Comfort Hotel Xpress Tromsø — Hotel in Tromsø

I travel a lot in the US and internationally, for business and pleasure. This may not be the worst place I’ve ever stayed, but I can’t think of a worse one. The first room we had, which I assume was a regular “double”, had a very narrow entryway. To pass by the TV on the wall at end of the beds, a taller person had to lean their upper body toward the beds to get past. There was nowhere to put luggage except on top of the “desk/luggage” shelf. Anything you unpacked had to go on the bed. There was nowhere to hang anything. Walking down beside either side of the bed took all the room beside the bed. If you sat your luggage on the floor, you had to move it, step over it or try to squeeze by without knocking it over. The cover on the card slot on the wall kept falling off, so the card to keep the lights on wouldn’t stay in the card slot. The turn knob for the bathroom light also kept falling off, but would work when replaced. After one night, we were DONE. ||Of COURSE our charges were nonrefundable. My fault for not checking. After the website screwed up several times, I called to make the reservation. The agent, who I believe may have been in the Philippines (no problem, just recognized the accent), kept repeating “let’s get you that LAST room). I believe that part was intended to be high pressure. ||So, we were moved to a wheelchair accessible room. That was better. More space to move around. Like the first room it was HOT, way too hot to sleep and then thermostats were pre-set. We weren’t able to adjust the thermostat and in the second room we couldn’t open the window. Thank God for Marius and Sara. I’d rate them a FIVE. They were able to help us with the heat issue or we would have had to lose $1000 to go somewhere else where we could sleep, They were both exceptional. ||The lighting in both rooms was grossly inadequate. We had to use our cell phone flashlights to see how to find things in our suitcases and to pack. This hotel touts having the basics, not having guests bear the extra cost of, for example, having a restaurant. How about having a bathroom that doesn’t look like it’s in a hostel??? And adequate garbage cans? And enough light??? And how about not having very stale baguettes in the cooler they say has snacks??? We stayed in a hostel earlier on this trip. THAT was basic. This was...

Ouch, what to say about our ‘stay’ at Comfort Hotel Xpress? Supposedly we had a room reserved for 3 nights (booked 9 months ahead), but upon arrival in the hotel (at 12am), the hotel was apparently ‘overbooked’. This was due to a snowstorm hitting Tromso resulting in cancelled flights so they just booked people in the hotel who did not have a reservation.

Together with us, several others were in the same situation to not have a room for the night. A young employee, recently hired, manning the reception only told us to have patience whilst he would be calling hotels in the area if they could accommodate us. Eventually we got lucky, but at this time it was already 2am and during the 2hrs wait nothing was offered to us (drink / food / information etc). It was everyone for themselves.

This abysmal service is not to be blamed on the receptionist who, despite it being midnight, tried his best for us. No, this is due to the poor management of the hotel who only care about filling their rooms without any care for the guests itself. Absolutely 0 information was received before, during or in the days after this situation - no communication whatsoever from the hotel (nope, apologies were not received).

Having spoken to several other tourists and tour guides, feedback about the Comfort Hotel was also soso. You don’t get much for the price you pay. There are better (priced) options around and I would never recommend this...

Frankly speaking, the advantage of this hotel is the location: easy for visiting around. However, the room is a total disaster: the bedside light kept freakily flashing lights when turned off (and strangely it is not controlled by the card-slot-interrupter, so pulling of the card didn't help); and there is a continuous beeping (of some of electronic alarm but we could not find where it came from) all night long -- I have to put a towel on that bedside light and put my headset on to be able to sleep. Moreover, the service is minimalist, and they said it was because ecology/environment concerns. To be fair, I love the idea of eco-friendly in the hospitality industry (such as, inviting guests to put their towel into the bassin to indicate "need to be changed"). But here they play it awfully wrong. Only one free room cleaning every 4 nights, it only sounds to me "not enough professional". I would rather buy the explanation of cost-cutting, however, the price is not significantly lower than others, even higher than some of its peers. I really don't like they way of making it up -- another example, for no breakfast, their explanation is that, 1) not everyone needs/loves breakfast and 2) they encourage guests to explore the city. It sounds hypocrite: it's not a win-win, but a "self-marketing-went-wrong". In short, before any change made from them, I strongly discourage you...