"A very polished Polish address"
It's very unlike me to ⌘-C and ⌘-V the writing of others (in this case the humorous heteronym-ing by The Independant) but can you please blame the serious slick-factor of H15 Boutique for me being at a loss for words? You'd never peg this stylish 19th-century city pied-à-terre for a former Soviet embassy if not for the crest (now sans hammer and sickle) above the front door. Much like its Design Hotels sibling, Hotel Klaus K, this gem is small but seriously shiny, with each of its 46 rooms and suites individually designed to exude modern luxury and that feeling of 'home away from home...but glossier and with miraculous, mysterious self-cleaning ability'.
I stayed in one of three penthouses on the fifth floor, whose moan-inducing heaven of a four-poster bed made it that much harder to get out of bed each morning if not for the abundance of light streaming in from the wraparound balcony through the floor-to-ceiling windows (note to self: draw the blinds before bedtime). From the generous, snow-covered balcony I was granted a view of Warsaw's pleasingly-low cityscape, punctuated by Stalinist-meets-Art Deco monument that is the iconic Palace of Science and Culture. Funnily enough my favourite aspect of my Junior Suite wasn't the view nor the charming '70s vibe of the room but in fact the minimalism of the white-marble bathroom, because I'm a blogging cliché, don't you know?
H15 BOUTIQUE
With only three penthouses on the fifth floor, my city digs felt 'less hotel' and more 'luxury serviced apartment'. At least, that's my excuse for kicking off my boots even before I ambled over the threshold -
all the better for my snow-bitten tootsies to enjoy the corridors of heated floors.
Turning a corner, one is greeted by the room's 'midcentury modern meets '70s ski chalet chic with a touch of hunting lodge' chic.
The bed is obscenely comfortable, made even more decadent and inviting by using my wolf fur coat as a throw.
Around the other corner from the entrance, across the corridor from the bedroom, is a dazzling white-out: an angular chrome and marble bathroom stocked with L'Occitane toiletries.
The fifth-floor terrace wraps around all three penthouses -a realisation I made after prancing around my room in the buff. Fortunately the terrace is designed so that while the layout is open each room enjoys its own little private slice of al-fresco.
While the streets of Warsaw were duly gritted and decidedly not white, my little hideaway of a balcony kept her fluffy layer. Padding out to the snow-topped balcony to look across the roofs of the city, each one frosted like the top of a gingerbread house, provided moments of tranquility and romance in an otherwise brief and bitingly-cold city break.
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H15 BOUTIQUE APARTMENTS & HOTEL
Service: exemplary, staff: smiley, my room: too comfortable for my own good. Suites start at £109 / PLN 630 a night (steal!) up to 20% off with Advance Purchase