Scandic Park Sandefjord — Hotel in Sandefjord

A hotel night I am eager to forget about.

From a distance, we were struck by how ugly the exterior was. When we got inside we saw, sadly, it had the interior to match. Even though the place is maintained with the typical Norwegian zeal, there's only so much you can do when things get dated and worn. It's like someone built this in 1995 and said "There! I finally created a timeless classic that will never go out of style!". Only problem is that this style came and went.

The first room we got was a superior (it was what they had for pet owners) and it was very spacious with a higher-than-usual ceiling and a bay window. Strange however, was that about a quarter of the room was just empty floor space. At least the dog enjoyed that for playing and running around. On the downside the toilet broke down after one use, so we had to change to another room with more regular proportions. It looked like a standard double but apparently it was also superior. Now to the experience of sleeping in it: the floor is just bare wood, no carpet. Good if you're an allergic, bad if you have an anxious dog that keeps pacing back and forth all night, clicking his claws as he goes. The rooms had double doors, which is unusual but believed to keep it quiet. Wrong! Whatever is going on in the corridor outside is clearly heard into the room, just as the sound of someone flushing the toilet in the room above... Also, that cute little street by the marina just outside is actually the main road in and out of town, and the noise from it easy breaks through the thin windows. We were also surprised how late at night that street stays busy. Another "bonus" was that the wall mounted hairdryer also broke down and the replacement we got couldn't connect to the socket in the bathroom, so no mirror while drying. That both blows and sucks at the same time. It took five minutes to get warm water in the shower and the bathroom floor got super slippery, so watch out!! Another thing: why does the bathroom door open inwards and why the heck is the light switch mounted adjacent to the switch that lights the whole hotel room?!? By this setup, you're bound to accidentally flip the wrong switch in the middle of the night and you can't exit the bathroom without flooding the room with light before you can turn the lights off! Unbelievable. So, rooms are spotless clean but dated and noisy. Beds are OK. Room temperature can be adjusted, which is a rare feature in Scandinavian hotels. No coffee maker; only a kettle and instant. Fridge but no mini bar. About service: front desk staff was very friendly and helpful. They forgot to give vital information at check in, but no problem. Parking is NOT right outside the hotel, unless you want to pay a fortune. Across the street below the hotel there's a parking lot with normal fare (it's about a five minute walk there). Breakfast is plentiful and above average: whole avocados, three types of melon, pancakes AND waffles, the works. Nothing missing there. Normally, I'd add a separate star for pet friendly establishments, but this time it wil be half a star. This hotel is "pet accepting" - for a fee. There is nothing pet friendly about the place as a whole; no bed or tray in the room, no complimentary treats and you can only have the dog in your room or in the lobby. Location is central and by the marina, so there's water views from most rooms. Sadly, the entire hotel is affected by the traffic outside. Final verdict: one star for good breakfast. One star for cleanliness and good service from the front desk. I would not stay here again, and I wouldn't recommend it to anyone because it is overpriced compared to standard. My recommendation is to demolish the place and erect an entirely new hotel on the property, because the location has all...

The hotel is splittet in two major buildings which are connected by a long corridor on the ground floor.  However,  the choice of the room numbers is a bit unfortunate. It continues in at floor e.g. 5xx and continues in the other building with 5yy on the same floor (but in the different building). It was for me totally confusing so that I ended up on the correct floor but in the wrong building. The room was OK, but not more. I would say that room and the building itself would require some renovation.  Apart from that, all required facilities incl. a safe in the room were available. The food we had for dinner and breakfast was very well cooked and tasted very well. The most annoying part is the parking garage. The hotel has rented the car parc and the garage to an external company and have no own control. The payment must be made at the automat or the Apcoa app up on arrival. Payment at the departure will cause automatic find. In my case , I never received a confirmation so did not know if the payment was done or not. The Apcoa app is also not helpful at all. Tried to pay by card on the machine worked well until the PIN was asked. After adding half the PIN, the message came up that the payment was done successfully.  However no confirmation was send to the submitted phone number. It must be mentioned that zhe system is completely tickrt less so zhat no confirmation is being printed. Very annoying. For me a hotel of this class should offer a carpark payable at the reception. Bottomline,  not a full recommendation...

This hotel was once a high end hotel and probably one of the best hotels in the country; back when it was built. Lately it has become like most other hotels and the elegance has faded considerably. To the point that most of the luster has disappeared and lack of services and the product itself has lost its appeal to a large degree. More or less nonfunctional internet, promising free internet that hardly could download an email. I was not able to use it for anything (!) Very poor room cleaning, all they did was emptying a trash can the second day..... unfinished poorly mounted curtains to shade the room for nighttime and sleeping. Nowhere to hang the rather small towels or bathrobes in bathroom or in the room. They also tried to make me accept a standard room when I had paid for a superior room. In all I was not at all happy with the way this was handled. My other earlier stays with Scandic chain has given me similar poor impressions. Especially when I think of the attention to details from Asian and American hotel chains compared to this, where the guests an attention to details are much more in focus. And being in the same line of work I can say their quality control seems to be lacking seriously on important, but not really expensive details. This should not be necessary taken into account the price level one is facing, when visiting Norwegian hotels! And again, promising free internet that hardly can download an email is a not internet as...