My mum and I booked this hotel via Travelbag's online site. We were a little apprehensive as we had paid upfront using a debit card and receieved only an email/electronic receipt, which we had to print off and take with us.
We travelled for a 4 night stay at the beginning of December 2005. My mum, sister and myself arrived at Bern SBB (Station) and decided to walk to the hotel as it was not too far. It was about 10-15 minutes walk from the station; we were a little slow as we had trolley cases. Most people who arrived at the hotel used taxis or had cars, so we did get a few surprised looks when we turned up on foot and with our luggage.
The staff at this hotel are extremely polite and helpful. Unlike many 5 * hotels, they were not stuffy and didn't look down on "regular" people who had decided to stay there. We had booked a double
room for three and it had been indicated that they would put an extra bed in for us. When we arrived, the receptionist informed us that she had given us an upgrade to a 1 bedroom suite. A porter brought our luggage up for us so we didn't have to deal with that. The suite was gorgeous and spotless. It had a hallway entrance and a large living room - sofa, chairs, TV, table and chairs - into which they had put an extra bed. There was a cloakroom toilet off the living room. The living room led onto the bedroom, which was very large and had a big desk, small table and chair, lots of cupboard and wardrobe space and a plasma TV. The bedroom led onto a large marble bathroom, which had a 1 and a half size walk in shower, toilet, washbasin and separate bath. They provided Molton Brown toiletries, complimentary bottle of mineral water and some cookies on your pillow.
Breakfast was very nice and was served from 6.30-11a.m., which meant that you could have a good lie in! If you wanted you could get a continental breakfast via room-service for no extra charge. If you ate breakfast downstairs in the dining room, then you were given a large buffet, which included: cereals, bircher muesli, yoghurt, fruit, cheese, ham/salami, jam/honey, butter/margarine, assorted types of bread, croissants, bread rolls, cooked bacon, scrambled egg and cooked sausages. There was a choice of mineral water and juices. Tea, coffee or hot chocolate were delivered to your table.
The hotel is used by a lot of diplomats as it is located right next to the Swiss parliament building. The hotel's location is very central as the shopping district, squares and restaurants are located literally in the next street and are anywhere from 30 seconds to a 5 minutes walk away. The "sights" and museums are anywhere from 5 to 10 minutes walk as well, so there is not really any need to use public transport or taxis, unless you want to go further afield.
The hotel itself - The interior was refurbished a few years ago and is worthy of 5 stars. There is a bar, restaurant, main lobby area and several sitting rooms. There are 2 lifts. The hotel is used a lot for functions and weddings so it is always busy, which is quite nice, but sometimes means that certain public rooms are out of action. The restaurant gets very booked up, so if you want to eat there it is best to book in advance of your arrival. You can eat in the bar and the food is very pleasant from there; we also had room-service, which was nice and arrived promptly, although the menu was a little limited. When we visited, the Christmas market had just started. It is located in two squares, both of which are just a few minutes walk from the hotel and are well worth a visit. We asked the concierge for assistance with guidance on a museum to visit and were given maps of the city and directions on where to go and how to get there. We visited the Natural History museum - just 10 minutes walk from the hotel and thoroughly enjoyed it. We also used the concierge to book us a taxi to the station on the morning of our departure. The porter came to collect our luggage and loaded it into the taxi that had arrived promptly. The standard of service within the hotel was so high that it made the holiday that bit more relaxing. Nothing was too much trouble!
The only potential negatives about this hotel are that it does not have any leisure facilities. It is truly a city hotel and therefore, there is no gym, tennis courts or swimming pool.
All in all I would recommend this hotel for anyone who is going to Bern or who is looking for a European city break. I expect that I will go there again within the next few years and if I do, I will definitely book through Travelbag as they offered me the best rates on the Internet.
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