I am currently in Gdansk (which, incidentally, may be my new favorite city in Europe). I'm staying at Gotyk House, one of Rick's recommended places to stay. It's in a perfect location, right behind St. Mary's Church, on the street Rick describes in his guidebook as "the most charming lane in town."
When I was showed to my room, it became clear that the space was newly renovated. In fact, as I came to find out, I am the first person to stay in this room after the renovation.
There are so many things wrong, it's hard to know where to begin. After I got in my room and started to settle in, they kept knocking on the door, bringing toilet paper, a toilet bowl brush, bottled water and glasses, shampoo and soap. When they brought in the toilet paper, there was no where to put it. (Later, while I was out, they installed a toilet paper holder.) There is no luggage rack. There's a small wardrobe, but no space to open and live out of luggage, so I have my luggage on the floor. The bed (which is very comfortable) has a flat sheet that isn't big enough to tuck in around the mattress, so as I sleep it gets all bunched up. There was no bath mat. When I took a shower, the shower door doesn't prevent water from escaping, and there was a big puddle on the floor. I used one of the two provided towels as a bath mat. There was no trash bin. (After I asked, one was brought in.) There are no hooks or towel bars or shelves in the bathroom, literally no where to put anything. I have my RS toiletry bag hanging by its hook from the molding around the bathroom door, and I duck under it as I enter and leave the bathroom. There is no table, no chair, nothing to sit on except the bed, nothing to put anything on except two small nightstands. Two of the windows have no window shdes and look right down on a busy pedestrian street.
They use a card key system, but it wasn't fully working yet, so they gave me a separate key for the front door. When I was going out later in the afternoon, my key didn't work and I was locked in. (I will never understand how European hotels can require you to use your key to exit. This wasn't the only place where that is the case, but it is the only one where my key didn't work.) Fortunately there was a phone in my room, and I called the front desk, which is in an adjacent building. She swapped out my key for hers after arguing that mine should work.
At breakfast yesterday I spoke with the woman at the front desk. She confirmed that I was the first guest to stay in this room after the renovation. I gave her a list of some of the things missing, and she wrote them down to give to the manager/owner.
This morning, to top it all off, there is no hot water.
Aside from all that, this renovation has created rooms that are completely lacking in any charm or character. I frequently see tour groups in front of this building. The guides say this is the oldest house in town, dating from the 15th century. But what they've done inside is create modern rooms that are just unpleasant, aside from having a lot of problems they still need to get resolved.
I'm a very easy-going traveler. I don't expect much. I've stayed in tiny rooms before. But if you're going to strip the room of character to make it modern, you might as well include some basics to make it livable.
I do not recommend this place.
But I do recommend Gdansk.