paintings on the wall, the motifs on the carpet, the furnishings, the china in the restaurant and the merchandising in the shop. A dangerous concept, since this kind of fashion statement can so easily become dated, and 'branded' hotels can seldom develop into classics . It is both pretentious and mildly irritating , since this hotel foists its manufactured personality on you without giving yours the chance to breathe, and art and commerce always leave a slightly sour taste in the mouth. However, this is still a hotel that should be considered. First, ignore Donald Sultan and treat his work like that of any other interior designer. And second, forego the overrated river views of the new block and reserve a room in the old conversion , in particular one of the two rooms with balconies on the first floor. The new block rooms are functional and insubstantial, with small bathrooms and ungenerous proportions - rather like a business chain. The old houses, however, have carpets that feel twice as thick, high moulded ceilings, wonderful old doors and are altogether much more generous . They are quieter, too, with the two balcony rooms (one a junior suite, at not much more than the regular cost of a double) having an inner view over the courtyard restaurant. However, take a shotgun, as each room comes with an irritating Donald Sultan conceit - a small figure of a bird stuck somewhere in the room. The game one supposes is to find it. Armed with a gun, it need bother you no more.

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• Art'Otel
  By Graeme Harwood

  This four-star hotel represents both good value for money and a unique concept. The value comes in a high-up, Danube-side Standard Double Room (the only one in Budapest where I could enjoy looking over the river, the Parliament Building and Pest from lying in bed), with air conditioning, satellite TV and free access to the Internet for 30 minutes a day and a sauna/fitness room in the basement for not much longer.
  
  
  
  The unique concept part is more open to debate. But at least it’s a debate worth having. Art’otels are an ever-expanding niche of the Park Plaza Hotels Group and seeks to showcase the Weltanschaung of chosen modern artists, who not only display their sculptures, murals and prints around the premises but also design the carpets, furniture and dinnerware, so that you are effectively entering into their version of the world. By the time you leave an Art’otel you will have learnt about and come to an opinion of a modern artist of whom, before, you probably knew nothing. It’s an interesting and worthy idea which, to lovers of modern art, will prove an irresistible temptation.
  
  
  
  Personally, I didn’t much care for Donald Sultan, the American artist of this Budapest Art’otel. Too much use of blobby petals and gambling gimmickry, with an obsession for simple contrasts involving the colour black for my liking, even if he does do a nice line in butterflies. I was, however, grateful for the unusual experience of being provoked to think about a modern artist when I thought I was just going to be staying at a hotel. Certainly a hotel worth considering (and already sold to you perhaps) if modern art is your bag.
  
  

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• "Zany, creative and lively, this boutique hotel falls into two distinct halves, each themed around the vision of Donald Sultan."

  On the Danube, comprises a modern seven-storey building with lots of glass and four charming 18th-century townhouses. The artist in question is Californian Donald Sultan.