Quick Hotel Summary
| Category | Details |
| Hotel | Courtyard Sarajevo |
| Location | Sarajevo, Bosnia & Herzegovina |
| Brand | Courtyard (Marriott) |
| Room Type | Business King |
| Price Paid | $112/night |
| Length of Stay | 5 nights |
| Booking Method | Corporate travel agent |
⭐ Overall Rating: 8.5 / 10
The Verdict
A very comfortable centrally located hotel if you find yourself in Sarajevo. The nightly rates are incredibly reasonable and the hotel definitely punches above its weight given the price point even if it is far from luxurious. Even if you’re not staying there, the trendy rooftop bar and restaurant is worth a visit.
Location
The Courtyard Sarajevo is a very centrally located hotel for anyone visiting the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Sarajevo in general is a very walkable city which I love and the Courtyard was within walking distance of most of the city’s most famous sites including the Old Town and the National Museum. The “Spanish Bridge” famous for being the location of the assassination of Franz Ferdinand that sparked World War 1 is a less than 10 minute walk from the hotel (and the spot is marked by a memorial with footprints showing where Franz Ferdinand was standing when he was shot which was kind of creepy). The Courtyard is also within walking distance of countless restaurants.
The Sarajevo Airport is on the edge of the city and with normal traffic it should only be about a 20 minute drive to the Courtyard. Unfortunately, on the day I arrived there was some sort of street festival clogging traffic in the downtown core so the trip took me nearly an hour. I booked a car from the hotel to pick me up at the airport which cost a very reasonable $27.
Booking & Price
I booked this trip through our corporate travel agent and paid a rate of $112night for a standard king room. Perhaps not surprisingly, hotels in Sarajevo have very cheap rates compared to similar hotels in most other European capital cities. For Marriott loyalists there is one other Marriott property in Sarajevo which is just down the street from the Courtyard. The Residence Inn Sarajevo had even better rates than the Courtyard for the dates I was visiting, but from the outside at least the Courtyard looked much nicer.
Check-in Experience
I arrived midday and was helped immediately at the front desk. Had I arrived a few minutes later I would have been stuck behind the flight crew from my Austrian Airways flight so I was glad I got out of the airport quickly. There wasn’t anyone immediately available to help with luggage that I could see, but I imagine most visitors like myself (and the flight crew) are business travelers without much luggage so bellhops aren’t probably necessary.
The check in agent was very friendly and asked what brought me to Sarajevo and whether it was my first time in the city. He also offered to make restaurant recommendations or suggestions for sightseeing around the hotel. On account of my Marriott status he told me I’d been upgraded to a business king room with a city view. While the Courtyard does have suites, I assume none were available during my stay.
As a Marriott Ambassador guest, I was also asked if I’d like 1000 points or breakfast. I chose breakfast – generally the right choice in terms of value compared with points.
Room
Standard rooms at the Courtyard are marketed at 291 square feet. The business room I was upgraded to was slightly larger at 312 square feet. While the city itself felt quite “grey”, the hotel and the room had lots of pops of color throughout.
My room was on the 6th floor. The hotel itself is kind of an odd rounded triangle shape and my room was at the rounded point overlooking the front of the hotel and the promised city view. Despite the views over a busy part of the city, the noise was minimal and I slept soundly each night.
The room felt new and was very clean. As you entered the room there was a closet and illy coffee station to the left and a bathroom to the right.
The bathroom felt relatively modern and had a fully glassed in shower. I wish more hotels had fully glassed in showers – too many only have half glass which almost inevitably leads to water spilling out of the shower in my experience. While the glassed in part was great, as is often the case you had to practically be in the shower to turn it on so had to move quick if you didn’t want a blast of cold water to start your morning before the shower warmed up. The bathroom featured Nivae products in reusable containers. They were fine.
The short entryway led to the main room with a king size bed that was comfortable, but short on pillows. The room also featured a lounger/couch next to the window and a small round table with a couple chairs that could be used for working or dining. There were plenty of power outlets around the room including next to the bed. There was a personalized welcome message on the tv when I arrived – although it had someone else’s name.
Shortly after I got into my room, a welcome gift was brought to my door. Frankly it was an odd assortment of items including some cheeses, cookies and a “parfait” type dessert, but better than the usual bag of chips you get at a Courtyard in the US. I appreciated the originality.
High speed internet was free for Bonvoy members and the connection was fast and easily supported streaming.
Hotel Amenities
The hotel had a small, but functional gym with a variety of equipment. I made my gym visits after work and never saw another person, but it might be busier in the morning.
Sarajevo is also very proud of its heritage as the host of the 1984 summer Olympics. The lobby of the Courtyard had a small, but interesting display of hospitality related items from that Olympic games.
Food & Drink
The Courtyard’s all day restaurant is S One and it is located just off the lobby. This is where breakfast is served daily and the complimentary breakfast I selected as my amenity included access to the buffet and a selection from the egg menu. I typically ordered an omelet and then grabbed a few items from the buffet which had a variety of standard breakfast items available including basic eggs, breakfast meats, some local breakfast items, bread and pastries, fruit, vegetables and cheeses and cold cuts. It wasn’t the best breakfast buffet I’ve every had, but it was decent enough.
I didn’t have any other meals at the hotel, but the hotel also has a rooftop restaurant and bar open in the evenings called the S One Sky Lounge. This seemed to be very popular with non-hotel guests as well and I made it up there for drinks with colleagues one night during my stay. The rooftop offered great views of the city lit up at night. The local beers we had were more expensive than some other local restaurants we tried, but still cheap by US and European standards.
I also ordered a cheeseburger and fries from room service one night. The burger wasn’t memorable, but was tasty nonetheless. The service itself was impressively quick arriving in my room in only about 20 minutes.
Service
The service at the Courtyard was friendly and far exceeded what I would expect from a Courtyard. The only complaint I had was when breakfast was busy, there could be a wait for service – I usually had to flag someone down to order my omelet. This wasn’t an issue when I arrived before prime breakfast time when only a few people were in the restaurant.
Pros & Cons
Pros
- Very reasonable rates and good value
- Great central location with easy walking access to most things you would want to do in Sarajevo
- Friendly service
Cons
- Gym is small and could be unpleasant when busy
- The breakfast buffet had a good selection of items, but didn’t feel like the highest quality
- Hard to turn on the shower without getting wet