Aurora Borealis Observatory — Hotel in Senja

I honestly don't understand the 5 star reviews. This place is terrible, even at half the price!

We had booked this as the highlight of our trip, as their website falsely promises this a luxury stay. We had booked the luxury studio which had its own hot tub.

When we arrived, the patio door was covered in plywood and could not be used to access the hot tub. So not only could we not see the northern lights from the window (the whole point of this stay), we also had to walk 20 to 30 metres in 2 feet deep snow in the dark! We had to ask them twice to shovel the snow so we could at least make the walk to the hot tub. We asked to speak to the manager, they refused to engage with us. Via text they offered us an insulting 5% discount!

At £600 a night, you would expect a certain level of service - there is none whatsoever. They don't help with uncovering the hot tub - they don't even clear the snow off the cover! They don't help with the bags. This place is run by amateurs. In fact kids; no one we dealt with appeared to be over the age of 25 years of age, they had no experience of how to deliver the customer service expected in such an expensive place.

As other reviewers have mentioned, the quality of the decor and furnishings is cheap and flimsy, nothing like their website alludes to.

The website falsely states that they organise walks etc. They don't. You are literally stuck in the middle of nowhere with very little to do.

Breakfast was shockingly bad. I've had better in hostels. Boiled eggs, bacon, toast, scrambled eggs, mushrooms. Low quality juices.That's it. For £600 a night. You also have to traipse from the basement up 2 levels.

The restaurant, they claim, is one of the top 3 in Norway. I highly doubt it. £100 for a set menu; our main course was spaghetti in a basic tomato sauce.

In the morning we again asked to speak to the manager. Once again they refused and instead we spoke with someone whose first day it was. This person needs to go and learn about service rather than antagonise your customers. Again we complained about the door covered in plywood. We said if they had contacted us prior to our arrival we would have been able to make an informed decision as to whether we stayed there and we would have changed our plans. Apparently it wasn't their fault the door got smashed, so why should they lose money. We also got a lecture on how expensive things are in Norway. This went on and on until I stopped the conversation as we were going round in circles.

Also, check out is 10.30am although they serve what they call breakfast until 11am. In over 20 years of regular travel, this is the first time I have heard of checkout being before breakfast. When I asked the person mentioned above what time we could check out at, he replied 10.30am. It had already gone passed that time...

I raised a claim with my credit card company as this place did not supply what they had described; they agreed and I received a full refund. If they hadn't been so greedy and offered more than a pathetic 5% discount, they wouldn't have lost 100%...

I wish I could give this place a higher rating, as I was very much looking forward to staying here. It's way too expensive for what you get in return. We would not come here again.

The good things: Location is great for winter wonderland hikes. If you enjoy hiking, definitely this is the place to go. We also had the chance to see the auroras very clearly which was a great plus.

The bad things:

Storm damage: As soon as we got to our Lux apartment 2, we were told that there had been a storm, so the door that lead to the jacuzzi was broken and only opened through the outside. We understand that storms happen, but a good customer service would've apologised and maybe offer a discount / upgrade?

Blinds broken: Not only was the glass door broken with wood attached to it, but the blinds (3 out of 4) were broken as well. This meant that the light was coming in very early in the morning, the team was not transparent at all about this, did not warn us about the matter upfront (otherwise we would've been prepared with sleeping masks at least)... nor did they apologise.

Electronic issues: If things couldn't get worse, we had an annoying loud "beep" sound coming from our kitchen which made it impossible for anyone to sleep with that noise. We asked for help from the staff, she couldn't solve the problem, nor could she find someone to solve the problem, nor did she apologise, nor did she offer a solution (change to a different flat?). Luckily we are good at troubleshooting, we figured out the problem ourselves after 90 minutes, dealt with it ourselves, and let the staff know exactly what needed to be done. Again, no apologies or appreciation whatsoever.

Local tours: Lastly, I did ask a member of staff what they recommended in terms of tours (wildlife tours... scenery tours), and he only pointed me out to external providers. I got confused since their website claims that they provide these services themselves? It was only the day after when I specifically asked if they could arrange for something themselves, that they said "yes that is possible and we do it for free". This is a massive plus!! Why not promote it upfront? Unfortunately we were unlucky, and the day we booked the wildlife tour we had really bad weather, so the tour did not happen, otherwise I am sure it would've been awesome.

Private jacuzzi: This sounded like a great idea, which is why we paid extra for the apartment. The biggest issue with the jacuzzi was the stagnant water. The water had a strong unpleasant smell. Clearly it has been sitting there for ages and it's not being looked after. It needs cleaning.

Lack of kitchen / bathroom / bedroom ware: There are some things missing in the kitchen, namely a cutting board and more cutlery. Bedroom and bathroom wise, extra pillows would be ideal instead of only 1 per person. Also extra towels would be a massive plus for the jacuzzi - specially since the water smelled really bad - as well as towels for the kitchen (for us to dry the dishes & dry our hands) which...

This hotel false advertised a lot. We stayed in the "luxury two bedroom suite" which was notated by a piece of paper saying that stapled to the building. The jacuzzi is far from the building - there's no robes or slippers so we never used it. You're given one small bath towel and hand towel per person. There is no conditioner or bottled water. The name made it sound like it focuses on the northern lights but it was really more of an air bnb and the service was some of the worst we've experienced - and we're travel agents having been to 170 countries collectively. The ferry from tromso is cancelled a lot and we had pay a lot for a 4 hour taxi to get there. The northern lights were great the first night. The second day there wasn't much to do if you don't do a tour - we visited in winter and only had snow shoes to use which was fun but we were told the sleds are for kids, there wasn't enough snow for cross country skis yet and bikes were for summer. The rooms are modern but real basic. The beds were comfy but the bathroom had a very strong sewage smell. There was a vent that leaked water on one of us in the middle of the night that they fixed the next day. There is a teepee that they will light up if you ask them to with a fire but there was no hot chocolate or drinks or food offered as advertised. It was a bit self service and the employees did not know how to use it. We asked for a coffee during the day but was told it was closed and then when we asked when it was open we were told it was broken. They said they had no hot chocolate. The restaurant is owned separately and only has food in the morning for breakfast and a few hours in the evening. They don't have their liquor license to serve alcohol despite having wine there which was disappointing - especially when the employees and friends of the employees were drinking wine and cocktails in front of us. It felt very rude. We took a very expensive $50 taxi the 15 mins to town each way because they said there was no one to take us. Definitely don't come here and stay extended time and or without a car. It is a remote stay which makes it easier to see the lights however there is not much to do and you don't have access to food and drinks mostof the day. I was most interested in getting help with my new camera for the northern lights and was excited to have someone to take pics of us and we asked multiple times when the photographer would be there and never got an answer then we were told at 9pm it was the owner and he had left for the night and it needed to be reserved in advance despite asking all day. One of the friends of the owners was there and was able to help a little bit. Overall some of the staff were helpful but some were very rude. It's a remote place without many amenities so if visiting Senja I'd opt for...