Prague luxury boutique hotel picked out as world beater

A global travel advice site has picked out a Prague hotel as the best luxury hotel in the world for the second year running. The location is clearly one big factor in winning the award but those demanding guests clearly want a bit more than that.

The Golden Well Hotel

Travel advice server Trip Advisor rates hotels across the range based on guest assessments, the idea being that would-be travellers are steered towards quality and away from the real life versions of Britain’s imaginary Fawlty Towers.

It has picked out Prague’s U Zlaté Studně, which translates as At the Golden Well, as its top luxury hotel in the world for the second year running. The five star, small boutique hotel, with 17 rooms and two luxury suites beat off the challenge from around other 700 hotels in that category.

Guests gave an overall 99% satisfaction rating with 650 of the 675 reviews describing the hotel as excellent, 21 as very good, three as average and one as poor.

Petra Daliborová had this to say about the latest acclamation:

“We really appreciate this award because we receive it from our individual travellers. So it’s a big honour for us. We received this award last year: the best luxury hotel. So we are really pleased we defended this award again.”

The hotel’s location right beside Prague castle and enjoying views across the city is certainly one big plus but there is also a quick escape from the tourist crowds. Petra Daliborová again.

“The Golden Well Hotel is right below the walls of Prague Castle and so from the upper terrace, from the restaurant, there is a private entrance into the palace gardens right next to Prague Castle. There are amazing, breathtaking views. The location is one of the best in Prague.”

The Golden Well Hotel

Prices are perhaps not breathtaking, but the world’s best luxury hotel is not in the budget category either. Average room rates range from around 250 euros a night to 700 euros a night for the two top of the range suites.

Those sort of prices pay for quite a lot of personal pampering. For example, guests have a choice of seven different types of pillows and, for a little extra, can order a hot aromatic bath to be waiting for them after a day foot slogging round Prague’s tourist sites. The hotel itself is a completely renovated 16th century baroque house where Emperor Rudolf II’s alchemist and astronomer, Tycho Brahe, is supposed to have lived.

The Golden Well Hotel

Hotel managers say they are pretty fully booked in the high season and have a good occupancy rate throughout the year. Many of the guests are long distance visitors, coming from the United States, Australia and Japan.

Two other Prague hotels also made it into the top 10 world luxury rankings, the Alchymist and thematic Aria Hotel. The latter is also in the same group as At the Golden Well.