Charming and with great location, but could need some upgrading

Spent two nights this fall, standard room for about 1000 NOK/night (standard room). Room was alright - nice beds, decor fair enought, but nothing exceptional. Could need an upgrading. Pool ok (nice view). Nice breakfastbuffet.

Hotel has charm and atmosphere. History. That's the best part of it - plus that the hotel has a location that can't be beaten. Right in the middle of everything.

If you're looking for a high-tech-minimalistic-brand-new place to stay, this is not your hotel. You should propably look for something new and fancy. If you want a hotel that has atomsphere and history- PLUS the best location; Grand is the best... in this capital with "small city-feeling"...

Didn't like it that much

We stayed in Grand Hotel Oslo one week-end, and it wasn't up to our expectations. Or maybe we wanted too much for USD 220 per night?

First of all, the room (Standard Double room), though it looked OK at first, wasn't actually so cool. The bathroom was clean, but very simple and pretty old, with scratched walls and even some graffity on it (?!). To make it worse, the shower worked terrible, it was sprinkling everywhere but the bathtub.

Second, we asked for a non-smoking room, but the room we got was permeated with smoke fumes, somehow. Tobacco smell was literally everywhere.

Third, the air-conditioning system was really bad. It was noisy, and the air smelt pretty bad. I couldn't sleep because of that.

Fourth, the furniture in the room was old, with a really small TV, like in some 3-star hotel.

Fifth, I didn't get a warm feel living in this hotel. You know, when you feel welcome... The staff wasn't very helpful either, always seemed busy talking over the phone or looking away.

Sheer disappointment.

I wish now we stayed in a newer hotel.

Great hotel, great location

Me an my boyfriend spent a weekend on Grand in september. We booked a superiour room which was huge and very nice! Booked directly through the hotel and paid 1300 NOK. We asked for bathrobes and that and slippers was in the room. There is a pool om the top were you can swim and have a drink. The breakfast and the breakfastroom was lovely! The location could not have been better, in the middel of Karl Johan, close to everything. Do not belive the negative critic! You should trust me and go. Grand or Continental is the best hotel in Oslo!

This is 5 star quality ?!?!?

I had the misfortune to spend a long weekend here in early August this year. The road outside is a contruction site, nowhere to park, a tiny underground guest car park that charges extorionate rates. Fair enough, the road works are out of their control and will ultimately be completed but what is on the inside is little better.

Understaffed reception, decor that is peeling off the walls, bathrooms with mould stains around the tub and sink, loose fixtures, stained and worn carpets/furniture. a pool/beauty area which looks more like a health hazard. Everything just looks sad and run down.

A relief to check out.

Never again !

I was initially very optimistic about staying at one of Oslo's most prestigious hotels, however, my enthusiasm quickly turned to dismay, for the following, numerous reasons !

The journey up from the overbooked underground parking appeared to be in some sort of service elevator. It was filthy dirty with numerous smeared stains on the stainless steel walls. Not a shining first impression of the Grand.

Moving to the front desk, I attempted to check in. Despite three check-in desks only one was staffed. After about five minutes another check-in staff arrived and could process my booking. Whilst I was waiting, my wife was being pestered by an untidyly dressed, unshaven bell boy who asked repeatedly if he could help with our luggage. She pointed out that we had not even checked in yet and we could manage alone, yet he continued to ask if she needed help.

After taking our bags up to our room, which I have to say was adequate, we decided to take a swim in the rooftop pool. The first thing to that caught the eye was the pile of used towels to the left of the entrance door. I could not say how long the towels had been lying there but the area was overflowing. I checked back the following morning and they were still there. We began a search for clean towels but none were to be found and no staff were on duty to ask. It was not until a helpful guest spoke to the gentleman on duty in the adjoining rooftop bar that the towels were taken from a locked cabinet in the bar itself.

Following the swim we made our way to the sauna area. A machine had been made available for spinning the wet swimming costumes, however a pile of towels were being used to soak up the water that was spun out. In the sauna itself I was amazed to see that it had actually suffered fire damage. The walls had been blackened by smoke and in the upper right corner there was a burn hole in the pine, where I can only assume a small electrical fire had started. No attempt had been made to fix this damage and the hole had simply been crudely stuffed with insulating foam. Other panels around the interior had begun to splinter and fall apart.

Before leaving the pool area my wife and I made a small examination of the other areas and this is what we found :

1. The complimentary water in the jug by the pool was stale and had various bugs and sediment in the bottom.

2. The cups beside the jug were dirty and many had been used, placed back but not cleared away.

3. The chairs in the beauty/massage area were filthy and stained.

4. Piles of old, used towels lay all over the pool area, particularly beside the male and female changing areas.

5. Many of the fixtures and fittings (cupboards, benches, shelves etc) had very visible damage, including chipped and stained surfaces, broken hinges.

6. Waste bins were overflowing with used paper towels.

Checking the state of the pool area the following day none of the areas had been cleaned or tidied up.

After a poor nights sleep, due to our room being very close to a disco on the opposite side of the road, we headed to breakfast. The choice of items was very good and in the most part well maintained and presented. Unfortunately, no warm plates ever appeared beside the cooked breakfast buffet. I eventually found some plates stored somewhere around ankle level at the end of the central buffet counter. Coffee was not refilled regularly and the coffee we did receive was bordering on cold. We ate quickly and decided to check out as soon as possible, not bothering with the late check out we had requested the day before.

All-in-all our stay at the Grand was very memorable, but for all the wrong reasons. I would never stay here again. Stay at the Bastion (Best Western).

A Norwegian Treat!

Just returned from a family vacation to Norway. We, my wife our two children and myself. We spent a week at the Grand Hotel and I just cannot say enough good things about it! The staff was efficient and courteous. The rooms were quite nice, and the location is the best in Oslo. Having the indoor pool on the roof to relax in at the end of the day, and the very lovely breakfast which is included, really rounded out the experience nicely. Well worth the price.

Pleasant stay, good location

We stayed at the Grand August 2004 & paid NOK 1040 per night for a double room, bearing the price in mind, we thought the hotel was very nice & good value. The room was very comfortable, quality furnishings & had everything you would need for a short stay. We found the reception staff & porter very friendly & helpful. My only negative comment would be about the breakfast room, not enough staff, therefore tables not cleared quickly enough, coffee not filled etc, also food was not sufficiently replenished. We would stay in this hotel again it has an excellent location & well priced for Norway.

OK, nice to look at, but nothing more

I stayed one night in a Junior Suite right before Cristmas 2003. The hotel is old, full of tradition and very pitcture perfect. Almost 'ritzy'. But when you start looking at the details, it starts falling apart. Service and staff seem at bit stuffy. They do not show you to your room as do many of the great hotels in other countries. (I have not experienced that in any other Norwegian hotel, either). The room is not serviced in the evening, so there is no turn-down of beds etc. Toiletteries are of the standard hotel chain type. But, as mentioned, everything look very elegant and well designed. With a little effort, this could be a truely great hotel. As it is, it feels like an upmarket chain hitel (and it actually is).

Try the Hotel Continental (like I did) to compare the two.

Unbelievable bad services, for such a friendly country

Booking with reservations was seemless, the hotel was very picture perfect, we had a fantastic room above the main entrance overlooking the square. We were very happy until we picked up the telephone; the conceierge was useless, the room services was abosolutely shocking....."sorry we cannot make a sandwich for you, but only give you one piece of bread" The bars appear to open when they felt like it and the restaurant was full of incompetent staff who really didn't care. What a shame the management have no interest in running such a beautiful hotel well. The only time I saw someone remotely resembling a door man or porter was when we checked out...obviously expecting a tip for not helping with the bags or opening the door at all!!! Stay elsewhere I advise.

Once, one time too many.

What was, I would imagine, a truly great hotel is now but a shadow. On arrival not a soul to assist with cases, in the restaurant poor quality food served with unimaginably bad attitude. Clearly the management neither know not care what happens to guests. After visiting Oslo for the past 15 years I finally found the worst place to stay.