Bucharest ranks in the top 20 European cities for the friendliness and professionalism found at its hotels. The Romanian capital just sneaked into the top 20, ranking 19 with a score of 7.89 out of a maximum possible 10, putting Bucharest ahead of Lithuanian capital Vilnius. The best cities for friendly, competent hotel staff are the capitals of Hungary and Finland, Budapest and Helsinki (both 8.36 points), followed by Ljubljana, Slovenia, with 8.31 points. Also in the top 5 are Warsaw, Poland, and Berlin, Germany, according to the ranking produced by hotel booking service, hotel.info.

The top 20 cities are mainly in Eastern, Northern and Central Europe. Athens in Greece, ranked 18, is the only truly Mediterranean city in the ranking, but Croatia's capital Zagreb ranks number 10. There are no Spanish, French or Italian cities in the top 20. Among the very few Western European cities are Lisbon, Portugal, in sixth, while Ireland's capital Dublin is number 11.  Bucharest hoteliers could well be unhappy to see that Bulgaria's capital Sofia is in ninth position.

Ranking hotel friendliness and service by country, Romania is number 12 with 8.14 points, just behind neighboring Bulgaria. The top three countries are Finland, Germany and Austria, closely followed by Hungary and Poland.

editor@romania-insider.com