Guest User
February 27, 2023
I stayed at this hotel in 2006 when it was run by Pearl Continental and it was comfortable but in need of upgrading even back then. Fast forward seven years and Serena has just taken over, but the hotel is even more fraying around the edges. The staff are too: the Pashtun people are amongst the world’s friendliest and most hospitable, but you wouldn’t know it staying here. They aren’t unfriendly, but don’t exactly make you welcome either. The furniture remains old and dark. Rooms and bathrooms are small. The tiled floors make it easy to keep clean, however. Heating is very good in winter. Too good. Unfortunately, you can’t control the temperature so I turned it off as the room was otherwise boiling. There is no kettle or tea or coffee making facilities in the room! A first for me in Pakistan. Even 2 or 3 star provincial hotels have this. WIFI is poor for what is supposed to be Peshawar’s best hotel. It’s very slow and you often lose the connection. Laundry service was efficient and unlike Pearl Continental where you have to pay cash on delivery, get a voucher or block an amount on your credit card, they trust you to settle upon departure. The breakfast buffet is excellent but unless you have room for another buffet meal cone dinner time, you are out of luck. There is no physical room service menu in the room. Just a QR code which takes you to a 50 page general Information booklet about all the Serenas. Try and flip to the room service menu and you can’t as you need to go page by page and the WIFI is too poor. I therefore walked to the restaurant which insisted I had to eat from the buffet. I asked to see the room service menu supposedly available all day until 11 PM, Guess what? If the item wasn’t served as part of the buffet it was “closed.” So for two nights I had fruits and nuts for dinner. All I wanted was a simple soup… but that’s impossible to get here. Serena has only just taken over. I can only hope they improve quickly, as this Serena is badly letting down the brand.