We chose Aro Palace for our trip to Brasov first and foremost due its excellent location, about 10 minutes away (walking) from the main square in the old city center, Piata Sfatului. We had a very good 4-night stay, although when we arrived we were disappointed because the hotel and the rooms are somewhat dated (both the furniture as well as the walls, carpets, decorations etc) and didn’t look as new and fancy as we would have liked. However, the hotel staff was very helpful and quickly solved our requests, so in the end we decided the pros outweight the cons and managed to have a lovely time. The rooms are large and comfortable, if you look past the dated aspect, and they are equipped with everything a 4-star hotel should provide its guests. A few things here though: 1) our room did not have enough outlets, and none was available next to the nightstands - perhaps this is something the management could take into account for the next renovation; 2) there is no information in the rooms about the room service menu or the hotel amenities - I think having that sort of information available via a smart TV like most modern hotels have nowadays would be a big plus. 3) there is no place to leave towels and bathing suits to dry - the hotel has an optional room cleaning policy, which is quite nice and thoughtful to the environment, however, without a proper way to dry towels and bathrobes so that they can be reused, you are forced to ask for these to be refreshed daily. 4) the rooms and especially the bathrooms should be cleaned a little bit better - this is subjective, but in my opinion, comparing to similar hotels in the same price range I’ve stayed at, others do a much better job at cleaning mold and grime from all surfaces. On the bright side, the breakfast was very good, quality ingredients and excellent coffee - definitely better that similar hotels in the same price range. The rooms are equipped with Nespresso coffee machines, which is nice but also quite surprising, due to the contrast with the old-fashioned decor. We didn’t use the spa but we visited the pool - there are actually two, a small one for kids, that seemed to be heated, and a larger one, very decent size, that starts at 1.3 meters and reaches 2+ meters in depth at the far end. The spa & pool are not reserved for hotel guests only, and when we visited there was a group of people taking swim lessons and some college kids hanging around. The elevator takes you directly to the pool, which is good because you don’t need to parade in your bathrobe and slippers through the main lobby (unlike other hotels). As a downside, the pool area could be cleaned better as well - the small pool had areas on the bottom where black grime was visible between tiles. The hotel has 4 elevators, which meant we never had to wait for more than a few seconds. The WiFi had decent speed and coverage throughout the hotel. The hotel also has its own parking, however we did need to use it. Lastly, the location is exce
