Grandi by Center Hotels — Hotel in Reykjavik

I really enjoyed my experience overall! The only reason I’m not giving it 5 full stars is because I think the common spaces, restaurant and location are really the highlight but the keycards and rooms need a bit more optimizing before I’d give it 5 full stars. The key cards often didn’t work in the elevator and because you need one to use the elevator, that was a bit frustrating. To need to stand there and keep trying the card till it did finally work. They’re fancy and wood [I think?] and maybe there’s still some adjusting to do there. My view looked at a construction site [May 2022], it was hot as hades and made sleeping uncomfortable [yes, of course I turned off the heat] and when I opened the window to try and get some cool air in — even though the window opened only a crack at least it would have been something - that resulted instead in tons of flies coming in. I think they were stirred up by the construction site work below my window. Also, the blinds are dark but they don’t actually block all the light. So during the months of the year when the sun doesn’t full set all the way, the room was bright at 3 am. So… sleeping wasn’t the highlight of my stay. If you like a dark + cool room when you sleep, that would be an issue for you as well. Which is why I mention it. Not to complain. But to make people aware. If you don’t need those things, you wouldn’t be affected. I did appreciate the large, refillable soap and shampoo dispensers in the room. And I liked the scents! I also liked the complimentary luggage lockers for those whose rooms aren’t ready on arrival which worked easily and were huge. The service was excellent and friendly. Breakfast was good. The cocktail and dining experience at night was superb. I thought the common spaces were comfortable and stylish-yet-inviting. It wasn’t stuffy or stuck up. Yet it still felt cool. And the location is great if you’re in town to enjoy the harbor area for whale watching or other activities; and Grandi neighborhood. Great for arts and dining. It’s up-and-coming! I found out the plans behind the construction that’s going on and I’m excited to visit again when that’s all complete as the plans will make this a terrific stop and stay for visitors to Reykjavík!! The only thing I didn’t get to try was the coffee shop café off the lobby just one floor up. It looks terrific and I recommend you try...

It’s hard to find anything negative to say about this hotel!

We arrived in town on an early flight, and reception generously allowed us to check in at around 11 am, which was the perfect start to our trip. The rooms are bright, spacious, and modern, with large windows, and the beds are really comfortable.

You’ll find everything you need in the room, from tea and coffee facilities to a fridge, a large TV with Chromecast/YouTube, an iron and ironing board, a safe, and a seating area.

When we first entered, the room had a strange, offputting smell, but we soon learned that this was the smell of Icelandic water (a peculiar eggy/sulphur smell), and got used to it!

The communal areas are really comfortable and were decorated for the festive season. We didn’t use it, but the hotel also had a coffee shop which served drinks, snacks, and sandwiches, and there was a restaurant and bar for the evenings. The hotel also offers guests lockers for their bags checking out - a nice touch and seems more practical than some other hotels’ baggage storage facilities.

Breakfast was nice - some traditional dishes as well as meats, cheeses, bread, and cooked food like bacon and eggs. The breakfast area does get busy and one day we were asked to share our table with others - I recommend heading down before 9am on a weekend.

Location was really convenient - maximum ten minute walk into town, close to the harbour and its museums, lots of supermarkets and restaurants, and on the road out of the city when you're ready to go sight-seeing.

Parking outside of the hotel can be challenging and you have to pay before 9PM, but there is a free car park a few minutes’ walk away by the harbour (type free car parking into Google).

My only small gripe was that construction work is taking place opposite the hotel, which woke us up at 8am on our final morning (Monday). This was fine as we weren’t planning on a late morning, but something to bear in mind - consider asking for a room away from the site.

All in all, an excellent hotel and we’d...

The rooms are dated (brown and orange carpets) with hardly any soundproofing (we heard everyone who walked past the room), and the bathrooms are impractical at best. (They took minimalism to a whole new level designing this bathroom.) The tiniest sink I've ever seen, nowhere to even hang a hand towel, there's a tiny glass ledge-shelf next to the sink that is almost completely taken up by a tissue box and two glasses. There is one robe hook next to the half-partitioned shower that was big and drafty (maybe about 6-ft by 4-ft). In that area is the one and only single bath-towel bar is mounted. (And the red-brown floor tile really makes the moldy grout-lines pop.) And let's not forget the two tiny lights in there that really give the bathroom that lovely "basement" feel. Meanwhile the entire opposite wall in the bathroom has absolutely nothing on it, which is seriously a wasted opportunity for providing guests a place to hang toiletry bags or towels or another shelf to set things like toothbrushes, containers, or makeup.

The "view" from our room was non-existent. Our windows looked out on a construction site, which was accompanied by the sounds of a construction site during the day as well.

The restaurant downstairs is very nicely appointed, but very expensive (though the same could be said for most restaurants within walking distance of the hotel). We did not eat dinner there, so I can't offer any feedback on that. We did have breakfast there, and it was...ok. The scrambled eggs, beans, and bacon were all room-temperature (which is extremely unappealing for scrambled eggs), but there was a nice assortment of breads, pastries, some fruit, some meats and cheese, orange juice, coffee, and tea.

The best thing I can say for the hotel is that it is located within reasonable walking for shops & dining.

For the price, I...