Hotel Sax by Jenny Pidgeon

The Sax is the sister-hotel of the delightful U Zlaté Studné, but the owners have gone for a radically different style here. The result is almost entirely unsuccessful.

Things start off well enough; a large four storey white building well situated half-way up the hill from Malostranské Námestí in the charming Lesser Quarter. However, one’s hopes are dashed on entering into the lobby of the hotel. The décor is modern but tasteless, with a leopard-spotted carpet and uncomfortable-looking black plastic chairs. Although the hotel was full on inspection, the reception desk was unstaffed, there was nobody to be seen in the lobby and the Sax has the impersonal feeling of a large business hotel.

Looking up, you see an attractive glass-topped atrium going up all four floors which brings in airy natural sunlight to the building. Each balconied floor has the look of a motel with plain white walls and grey carpeting. All 19 rooms and 3 suites were full on inspection, but appear to be decorated in a similar style with white walls, dark carpets, sparse furniture and patterned bedspreads. The breakfast room has an institutional air, again sporting a lurid spotted carpet and small square tables.

The saving grace of the Sax is the interesting modern art found in the public areas. At the back of the breakfast room is a painting of snail-like spirals, in the lobby a huge half-segmented orange hangs on one wall and dangling from the atrium are two mobiles made of pieces of paper covered in drawings, messages and artistic scribbles.