Rich and...
Demis Roussos (singer), Sylvester Stallone (actor), Ennio Moriccone (music composer), Ken Follet (writer), Jean-Luc Soulé (writer), Isabella Rosellini (actress) and Chris Rea (singer), just a few names among the people, who have already been to the Sofitel's presidential suite. The French hotel group introduced itself to Budapest in 1982, and the premium class was there from the beginning.Celebrities come and go, and since the big reconstruction in 2005 Sofitel has been constantly upgrading the presidential rooms, but the basic attributes are the same. It is 93 m² big, it is comfortable and elegant and the view is quite amazing: you can see the Chain Bridge and the Buda Castle from the window. Most of the time one or two people take the suite, if a whole family comes; they usually book the junior presidential suite, which looks a bit more conventional and traditional.
Levels on the top
How do hotels compete with each other when it comes to presidential suites? Price cannot be a factor, because let's face it: when someone is willing to pay 1800 Euros for a room, it doesn't matter if it costs a few hundred Euros more. (By the way, the top price in Sofitel is 2500 Euros/night.) They more tend to play with the icing on the cake, and Sofitel did a very good job with it.
Starting from the bathtub, surrounded by strawberry champagne and a glass wall, it looks directly to the Buda Castle. Although, there are other tricks, which can keep the guests here for weeks. French trainers came here and taught the employees how to prepare the deluxe beds with mattresses, which have seven layers. The small pillow menu is not the latest fitness guru's idea; the guests can order different kinds of small pillows regarding their nightly habits: if they prefer sleeping on their backs, on their sides, or they have some kind of allergy.
A butler is available for the clients, which is not common in
Budapest at all, and neither are the
Hermes cosmetics . If the celebrity tenant travels only with his bodyguard, no need for an extra bed, because they have a whole place for the security guys, or for the assistants.Lovely interior
Every component is here, which could make Sofitel's presidential suite a kitsch or a cliché, but for some reason it has not become that. The rosewood furniture, the Bocelli marble, the flower compositions, the mirrors and the electric devices are selected with fine taste, because we didn't feel like in any room, that it would be too much. The dominant colors (brown, pink and beige) create a fresh and young atmosphere, and while the rooms' layout seems to be odd for the first time with the bathroom in the middle, but after a short time even we could get used to it.
Viggo Mortensen spent much more time there, than us, and a nice story got attached to his name. The American superstar came here to shoot a movie and he needed a piano because of his part. A great musician came to tune up the piano, and he started to play some music for Mortensen, who in the end asked the older guy if he would like to play in the movie. The musician was a bit surprised by the question, so he said "Well, I've got time, I'm a pensioner." And how did the story end? That stays behind the walls of the presidential suite.
