Bike up

Since 2019 we have stayed at this very Spartan hotel regularly when in Wroclaw. The location for us is excellent with the central train station literally "around the corner" and all major tram and bus lines run by on the main street a block away. The "off street" location keeps the transit noise down significantly. The Rynek and Old Town attractions are within an easy walk or a short ride. Great location. But... the hotel offers no services anymore. None. Period. No laundry. No cleaning. No baggage storage. No longer will you find a bike rental service or concierge for help or reception of any kind. It is a very reduced experience compared to our 1st stay. Covid? It is a pity. Yet, the service collapse isn't the problem here (for us). What compels me to consider another hotel next month is the decline of the feeling of "safety " of this location. Never before have I felt as "unsafe" as with this 3 week stay. The abandoned building next door is vandalized yet only a few evenings ago we were awakened by a riotous event there which included windows broken out and an office chair thrown out onto a rooftop. The next night the same occurred including another office chair out the window. The darkened yard there is behind an obscured gate hiding much garbage and activity from street view. It is more like a set from the movie "A Clockwork Orange" by Kubrick. In the morning light I was able to see from the hotel room windows that a bike from the hotel was littering that yard. Bright yellow against the recent snow and unclear if this was there for a short or long time. But it was unsettling. Vandals on the hotel property at night? Vandals who throw chairs out windows? Opportunistic "ultra-violence" to quote the movie? In even the best of times this hotel requires a self-sufficent traveler. But now the hidden approach to the front door has never been less comfortable, and still not a single taxi or Uber has ever found the alley to the entry door on the first pass down the one way frontage street. On this particular visit the "alley" appears even less "safe" in the night each evening we returned from some event. Off the frontage street you must walk down an "alley' to get to the hotel front door. The alley has one side facing the wall separating the abandoned building and its assembly yard. The hotel side of the alley has another large dark passage which leads off between buildings and includes an obscured adjacent underground parking access ramp. Nothing protects you as you walk from the frontage street down this alley to the entry door. No fence bars the side passage. No cameras appear to capture or deter criminality. No human security such as a night porter or guard are present. The entire area is a ghost town including the frontage street (but for one indoor restaurant well down the block). There is literally "No one to hear you scream" for help when you walk this passage to the hotel front door. Adding to the sense of "insecurity" the hotel