The Athenee Palace Hilton is the ‘highest’ level of the brand in the city. There are now 3 others – the Hilton Garden Inn in the Old Town, the DoubleTree at Unirii Square and the new Hilton Garden Inn at the airport.

I chose the Hilton as it had an Executive Lounge. I originally booked a Twin Guest room and I emailed the hotel a few days in advance to ask about transfers and whether there were any upgrades available. The Concierge was great and offered a Twin Executive room or a King Suite with a rollaway bed, so I opted for the suite.

The room was great and had plenty of space. It was in the front of the hotel and overlooked the main entrance – the big window above is shown in the middle of the facade below.

The bedroom had the additional bed it the corner, but it was still spacious.

There was a small welcome gift.

The Executive Lounge was small but had a little balcony where one could sit with a drink.

There was not a huge amount of food and drink on offer when we were there, but beer, wine and a few crisps were enough to keep us satisfied.

Breakfast was taken in the main restaurant and upon being seated I was presented with a little tray of goodies for being a diamond member.

We were also seated at a ‘prime’ location – for what, I was not sure, but it was a decent table.

We only had one night here, as the second night in Bucharest was at the InterContinental – I did consider moving to the HGI as part of my status match challenge but I would have enough stays to cover it. We left our cases at reception and then headed out for the day to see the sights, including taking the open top bus tour, the outdoor museum and the Palace of Parliament. I would highly recommend the city as a place to visit. We enjoyed a traditional meal at the famous Caru’ cu bere restaurant which is worth booking.

Saying that, with Bucharest being a good starting place for cheap flights and therefore popular with Tier Point runners, the timings of the night stopper from London and the opening of a new airport hotel means that many will simply stay at the new HGI for 5 hours of sleep before heading back on the same plane (and, to be fair, I would probably do this too having been to the city if traveling on my own!).