by Cristina

Created on: February 14, 2009   Last Updated: February 19, 2009

Location and a bit of history:

JW Marriott Hotel is located about a 10 minutes walk from the city center of Bucharest, in the vicinity of Parliament Palace, the second largest building in the world, after the Pentagon. Previously Parliament Palace was called "The House of the People" and it has been built by the former communist dictator Ceausescu. He didn't live to see it finished, let alone move into it and it's probably the most famous building connected to his name. It is highly controversial, and now it houses the Chamber of Deputies and Senate and is well worth a visit if you ever get the chance.

The hotel is part of a architectonic complex built by former dictator Nicolae Ceausescu between 1980-1989 after a Romanian project, using exclusively Romanian building materials, along with Parliament Palace and the headquarters of Ministry of National Defense. The building was bought from the government in the beginning of 1990 and transformed into a luxury hotel, one of the main shareholders being Fahti Ta-her. The hotel has been turn into a JW Marriott, through the well known franchise system.

The hotel has been a huge success, its turnover in 2007 being over 38.5 million Euros, with a profit of 16 million Euros, according to General Manager, Kurt Strohmayer.

The hotel:

8 floors of luxury, with 379 rooms and 23 suites, 21,528 sq ft of total meeting space, this hotel really is, as they call themselves, "a city within the city". The very first time I have stayed there I was quite impressed. It was during December, they had a Christmas tree and beautiful classy decorations and everything was breathing elegance and opulence. The lobby is massive and very impressing, with marble and green carpets around the reception area. Right as you walk in there are two long hallways on the right and on left, where all the shops are located. And we are talking about at least 20 shops, a travel agency, a book store (quite a nice selection of books in English), a saloon for your beauty needs. As you walk straight from the entrance, the reception is right in front of you, there are quite a few tables with sofas for informal meetings or gatherings and on your right hand side is the Pavilion Lounge, an international Bar. They have a wide variety of drinks, cocktails and, of course, coffee.

The lower floor (I guess you could call this basement ) has a worldwide brand fitness club (World Class Health Academy) and, believe it or not, a Casino. The hotel guest have complimentary access to

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