Ramme Fjordhotell — Hotel in Vestby

Visited Ramme gård for a culturally enriching countryside getaway with my wife. We ended up really wanting to get away from Ramme gård. ||||Never have I encountered a more poorly organised hotel. When you price a hotel at luxury prices, then you need to deliver more than an AirBnB would. Ramme did not. Below are the highlights of this shockingly disappointing adventure.||||It all started upon arriving by car to Ramme. The parking lot was a dusty country-side plot of land, where we had to remove a rope to gain access. Once parked, there was no indication of where to go. Didn’t take long to find it, but still annoying. ||||When arriving to the hotel, things started falling apart. The main entrance was closed, and we had to use the side entrance. We were then told that our rooms weren’t ready yet (we arrived ½ hour after our check-in time). After having a (pleasant) coffee in the cafe for an hour, we spent about an hour on confusion around getting functional keys, caused by the staff not knowing how to work the key machine & two rooms having the SAME number. The blame from the Hotel’s side was put on there being on-going work on the signage. ||||The room itself clearly had a high budget on decor, but beds floating around in the hallway, door openers not working, lift SOS button dysfunctional and replaced by a walkie-talkie, cheap IKEA blankets on the floor & massively loud creaking from old doors really took away any surrounding charm. Upstairs there was also literally a huge empty frame, and there were 0 facilities outside the room.||||After a lovely dinner in the restaurant, we wanted to go for a walk in the garden at the estate. However we were swiftly asked to leave the garden as we were apparently not allowed to use it. Without anywhere else to go, we resorted to returning to the room. We then wanted to buy some chips in the lobby, but there was nobody in reception. We discovered the day after that our waiter had been put in charge of both the reception and waitering at the same time! ||||The morning after everything was topped off. We arrived at breakfast, with dirty dishes floating around, coffee being served from a plastic barrel, fish left out in the heat, and there being 0 availability of hand sanitizer. Given an on-going pandemic that is a basic expectation.||||Everybody seemed busy with everything other than taking care of (high-paying!) hotel guests. The immediate surroundings of the hotel remain a building site, and my frank opinion is that the whole Ramme project suffers from severe mismanagement both of the hotel and its staff, badly calculated ambition, and none of the core principles and offerings you’d expect from a leading cultural destination. This results in overworked staff and a seriously minor comfort of guests, in clear contrast with the luxury prices, such pressure on staff to perform two jobs simultaneously should frankly be illegal. We did get a 25% discount in the end because of the check-in troubles, but the price paid remains way too big....

We loved everything about this hotel. It has been tastefully renovated so that it appears to be centuries old, All the rooms are different, and there’s art everywhere. The bed was very comfortable, the shower had good water pressure and hot water right away. All the soap and shampoo is organic, made in Lofoten. There’s also a coffee maker in the room. |Breakfast was excellent; Lots of organic and local products of high quality. |Parking is free and ample. |Service was friendly and professional. |As a guest in the hotel, you can visit both the art gallery downstairs, the farm shop and greenhouse in the courtyard and a beautiful park behind the barn (“Havlystparken”). You can also see various farm animals. |There are many walking paths in the neighborhood. We walked to the picturesque town of Hvitsten and took the “Munch trail” to the house of the artist. We also found a nice little beach close to the hotel where we went swimming a...

This is a nice hotel but I would describe it as quirky. The restaurant and breakfast room are in separate buildings. This means having to go outside in the snow to get to eat. Not a massive issue just quirky.|There is an array of door push switches and card readers to get around. There are no TVs in the rooms or reception area. This wasn't an issue for me but might be for some.|The car park is a fair walk from reception. There is no path so you have to walk in the road which is on a slope. With snow and ice was quite slippery. It could really do with a handrail or separate flat path.|The carpark is protected by a barrier. You have to press a button or call a number to have it raised. Both of these failed on my first morning. It would be much better if the barrier operated by room card or pin number.|With just a few improvements this would get a better rating. It was still a nice place with friendly helpful staff and I...