A home away from home

POLAND The hotel industry always want to make their guest feel like home. I just visited a hotel that almost makes you feel like you are staying at a family’s apartment. 

“A home away from home”. “Like home apartments”. “A hotel that feels like a home”. The leisure business always tries to market their accommodation with the analogy of a home.

The biggest travel trend recent years has also been to rent someone’s personal home to get the authentic feel of a city. And companies like AirBnB and Homeaway.com are growing fast. Another travel trend is the boutique hotels, as I have written about before. But there is also hotels combining the two trends.

I recently visited the culture city of Cracow (will write more about that), and stayed at Cracowdays. This is a small, charming boutique hotel were you see that the designers have put careful attention in to the details. There is a cosy warm atmosphere with contrasting brick wall all around the hotel. All the rooms have bathrooms and are fully equipped, but they interestingly have names from different wine districts or wine grapes instead of numbers.

But what is most special is that the hotel is placed in two, huge former apartments. It really feels like you are entering a home when you step inside the massive doors.
– And now, do you want some honey vodka? Guests are always welcomed with honey vodka here in Poland, the manager says after we have done the registration. And the registration takes place in the kitchen! A kitchen that you can use as you please.

The next day Cracowdays feels even more like a home. Breakfast is served in the main room, the kitchen. There are already people sitting around the big table, almost like a breakfast in a family setting. And surprisingly all the guests are chatting along, discussing what they did the former night, with no awkward pauses. The same thing happens the next morning, even though there are other people around the table. When you walk the streets in the center of the city, you also meet the people whom you chatted with for breakfast.

– This is very special hotel experience and very nice. I think it is a good place to stay at if you travel alone, one of the other guest says.

Visiting Cracowdays really feels like visiting a family house, even though you have all the service benefits of a hotel. Maybe this special combination of hotel and home feeling is a new, winning combination,at least it looks like the people on tripadvisor.com thinks so.