IZE Seminyak (Bali, Indonesia)

IZE Seminyak

Jalan Kayu Aya No. 68 Seminyak, 80361
Bali – Indonesia

P : +62 361 8466 999 E : bliss@ize-seminyak.com

 

Trendy hotel in the heart of Seminyak, very modern and fairly new when I first visited. 

THE GOOD BITS
 > In the heart of Seminyak, walking distance to plenty of shops, spas, cafes, restaurants, and bars. Plenty of taxis go around all the time. 

> Very modern, stylish hotel. Spacious, well-equipped trendy, elegant and comfortable room. 

> Very friendly staff, from reception to security guys and cleaners. 

> Free mini-bar! Only frizzy drinks and water inside, but that was enough to make me happy! 

> The upper floor pool. People complain about the seats being in the shade, but I think that is really smart if you don't want to get burnt, or if you get easily burnt. So, I was happy with it! 

> Good fast free Wi-Fi. 

> Sixty TV channels, local and International, different languages. 

> Extensive set of toiletries (besides the bottled body wash, hand wash, shampoo and conditioner). Mind, they are inside the drawers.

> Very good quality towels. 

> Complementary bottled water, coffee & tea facilities (Mind, they are inside the covered drawers) and snake skin fruit plate. 

> I was given an upgraded room, something that always makes me happy. 

> Walking distance by plenty of awesome cafes and restaurants.

> Well communicated, and easy to get a taxi from/to to the main sights in the area.

THE DOWNSIDES

 > Surrounding area is crowded, as expensive as Australia, too Westernized and touristy for my liking. 

> Signs on flooring. (Mind, reception is on floor 2). There are signs around, but not immediately visible. I expected them to be beside the lifts, where they would have been most helpful, but they were a bit far from them. 

> Lobby, apparently, had limited air-conditioning, so it was a bit 'stuffy'. 

> I was given wrong information about walking distance to Seminyak Square, postage fees for postcards, date of release of the 500,000 rupiah deposit demanded upon check-in and timing of room payment.

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Wapa di Ume Resort & Spa (Ubud, Bali, Indonesia)

Head photo courtesy of the resort website.

Banjar Bentuyung, Gianyar, Jl. Suweta, Ubud, Kecamatan Ubud, Kabupaten Gianyar, Bali 80571, Indonesia
Hotel Website
reservation@wapadiumesidemen.com
+62 361 973178

THE GOOD
> Gorgeous staff. They make the impossible to make you feel welcomed, to help you with any query or wish. Genuine hard-working and friendly people at the reception, as well as the butlers, gardeners, waiters, and cleaners. 
> Large spacious room and bathroom. Comfortable firm mattress and humongous bed! Great set of toiletries with a wonderful scent, suitable for both women and men. 
> Luscious green gorgeous rice terrace surroundings, gardens, fountains, sculptures and decorations throughout the estate. Serene bucolic atmosphere. The main noise you get in the area is that of the frogs, geckos, birds, and crickets and, when it rains, from the rain. You can see the little animals walking around, and it is like being in the countryside with all the comforts of the city. One can unwind and relax. 
> Excellent fast reliable wi-fi. 
> Good satisfying breakfast included in room price. Many options, Western, Indonesian and a la Carte. Delivered to your room if requested. The restaurant is gorgeous, especially on non-rainy days with views to the fields, so it's worth going there. 
> Two bottles of water provided in the room and another two in the bathroom. If you need more, call reception ad they will supply more at no cost. 
> Shuttle to/from Ubud every hour on the clock. 
> Umbrellas provided for each room, as well as sleepers and robes. 
> Gorgeous communal pools, on the small side, but in wonderful settings, which make them special. 
> Free activities, like a tour of the surrounding rice terrace, yoga sessions, and coconut palm leaf craft workshop. 
> In-situ spa. 

THE NOT SO GOOD
> The photos shown for my room on Booking.com correspond to another room, not mine. I was expecting a balcony, as photographed, but there was none. 
> Wardrobe too small for two people! 
> Curtains difficult to open and close; the one on the front door was especially annoying as the entrance to each room is lighted at night and I had difficulty sleeping as the curtains could not be totally closed. The rails and/or rings should be changed to allow a more natural use of the curtains. 
> Very noisy mini-bar, especially noticeable at night. 
> Bulky impractical "make my room" sign. 
> No TV or music. Not a problem for me, but it might be a problem for other travelers. 
> Security box a bit too high for a small lady! OK for most men. 
> Prices in menu in restaurant, bars, and spa do not include govt taxes! Why note showing the full price tax included? Spa is lovely but overpriced, and so are the prices of non alcoholic drinks. 
> Some the information regarding pricing of taxis, drivers, tours etc. outside those offered by the hotel, were misleading and always on the upper side, as they told me to pay more than I should according to locals. 

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Holiday Inn Express Kuala Lumpur City Centre

Head photo courtesy of Expedia.

84, Jalan Raja Chulan, Kuala Lumpur, 50200 Kuala Lumpur, Wilayah Persekutuan Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Hotel Website
+60 3-2028 8888

This is a very good simple hotel in the heart of KL that offers everything you need in a short stay or stopover for a very affordable price, and has easy access to KL main sights, shopping malls and eateries. 

Herewith a wrap-up of my experience.
 
THE GOOD
> Great location, at about 12 minutes walking distance from the heart of KL, where you can find the posh Pavilion Shopping Centre, the affordable Fahrenheight 88 Shopping Centre, the Lot10 underground Malaysian and Japanese eateries, the monorail, and much more.
> Safe and secure hotel and rooms. Overall, I found the corridors and common areas quiet.
> Spotless common areas and rooms.
> Spacious room for a budget hotel!
> Good comfy mattress and pillows.
> Plenty of power points and light points in the room.
> Safety box, 2 bottles of water and coffee/tea facilities in the room, plus an empty mini-fridge, which I always find super handy to bring in goodies you want to buy and consume indoors.
> Fast reliable internet during your stay. If you are going to be around after your checkout, they kindly offer you a complimentary guest connection for you to use while in the lobby.
> Acceptable varied buffet breakfast included in the price.
> Staff are welcoming and willing to help.
> Tour desk has good prices
> There is a Family Mart, a decently sized grocery store with some simple eateries inside, plus two other posher cafes at barely 100 metres from the hotel.
> The three lines of free city loop buses can caught in the bus stop across the road.   
> Plenty of metered taxis around.

SO-SO
The Lobby is comfortable enough, but they could make an effort and revamp it a bit.

DOWNSIDES
>The escalators that go from the ground level to the lobby didn't work any of the days I stayed there. 
> The many lifts in the building can take quite a while to stop at your floor.
> Tiny wardrobe for a person, not to say for two.
> Staff need further training to reply questions about airport transfers to/from hotel.
> Tour desk only works with 2 people or more, forget it if you are traveling on your own. There are barely people visiting the desk and it is because they seem not to be interested in doing business, if you know what I mean. 
> No massage center or beauty salon in the premises. 
> If you happen to come down for breakfast at, say, 10am, you will find that they don't refill the trays, so you might find very little to eat. Some of the bakery goods are in a bakery cabinet to be kept warm, but the cabinet wasn't turned on and they were cold.

MIND
> Toiletries aren't available. You will find dispensers of soap/shampoo in the bathroom, and have to request other things at reception. Hair conditioner is not provided either at the room or at reception. It would cost nothing providing a dispenser of conditioner and another of body milk.  
 > Tourists are charged 10 Ringitt per day, so those fees have to be added to your booking fees later on, if you are booking online.
 > Lobby is on the first floor, not on the ground floor, which would be handier.
> There is a transfer desk outside the hotel, apparently not linked to the hotel. They offer private transfers at the usual rates, which are way higher than the taxis or Grab cars around.
> It takes around 1 hour to get to/from the airport.  A metered taxi, Grab or arranged taxi driver will cost you 65-85 Ringitt.

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Crown Promenade Perth (Western Australia)

Great Eastern Highway, Burswood, Perth, Western Australia 6100, Australia Phone: (08) 9126 7118 
Photo courtesy of the Hotel website.  

I've been to a few hotels in Perth along the years, mostly for work purposes, and paid similar prices in some; comparing value for money, level of service, level of comfort, and styling of the rooms, the Promenade is in my list of happy and repeat, something that none of the others has achieved. You get the posh treatment without blowing up your budget. Here a wrap up of my experience

THINGS I LOVED
+ Very helpful polite staff at reception, concierge and cleaning. Some of them extremely friendly.
+ Great bedroom! Quiet, spacious, trendy, beautiful and very comfortable. I was upgraded to a room with spa-bath and Nestpresso machine, and I was in heaven!
+ Very good comfy mattress. Firm but not hard on the back.
+ The plush robes are fabulous!
+ Kettle and tea/coffee facilities in the room.
+ TV with plenty of national and international channels.
+ Great variety of quality toiletries and very good quality towels.
+ Very comfy table and chairs to work in my room.
+ Buffet breakfast at the in-house café. Pricey, but really good. They don't prepare coffee for you, but there is a decent coffee machine that prepares it for customers for free. A guy called Scott at the eggs cooking area went the long mile to please me and every other customer there!
+ The 200$ bond turned out to come handy. I ended dining and coffeing in the complex a lot, so I diverted all my expenditure in the complex to the Promenade. I got the remaining unused bond back before my departure.
+ Free general Crown Internet worked great, fast and no limit for browsing and general emailing and photo uploading. It demands re-login every hour or so, though.

THE SO-SO
> Location is a bit out of town. Nothing beside the Crown Complex, so if you want to shop around or have a coffee in a proper café, there is none but those of the different hotels in the complex. I had to take a taxi to the city, and Perth is not a cheap place for taxis.
> The pillows. Huge and soft, but not the best if you have neck and shoulder problems.
> The wardrobe is perhaps the biggest let down in the room. Not much space inside for a person, even less so for two, and not even a horse to put a big suitcase on in the corridor either.
> Small OK outdoor pool.
> Small crowded lobby and not specially charming, comfy or inviting.
> Ugly view from my room.
> The in-hotel café doesn't have breakfast a la carte. Proper coffee is paid separately.
> The guests' Internet didn't accept the correct login data I was giving. So I used the general Internet in the complex and was great. I took my own portable Wi-Fi hotspot for work and used that for work-related Interneting and mailing.
> Just one café in the building.
> No spa, beauty or hair salon. They are in the other Crown hotels, at a five-minute walk. At least the spa in the Twin Towers is overpriced for the services they offer; you will be paying mostly for the fab premises. Go elsewhere.

OVERALL
I loved this hotel!

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Broadwater Resort Apartments (Como, Western Australia)

137 Melville Pde, Como, Western Australia 6152, Australia 
Phone: +61 (08) 9474 4222
Photo courtesy of the hotel.

I have a very good experience in this aparthotel. Not posh, but really comfortable, great service and well located. Here a wrap up of my experience at this hotel:

THINGS I LOVED
+ The staff were very welcoming, friendly and helpful, one of the best team I've found in my visits to Perth. Truly delightful. It makes the whole difference to me. They go out of the way to help you with anything.
+ The apartment was good sized for a couple or a person travelling alone, and had a full kitchen and basic cooking and table serving tools. Washing machine, drier, dishwasher, microwave, everything. I felt at home.
+ Good firm king mattress!
+ Huge flat TV in the living room and also in bedroom, with a great selection of channels.
+ Wi-Fi was fast and reliable and the line didn't drop at all despite me being online all day.
+ Jacuzzi in bathroom! Good quality towels. Plenty of decent toiletries and hair dryer.
+ Huge balcony facing the pool, with two chairs and a table.
+ Air-conditioned apt. My room was in a shady corner and quite cool so I didn't need to use it but for a couple of hours.
+ 5 minutes away from an IGA supermarket and several cafes, some of them very cool..

THE SO-SOS
- No business desk or chair in my apt even though I booked as a business traveller.
- No lift and two sets of stairs. The girl at reception helped me with my heavy bag (so sweet!).
- The apt would need of a lift me up regarding style, as it feels a updated and chunky. Too much brown! I would start by replacing those horrible photos they have hanging from the walls.
- The bathroom was a bit outdated. The bath a bit too high for a short person like me. Also, the water mixing somewhat flaked after five minutes under the shower, so I had to open the taps more to get a decent flow of water.
-Not many power points in the living room.

Room Tip: If you are bringing heavy suitcases ask for lower ground rooms, as some of the rooms are only access...

See more room tips

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Comfort Hotel Boersparken (Oslo, Norway)

Comfort Hotel Boersparken
Tollbugata 4, Oslo 0152, Norway
Phone: +47 22 47 17 17
Fax: +47 22 47 17 18
E-mail co.borsparken@choice.no
Photo courtesy of the Hotel

This hotel is basic simple hotel, an upgraded backpacker hotel for adults if you want, but it has everything you need in the heart of Oslo.

GOOD
> Location. It faces the National Opera House and the docks, and its a short walk from the train station and the some of the main sights, cafes and restaurants in the city centre.
> I found here one the most welcoming warmest staff in Norway. Always ready to help with a smile, and go the extra-mile to assist you.
> The reception has a small mini-shop with snacks and heatable pre-prepared boxed food if you just want a sandwich or something simple.
> The lounge, is also the dining room and offers free coffee and chocolate to customers, for free, all day long. You just use the self-serving machines.
> The lounge is large and with many different seating areas.
> Lifts are secure, and function with your key card.
> Wi-fi was good, fast and reliable.

SO SO
Breakfast was varied, buffet like, and had a bit of everything, but nothing exciting. I have had better breakfast buffet in similar hotels in Norway.

NO NOS
> The place is hectic, crowded and quite noisy. Lifts are always crowded.
> Our room was at the bottom end of a corridor and had two single beds, single as in my size, if you are tall, it is not good. One of them was underneath a staircase space, tiny space, no bedside table; the other bed was upstairs, very steep stairs, also very basic. Just a stool in each space. Two steep stairs to the bathroom, which was OK. A metallic bar with three hangers.
> The key card MUST be used to lock the door when you leave the room. Otherwise, the door stays open. I haven't found that sort of system anywhere in the world! The instructions were at the back of the card, but most hotels have self-locking doors on exit.
> No curtains, just roller blinds. No problem with that except, if they are up, you have to go upstairs to bring them down, or do team work with the person upstairs to bring them to your level thought it was ridiculous!

MY RECOMMENDATION
There are other hotels 5 minutes walking distance from this, as central as this is, at a fraction of the price. Personally, I would stay in one of those. Like the Citybox Hotel for example. 

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Scandic Park Helsinki (Finland)

Scandic Park Helsinki
Mannerheimintie 46, Helsinki 00260, Finland 
Phone: +358 9 47371
Fax: +358 9 47372211
Email: parkhelsinki@scandichotels.com
Photo courtesy of the hotel website

This is one of my favourite hotels of the Scandic chain. Loved loved this hotel!

Location if good, central but in the outskirts of the CBD, so you have both a good location minus the crowds.

The common areas, lounges, eating areas, corridors and rooms are luxurious without being flashy; they are elegant, but modern, trendy and with plenty of very posh design elements.

Our room was like one of those you see in the movies. Wonderfully elegant, spacious, great design armchairs, comfortable beds, marbled bathroom with heated floor and bathtub, good set of toiletries, wonderful palette of colours, everything you need. Very comfortable and very pleasing to the eye.

The hotel has great facilities, pool and what's not, but I didn't use any of those.

The staff were very friendly and helpful.

Breakfast buffet was wonderful, lots of variety and was very good. I found the Asian specialities a bit limited, which is not a problem for me, but if you eat mostly Asian food it might be.

The hotel is great for both travellers and business people. It was very busy when we visited, however, it never felt crowded.

We had free Internet, and worked well and fast.

A bit pricey, but well-spent money. I truly enjoyed my stay.

TIPS
> The Finnair Airport Bus stops 150 metres from the hotel. You ask the driver and he will call you when you are there. Unless you want to waste your money in taxis or transfers, or you are carrying a huge amount of luggage, this is the cheapest way to get there, 6 euro the ticket, bus with Wi-Fi and you walk for four minutes.
> There are a few fast food outlets around the hotel if you just want a quick cheap bite..

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Fraser Suits Apartahotel (East Perth)

Head photo courtesy of Booking.com

Here a wrap up of my experience with this hotel.

GOOD
> The hall is very contemporary and elegant, spacious and breezy in a mix of neutral contemporary elegant colours. I really loved it.
> Spotless clean premises.
> The room's toilet: great shower!, very good quality cotton towels, L'Occitane toiletries (those excited me greatly!), and a lot of storage room behind the mirror. If you are a giant basketballer, no problem, you can see yourself from head to toe, as the mirror reaches the ceiling.
> Nice basic kitchenette with microwave/induction oven, basic cutlery, crockery and glassware, and a mini-bar with a bit of room to put your stuff in.
> Huge mid-hard bed. Very comfortable.
> Humongous flat screen TV.
> Well-located power points and a decent number of them.
> Double wardrobe and plenty of storage for a couple.
> Complimentary robe and slippers. I always love finding those in any hotel.
> Complimentary Internet.
> Complimentary tea and coffee facilities.
> Awesome comfortable desk chair!
> The waitresses at the restaurant.
> The views of the Swan River from some of the rooms.
> Free WI-FI.

SO-SO

> Free Internet worked fine with the smartphone, but was a bit slow in the laptop, and the line dropped at times, requiring to sign in again. Good enough for my stay and for the work I had to do, though. 
> The hotel might please people looking for a quite comfortable spot near the CBD, but it might not please those looking for an vibrant surrounding area full of shops, cafes and restaurants or nice buildings.
> The restaurant Heirloom. See  review here.
> Lighting in the room. Once the daylight vanishes, the lighting in the studio was too dim for work and more conducive to do nothing. Great if you are on holidays and want to sleep.
> The mirror was located in the wrong space... behind the easy chair! Hello Hello! In the professional photos it is located where it should be.
> Overall ambience of the hotel and the room is meh to the square.
> The view from the room.

NO-NOS

I encountered a few issues that I consider unacceptable for a hotel that charges you 200 bucks the night and presents itself as a 4-star hotel:

> Noisy air-con and with no instructions on how to regulate it.
> The safety box didn't work. Not, it wasn't me being clumsy, it did not work.  
> My robe had all the downs stained; it looked like make-up foundation, but it must be burnt marks from ironing or any other occurrence that I don't want to envision.
> Table with the edges peeled/damaged. My eyes hurt.
> The tapware was also peeled, and the upper coat gone in some areas. That is because this is crap tapware. Four stars, who said that?
> One of the lights in the bathroom didn't work, so it was quite dark.
> The phone had a sort of three red flash lights saying new message received and also to recharge it. I consulted with the reception upon arrival. They said not to worry, to leave it like that as there was no message received. Well, being jet-lagged my eyes opened in the night and I felt my room was the new Amsterdam. Tried to order room service in the morning and realised that the phone did not work at all. Back again to reception, it will fixed today, don't worry, have a nice day. Liar liar. Nobody came...
> No booklet with info about the hotel about anything anywhere. One could easily ask by phone, for sure, if the phone worked.
> This is mostly a business hotel. So a deluxe studio should be ready for the client to work. There is no workstation as such in this study. The "desk" is really large but there are two main obstacles, a humongous flat screen TV occupying most of it, and the tray with nibbles and drinks. I had to remove the latter, quite heavy, to put my work material there. Business minded, really?
> The room had the usual old-fashioned beige+maroon mix that feels outdated and dirty. Something important about paintings, please, if you don't have nice ones don't hang those you have, which look like taken from Crazy Clarke's :O. The room, without the filters of the professional photo and the bunch of flowers looked way less appealing.  
> Awesome looking stylish armchair, but very uncomfortable to seat on.
> No sound-proof windows. One of the days was quite windy. The sound was like when I skydived in New Zealand minus the wow effect. Seriously! The wind was battering the window panes hard and very noisily. No, it wasn't a hurricane, the windows are not thick enough or sound-proof.
> No TV channel in another language. Multicultural, where?
> I was told in the restaurant that my first breakfast was included in the price, and they didn't make me sign the usual bill you sign after you finish your meal. Well, it was NOT included and I had to pay for it.
> When checking out, I mentioned this, the guy acted as I was making things up. He would go and check things with the lady at the restaurant, but he didn't, and charged me the price without even asking. I presented my debit card to pay. The signature has faded completely; this is the fault of the card makers. He asked me for an identification. Really, they had my passport on record since day one. Perhaps they didnt think I look like luxury customer. He was nice enough to bring my suitcases to the taxi rack outside and apologised quite a bit, but Reception had lost my respect by then, unfortunately.
> They charge you 1% if you pay with a credit card. Ridiculous for a supposedly luxury hotel. Perhaps luxury for Perth.

GOOD TO KNOW

> Check-in is at 3pm but, if they have room available they will usher in at no extra cost. > You have a convenience store (a really nice guy there) and a Balinese beauty salon next door. The Grand Hyatt is at 5 minutes walking distance, and you might want to visit one of their restaurants or go to the café and another convenience store very close to it as well.
> As East Perth is part of the free ride area in Perth you don't need to pay for anything if you just go to the CBD or within the free ride area in general. The bus stops across the road.

IN SHORT

The hotel is not up to standards in luxury, attention to customer, design, style, service, quality of the service, and courtesy of the staff. To me, this is a nice 3.5 stars at the price of a luxury hotel. The only thing I considered luxurious were the toiletries. Mostly they fail at running the place properly, things don't work and aren't fixed because they don't bother, there is a constant lack of communication between the staff, they treat customers as they were a nuisance, lie at their faces (in this case mine) and the people at Reception are truly unhelpful and act as we had to please them not the other way around. That is typical of Perth hospitality, and unnerves me every time. My advice is to spend your bucks elsewhere if you want to get what you pay for. Otherwise, pay for the most expensive room. I guess you will find luxury there... or not. 

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Citybox Hotel (Oslo, Norway)

Citybox Oslo
Prinsens Gate 6, 
0152 Oslo, Norway
Phone: + 47 21 42 04 80
Email: oslo@citybox.no
Website
The head photo is a cortesy of Citibox website

THE GOOD
+ Centrally located, a a short 5 minute walk from the Train Central Station, Bus Station, the main shopping area in Oslo, and the new Opera House, and about 10 minutes walking distance from the main sights in the city. 
+ Very clean rooms and common areas. 
+ Spacious simple rooms, bigger than expected, minimalist and practical, still cosy. Very Scandinavian style indeed. 
+ Bed, desk and chair were really comfortable. 
+ Heated bathroom floor.
+ Many power points in the bedroom to recharge your gadgets. 
+ Common areas are great, with two large seating areas and large flat screens, one showing programs in Norwegian and another in English. They have plenty of small seating areas, really stylish and comfortable, some vending machines, tea and coffee facilities, a fridge, a microwave, sink and rubbish bins. 
 + The staff were lovely and very helpful. There isn't reception as such, but sometimes they get out a sort of stand that works as such. Otherwise, you have electronic concierge in the lobby, and you can always ask one of the guys at the hotel office in the lobby to give you a hand with anything. I found them very friendly, helpful and welcoming, one of the best staff I found in Norway.
+ After checking out, you can leave the luggage in their deposit room and come back to pick it up afterwards. Just ring the button in the checking in area to ask a staff member to open the main door for you. 
+ Environmentally friendly. 
+ Good value for money taking into account the utterly ridiculous pricing of most hotels in Oslo. We stayed in another hotel, two minutes walking distance from this, paid double and it wasn't as good or comfy as this one.
 + A bakery-cafe is next door to the hotel and opens long hours.  

SO-SO
= Checking in/ out is automatized, but very easy to do.
= Free WiFi all over the hotel but it was temperamental and the line dropped several times during the day.
= There are ramps for people with mobility problems, that is great, but I found, that the joints between rooms and between the common spaces and the lifts had a metallic sort of elevated lining that were a bit of a hassle to roll the suitcase, but I guess a wheelchair might have no problem. 

THE NOT SO GOOD
# No reception as such.
# No safety box in the room.
# No TV in the room.
# No phone in the room. 
# No minibar in the room. 
# No room service. 
# No toiletries, just soap dispensers. I have no problem with that, but a body milk dispenser and a hair conditioner dispenser would be a great addition.  
# No wardrobe or any storage area, just a hangers rack, which seems to be traditional in Scandinavian hotels. OK if you stay a night, it might be a problem if you stay for several days.  
 # You need to to ask for a hair drier or extra towels, waiter boiler or an extra heater at reception. There was a lonely towel in my bathroom and not especially big.
# Curtains not thick enough for all day daylight. I personally have no problem sleeping with these curtains, but other people do as the material doesn't completely block clarity at night.
# Ugly views depending on the room,  and plenty of construction going on in the surrounding area.  
# The supposed 10% discount in the attached cafe applies just after 11am. 

MIND
>  The key card also activates the power in the room. When checking-in, you will be asked whether you want one or two keys. Take the two to have the power always operational. 
> If you stay for more than a day they won't clean the room as this is why the hotel is way cheaper than similar hotels in Oslo; it just saves money. There is a visible notice in the lift about this and it is also mentioned in the check-in sheet you get. This policy is very much of my liking, but it might not be of yours. If you stay for several days and want your linen changed regularly or daily you need to arrange this with reception beforehand before arrival by email and discuss pricing. 
> This a non-smoking hotel. If they catch you smoking, you'll be fined 1000 Nok, which is about AU$160. 
> The attached café serves breakfast from 7-10 on weekdays and 8-11 on weekends. They serve lunch and dinner as well.  

 ***

Overall a simple modern comfy hotel in the heart of Oslo at half the price you find for similar hotels in the same area. Lovely hotel and staff. I will definitely go back.   

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