Kempinski Hotel Corvinus Budapest, Budapest, Hungary
Kempinski Hotel Corvinus Budapest 5 Stars
"Enormous, central and luxurious, the Kempinski Hotel surprises with a warmer welcome than its glittering facade suggests."
Hotel Overview
Review of Kempinski Hotel Corvinus Budapest, by Graeme Harwood
Kempinski Hotel Corvinus, a luxury hotel in Budapest, Hungary is still one of the finest five-star hotels in Budapest. Name a hotel that can match its buffet breakfast or its 500-square-metre spa stuffed with enough state-of-the-art machines, massages and therapies to sort out even the Elephant Man. What's kept the luxury hotel at the forefront (founded in 1897, the Kempinski hotel group is the oldest luxury hotel collection in Europe) is its desire to offer guests an experience greater than their expectations.
The facilities
From the classical trio constantly serenading the enormous split-level lobby/coffee shop patisserie (a little bit like going on board an ocean liner), to the front of house staff for whom nothing is too much trouble and without being asked, right down to the finicky detail of an overnight complimentary shoeshine service, this is a luxury hotel that desperately wants to please, impress and be remembered - even if the metal, marble and glass excrescence that is the modern façade paradoxically belies the warmth of welcome awaiting you inside it. Should my financial fortunes change at the same time as the Budapest Hilton blows up, then put me straight back into the Kempinski Hotel Corvinus.
The rooms
My voluminous Standard Double Room, amongst the 335 rooms in the luxury hotel, had much that I liked: a large writing desk, under floor heating in the marble bathroom and enough IT to challenge the most happening of businessmen - all in a blended pastel décor that was both comforting and timeless. Although the luxury hotel is expensive, guests won't feel a more cosseted vibe from any other luxury hotel in Budapest. Watch out for promotional packages, often over a weekend and/or around a theme of golf, opera, horse riding etc. which can drastically reduce the normal tariff.
Facilities
Hotel Policies
Awards
"Best Hotel in Budapest", Global Finance 07; "World Travel Awards" Europe Region 07Who stays here?
This hotel has been the residence of just about everyone in the celebrity world, so this is not for the discreet. Michael Schumacher, Mika Hakkinen, Nicki Lauda, Alain Prost and many more. From Hollywood, Melanie Griffith, Antonio Banderas, Eddie Murphy, Brad Pitt, Jennifer Aniston, Anette Benning, Jeremy Irons, Warren Betty, Aidan Quinn, Jonathan Price, Peter O'Toole, John Cleese, Ursula Andress, Arnold Schwarzenegger, David Hasselhof, Silvester Stallone, Bridgitte Nielsen, Jean Paul Belmondo and Mario Adore. Models such as Heidi Klum, Cindy Crawford and musicians John Bon Jovi, Sir Elton John, Michael Jackson, Mick Jagger, Eric Clapton, Gloria Gaynor, Tracy Chapman, Jean Michel Jarre, Robbie Williams and even Chuck Berry are just a handful of past guests.Come for...
- International ocean-liner chic
- The best breakfast in town
- New renovation has added much more flair to interiors
Not Suitable for...
- Romantic bolthole weekends
Children
This luxury hotel is family friendly with cots and extra beds available, toiletries and strollers. Baby-sitting services are on offer and during Sunday brunch there is a great children's corner with nannies, a children's buffet and entertainment.Eating in
The Bistro Jardin and Ristorante Giardino highlight a different region of Hungary and Italy each month. The Kempi Brauhaus is a casual Bavarian restaurant and sports bar with a lively Happy Hour and convivial atmosphere, and the Corvinus Bar features a selection of the fine cigars and single-malt whiskies.The Press Say
"Postmodern five-star hotel, close to the financial district, with over 300 rooms and three restaurants." Conde Nast Traveller 05Reviews
Review of Kempinski Hotel Corvinus, by Sarah Shuckburgh
The Kempinski Corvinus luxury hotel was Hungary's only five star hotel when it opened in 1992, and today, with every room recently refurbished, it still claims to be the most luxurious. The 9-floor modern building lacks charm, but is efficiently run and it's in a convenient position, minutes from Pest's financial centre and its pedestrian shopping streets.
The facilities
Although the architecture is stark, there are nods to Budapest's rich cultural heritage. More than 1,000 contemporary Hungarian paintings and statues are permanently on show and the first-floor art gallery also mounts changing exhibitions of local artists' work. If you are famous enough, you will be invited to add your autograph to those of other recent celebrity guests of the luxury hotel (including Brad Pitt, Elton John, Paul McCartney, Michael Jackson and Eddie Murphy) in a crested replica of a medieval volume from King Matthias's library.
The 24-hour concierge service is friendly and efficient - our many requests ranged from a toothbrush to tickets for the opera, and all were dealt with immediately and successfully. Live chamber music wafts into the lobby from a balcony each afternoon, and in the evenings a pianist plays in the Corvinus bar. The luxury hotel's food is international: you can dine on Italian specialities in the Ristorante Giardino or go for traditional Bavarian food and beer at the Kempi Brauhaus. The Bistro Jardin serves some Hungarian dishes, and you can enjoy coffee and a cream-filled torta (including a Kempinski house special) in the lobby café. And there is 24-hour room service.
Review of Kempinski Hotel Corvinus, by Jamie Dunford Wood
You have to hand it to the Kempinski Corvinus- Madonna is just one of the recent celebrity guests they have snagged. For a luxury hotel with very ordinary rooms in questionable taste, it is a triumph. They were, of course, one of the first 5 star hotels in Budapest, which counts for something in this businessman's town.
The facilities
Facilities-wise, of course, the luxury hotel cannot be faulted - robes, slippers, underfloor heating, loudspeakers in the bathroom and separate power showers. They also have all the usual lotions and potions, upgraded in the presidential suite to Bulgari, which is what this hotel is all about - a heirarchy of banality, mainly for the benefit of the Japanese business executive, for whom grades are everything.
The lobby is a hive of wheeler-dealing activity, rather like Grand Central Station only with an afternoon background of soothing classical music, played live from the balcony. In the luxury hotel's ground floor restaurant, the Corvinus, dinners are served by men in white gloves. Enough said.