Location is fairly central, staff are attentive to requests
Disadvantages:
No restaurant, basic room facilities, housekeeping could be improved
Recommend to potential buyers:
no
Full review
Hotel Comedie is a three star property in Geneve's City Centre, on the busy Rue de Carouge. It was business, rather than pleasure that took me there for my recent one month stay.
The actual purpose of my trip was also hotel related, in that I was working with a project team on a system roll out for one of the most luxurious brands in the world. Unfortunately, at the time of my arrival they did not have a hotel in Geneve City..and they always book this place for visitors, as it is convenient to the office.
The website gives away very little too, in fact it is nothing more than their name and address on a page, suffice it to say I was mildly alarmed at that, but my manager in Geneve had told me on the telephone said he had stayed here for a few weeks and it was ok.
Arriving at the hotel by taxi is actually a challenge in itself. The two-way tram runs directly in front of the hotel, meaning the cars can only park on the opposite side of the road. So on my own, I had to lug a large suit carrier, sports bag, and laptop bag several metres down and across the road, dodging trams as I went. That enough would put me off a return visit!
The Reception of the hotel is very small, and is nothing special to look at from the outside either. It literally is a 12feet by 20feet space with a small desk area, and the smallest lift in the world just behind. Checking in was efficient however, and very welcoming, no doubt as the Manager is quite accustomed to people from the company coming and going. I was offered a choice of room either street-side or towards the back of the building. I asked for the quietest option, not being sure at this stage what exactly was at the back of the building! The lift can in fact hold three people, but only one with baggage. Thankfully it isn't a huge hotel, or guests would be waiting a while.
The hotel would never win any awards for architectural brilliance, something that is also true of a lot of hotels in the area, I noticed. There are in fact no bedrooms until the 5th floor, and I think this is because the intermediate floors actually belong to the co-op department store next door. There are only 27 rooms in the hotel in total, over the 5th, 6th and 7th floors, and I was on the latter.
My first impressions of the room were that it was extremely basic, and I was seriously wondering how I was going to survive for a month. The rooms do not have kettles, ironing boards or irons or any other such luxuries that one needs to look presentable at work. Drawer space was non-existent, although there was a single wardrobe which was adequate for hanging. Even my bed was only a 4 feet wide version. I felt like I was back at home! When I went to pull the curtains (the view at the back was terrible!) I found there was only one curtain not the normal two! They were also a dreadful cheap off the peg green style, which was a shame as the flooring was nice and contemporary and with neutral walls and bedding, some more contemporary curtains would have lifted the whole place.
On the plus side, there was a full-length mirror, presumably so I could see how creased I was before I left the premises. The bedding itself was very scarce, a duvet that must have been about 4.5 tog, and one very large and very flat pillow albeit with a pure white and therefore inoffensive duvet cover.
Overall during my stay, despite all these negatives, staff were always very friendly and approachable. There were only 3 receptionists so you soon get to know everyone. I went down to reception on my first morning armed with a list of requirements including another pillow, an iron, an ironing board, and a kettle and all were delivered by the time I got in from work that night. However, there was nowhere to plug the kettle in, except on the floor next to the bed! There simply wasn't a socket in a sensible place! Over the following days and weeks I made plenty of calls to reception for various items, such as a mug, a glass, a corkscrew, a plate etc, and staff were always up with the said item within a few minutes. Why they just don't put some of those items in the room though, for that extra little bit of comfort is a mystery. They "stole" the ironing board back after a week, for another "demanding" guest, but I got it back again!
The rooms were serviced every day, and for a few days I thought the service was adequate. After a while though, I noticed some basic housekeeping tasks were simply not being done. The floor itself was a nice dark stained wood effect, and therefore prone to dust. I know the corner near the bed was cluttered with the kettle, my laptop and the lamp, but no one has swept in there for a fortnight. Equally there has been a small stain on the bathroom floor for nearly a week. Even in a basic hotel there is no excuse for that, and this place has three stars. I also noticed that the hotel staff simply did not wash the collection of their own mugs, glasses, plates and cutlery that I have acquired (there is no restaurant, so I was getting a salad bowl or something similar from the adjoining coop most nights). I even left two glasses and a mug in the sink, and they were still there when I got home ten hours later. I can of course wash these things myself without too much hardship, but I would have expected better of a three star property.
Speaking of the bathroom, this was generally of an acceptable standard, and the over-bath shower was nice and powerful and very easy to use, although it was just a mixer tap variety. However the shower curtain was absolutely frightening - like a design that would have been better on a wallpaper for a six year old boys bedroom, not a shower curtain for a hotel. I have an aversion to shower curtains in general, especially in hotels, and this one was one of the worse I have ever seen! It was bright blue and full of brightly coloured yachts and other objects, again totally at odds to me for a hotel room that is clearly only geared at single people.
I also had a drama with the electrics. I decided to snooze my alarm for an extra ten minutes one morning and skip the breakfast, and make coffee in my room instead. I put on the kettle and started to dry my hair and tripped the power! I went to the Breakfast room on the 5th floor, where I knew the on duty staff member would be and she explained that it was because I had "a kettle". I really do not believe you can run a hotel on an electricity system that cannot handle one little kettle and one small hairdryer. Needless to say, I went without coffee that day, and in fact every morning thereafter, although I did manage to dry my hair.
Breakfast was ample for what I wanted on a business stay. There was a small room that seated about ten to twelve people at once over a few small tables. The breakfast was a small continental selection of bread, croissants, swiss cheese and salami with orange juice, water and coffee all freely available. I probably only ate breakfast about 40% of the time during my stay and it was ideal for business where you just want to be in and out quickly and just have a small snack to start the day. Indeed, when I checked in the Manager also said they would hold some breakfast back for me on weekends, if I so wished, as I was a long stay guest. Their breakfast hours were very good with breakfast being available for at least 2hours each day.
There was a small TV in the room, and this had plenty of satellite channels. Not having enough language skills to watch French television, I had to content myself with BBC World News, BBC Prime and CNN, but there were a couple of sports channels that were in English also. There was a particularly nice feature of a direct line to the room that I was able to give to family calling in. Unfortunately there was no wireless internet available for guests, despite all my best efforts to connect to the two networks my laptop thought it could see. Again wireless internet is so cheap now that if the hotel wants business guests (and the majority of guests I saw were business people) then it needs to be able to do something more to attract them.
Overall, this is a tricky hotel for me to summarise and rate. If you just need a bed for a night or two, and are not unduly worried about luxury and extras, then the hotel is adequate if basic - I do not believe it is deserving of its three stars. I doubt many couples going on a nice weekend break would want to stay here, unless the rate was excellent, as it just doesn't offer anything mildly indulgent in terms of location or facilities. As a business customer I found it tough in that there was nowhere to eat at night either. As I was travelling alone and not eating out every night with colleagues (for a change, in my career!) I found I had to go about four weeks with barely a hot meal, and I wouldn't want to do that again, and so I really don't think it is suitable for longer stay business guests, male or female.
On the plus side, the staff were friendly and helpful with requests, the tram runs literally outside the door, the actual location is full of restaurants and theatres etc for entertainment. You can walk to the main shopping area within 15 minutes and finally I think the rate was comparatively cheap, although I did not settle my own account. I did see one guest bill at 140 CHF, which is cheap for a City Centre hotel, but of course rates do vary. (Exchange rate at time of writing approximately 2.35 CHF to 1 GBP)
Overall I give it two stars, perhaps my lowest rating ever for a hotel review but I don't think the hotel would have to invest too much more effort in its 27 guest rooms for me to give it a 6-7 out of ten i.e. 3.5 stars.
