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The biggest hotel news in Prague the past year has been the reopening of the Art Nouveau Hotel Evropa on one of the city’s major public spaces, Wenceslas Square. The hotel had been closed for several years for renovation and for nearly as long as I can remember was just another dusty construction site on a square that’s been reinventing itself ever since communism fell. The hotel is now a member of the Marriott Hotel’s lux, trendy "W" brand and will take its place alongside other W properties in areas like New York’s Union Square and Miami’s South Beach.
I loved the old Hotel Evropa and was a café regular in the early-‘90s (and even stayed in the hotel once, though I can’t remember exactly when or why). I was dying to see the place in its new guise. So much so that I did something I only rarely ever do: I wrote to the marketing departing to request a complimentary stay (for research purposes, of course). That didn’t go well, but I did drop by the hotel’s café in early January for lunch (on my own dime) and to take a look around. In this post, I’ll share memories of the hotel, my early impressions of the rebuild, and my hope the Evropa (oops, the W) finds secure footing in what’s become a highly competitive market in Prague’s luxury lodging sector.