Danubius Hotel Arena ^****

I will start this review by mentioning that I recently stayed in Arena Hotel for the fourth time. I stayed in Arena Hotel with my girlfriend from November 30th to December 3rd of 2012 (Room 216). Budapest is one of my favourite cities I visit from time to time. I know Budapest almost like my home city, so I have a lot of information about Budapest hotels. Arena Hotel is my first choice whenever I am in Budapest. I book other Budapest hotels only when Arena Hotel is fully booked. The hotel is not placed in the city center, but the city center can be reached in 10 minutes by metro line M2. The hotel is placed next to Puskás Ferenc Stadion metro station. By the way, Budapest metro is one of the most efficient metro systems in Europe. I strongly recommend buying 72-hour or 24-hour travel card. Arena Hotel is excellent choice especially for those who travel by car. The hotel offers its private parking space free of charge. Although the hotel parking space is limited compared to the size of the hotel, I find parking lot whenever I stay in the hotel. In addition to the hotel parking space, the huge P+R parking space is placed next to the hotel. The P+R parking space is charged, but it is much cheaper than parking spaces in the city center. The communist style huge hotel building looks impressive but not stunning from the outside. But the interior is another story. Immediately after entering the hotel guests can feel that they are in the very nice hotel....nice and spacious lobby, modern and spacious elevators with music, spotless clean corridors with new carpets .... It is very important to mention that the hotel was recently completely refurbished. The three-star Stadion Hotel became the four-star Arena Hotel on January 1st of 2009. Arena Hotel absolutely deserves its official four-star rating. Rooms are spacious, nicely decorated, clean and well-maintained....new furniture, comfortable beds, sitting area, LCD, minibar, electronic safe, kettle with coffee and tea, A/C, heating....some rooms with balconies. Bathrooms are spacious enough, clean and well-maintained. Buffet breakfast is served in the spacious and nicely decorated restaurant. Food is excellent and there is plenty of choice. We did not try lunch or dinner there, so I can not judge it. We did not use fitness center, sauna or swimming pool, but these facilities look very nice. Arena Hotel is also famous for its congress facilities. The hotel staff are very professional and provide excellent service. They speak fluent English and really try to do their best. Upon arrival we were not sure if we want view toward the city center or Hungária krt, so the hotel staff offered to show us few rooms. It was really nice touch. I am very glad that the only downside does not exist anymore. The hotel finally introduced WiFi in common areas. But WiFi did not work on my smartphone for some reason. It is very important to mention that Arena Hotel offers excellent value for money. Overall, I strongly recommend Arena Hotel.