Movenpick Hotel Basel — Attraction in Basel

Many excellent things about this hotel - great location, well-equipped and good sized gym and spa area, great views of the city (from some rooms), lovely breakfast and some outstanding members of staff

Not so good - inconsistent customer service levels (for example, I wasn't made to feel very welcome at the bar). Housekeeping staff seem more focussed on chatting (loudly) than smiling or saying hello to guests and certainly not interested in thorough cleaning of rooms.

I wrote a long email to 'Guest Relations' (sent to the main hotel email) outlining the good and the bad about my stay. I made a point of doing this while still in the hotel for another day, so someone could get back to me. Sadly no one did. I mentioned to the person who checked me out that I had had some issues and sent an email to which no one had replied, and all he said was 'ok' - no attempt to find out what the issues were or to find someone from Guest Relations to talk to me.

I wrote a further email after leaving the hotel - forwarding it with the original email to the hotel manager. The Guest Relations Manager did respond - saying she had been not working the previous day (as I pointed out in my reply, the email went to the main hotel desk so someone should have picked it up in her absence), her response seemed quite insincere and she failed to respond to many of my points raised. She seemed more put out that I was disappointed at not getting a reply than anything else and was basically told I should be expected to wait ... There was also no 'thank you for your loyalty and staying with us' or 'please do come back and stay again'.

I replied again this time actually including some photos of the poor (in some areas very poor) cleaning. I also asked that the hotel manager was forwarded my emails and copied in any replies. The response from Guest Relations was again not overly accepting of failures. The usual 'we have spoke to the relevant departments' etc., but again failing to address many of the points raised. Several photos were sent but only one comment was made about one particular issue - the others ignored. The email also included what amounted to quite weak excuses - an overflowing ash tray next to the hotel main entrance was excused as 'they had been very busy' - not acceptable for a supposedly high-end hotel (and given that on several occasions walking through reception, staff were doing nothing - quite an unbelievable reason)

I replied again querying why the hotel manager hadn't responded and once again pointing out than many points had been ignored. By this stage I have accepted that the hotel aren't going to really do anything about the problems raised and the management team clearly don't care about their guests

When I first checked in the lady on reception was wonderful and I had hoped for a wonderful stay - I'd got an upgraded room which was nice (until I started spotting the cleaning issue) and I really liked the spa area. There was also an outstanding member of staff at breakfast (Ishmael I think his name was). But a hotel only works when every member of staff is high calibre - the bar staff weren't welcoming, housekeeping staff mostly ignored me and as per above, the management team are nowhere to be seen

So if you do stay here, look beyond the initial nice points - look closely at the cleaning in your room (dirty windows, stained/mouldy/limescaled shower, desk areas not cleaned, back of toilet not cleaned, several places undusted etc... and clearly some of these areas hadn't been cleaned properly for a very long time).

Could have been an 8 out of 10 but the major cleaning issues and the lack of real action by Guest Relations and the Management team bring it down to a 4. Should I return to Basel, it will be the Pullman as clearly this Movenpick don't care about their guests and...

First off, the location is really great for catching the tram and sightseeing the Basel area. Also, the rooms are spacious and not cluttered. We had drinks at the bar with Steve as the bartender, and he was amazing. The lunch/dinner at the bar area was good… especially the chicken club… outstanding.||Now for the improvement needs:|1) Most of the hotel management is extremely robotic. This means that they appear to be concerned but really have no inclination to bend any rules or address the guests needs. It is very much ‘by the book’ with little desire to help find the solution. As an example, one of our travel companions was very sick ( he got sick while on a Viking cruise—- no fault of Viking). We got to the hotel at about 9:30-10am on Saturday. Check in was officially 3pm. Checkout for guests is by 12pm. The hotel desk staff and management did nothing to help our sick companion get a room (he just needed a bed to sleep) no matter how many times we asked for him to get a room that was first ready. Nope. He sat in the lobby, sick, until 3pm! There is NO POSSIBLE WAY that one check out was not completed earlier than 3pm!!! No mercy or care whatsoever.|2) The room we did receive was spacious, as mentioned earlier, but something was wrong with the air system and the noise it was making made it impossible to sleep. We did have a very compassionate experience with a night clerk (as we said something about it at 11:15pm). He was Yannick Michael and, although young compared to his peers, showed the most concern and ACTION than any of his other coworkers. He moved us immediately to another room. The next day, the assistant manager, inadvertently told us that they knew of that issue on Friday. They still put us into the room, without a word, on Saturday. We finally had enough Sunday night and complained.|3) our flight from Basel was canceled and we needed a hotel room for that additional night. OMG the challenge we had simply trying to see if something was available was excruciating. To be fair, there was an Arts festival of sorts that week so we understand the tightness. But the lack of real urgency about our problem (I.e. not having anywhere to sleep that night) was so frustrating.|4) We were on an extension from the Rhine Viking cruise. There are Reps from Viking on site at the hotel. But, there did not seem to be any coordination and actually there was blaming on the part of the hotel.||In the end, we would not recommend this hotel for its hospitality (other than Steve at the bar and the restaurant service team). The management team seems to reward its staff for following procedure and being robotic. I am sorry, but the hospitality industry is ( or should be) about guest experiences.||The location is great, as mentioned before. Service not. Thumbs down on...

I was so excited to finally have one of my longer stays in Basel at the Movenpick. I come 10 times a year and so this was a long awaited stay. The hotel and amenities are beautiful.

The service started out wonderful at check in. Great welcome and clear instructions on the hotel and its amenities. However, the very next day at breakfast I began to experience being "invisible" . The Swiss Indoor was happening at the same time, and evidently the people in that group deserved better service than I - with the exception of an older blonde server I was largely ignored, never asked if I wanted anything delivered to the table, etc etc. Unfortunately I only encountered her on one day and the service was poor the rest of the time. NEVER asked if I'd like eggs, or waffles, etc. Not once! Even though I saw clearly those around me were being asked.

To top it off, on Sunday, I came down for breakfast at 10:20. I looked for a spot and couldn't find anything clean. By the time one of the tables that were cleaned were made available to me (several others jumped in front of me, welcomed by servers to take the tables) I was promptly told everything closed at 10:30, not 11, and that I could just get whatever was left on the buffet. Meanwhile others were AGAIN ordering around me and getting hot food delivered right up until 11.

The housekeeping was also not great, my room was inconsitently cleaned. and, the hallways were a mess because the families of the tennis pros were constantly playing in the hallways and Making SO MUCH NOISE! They left food and a mess everywhere. But it seemed to me that this was not bothering the hotel staff as they were not concerned about the experience I had at the...