Budapest, July 23 (DPA) A hoax bomb threat caused dozens of guests - among them the Romanian football team Steaua Bucharest - to evacuate their central Budapest hotel in the dead of night, the local news agency MTI reported Thursday.

The guests were only allowed to return to their rooms at 4 a.m. after a thorough search had been conducted, police press officer Laszlo Kalyo said.

Steaua Bucharest are in the Hungarian capital to play the second leg of a Europa League qualification match against the Budapest team Ujpest Thursday. The Romanian side won the first leg 2-0 in Bucharest last week.

An unknown caller phoned the emergency services from a provincial number at around midnight on Wednesday, claiming to have planted a bomb in the city centre hotel, the police said.

Budapest has been plagued by a spate of false bomb alerts in recent weeks.

On Monday in Budapest, a shopping centre, the prestigious Gresham Palace hotel, an office building and the Agriculture Ministry were all evacuated following anonymous bomb warnings.