Hotel At Six — Hotel in Stockholm

This will be a harsh review but hopefully it can help you make an informed choice and maybe even entertain a little, even if it is my subjective view and served a therapeutical purpose to overcome my stay.

I needed to stay the weekend in Stockholm, which I do regularly and then usually treat myself to a nice hotel, and I had been curious about At Six and considered it a few times even though it is in a weird location squeezed between Stockholm’s biggest eye sore (”plattan”) and the government offices. Hotels I have stayed at previously and been returning to, such as Lydmar, Nobis, Diplomat, Villa Dagmar and Ett hem (last one is in its own league), are, however, all miles ahead and I ended up deeply regret having strayed.

Check in was the rudest I have experienced in any hotel or country for as long as I can remember. There was a line and it was painfully slow. When it was my turn I was still somehow rushed and any questions I had was treated as me being a troublemaker, when I obviously was getting a little annoyed with the treatment I was literally mocked with a fake ”sir” with a tone added to every single sentence for the rest of the conversation. I was, nonetheless, still being treated nicely compared to the poor gentleman next to me who had the audacity to ask why he had been assigned a wheelchair accessible room, he was brushed off as being entirely unreasonable and told that ”someone needed to have that room” and basically made to feel like someone opposing the fact they even had accessible rooms.

As to the rooms, I do not understand how this do not come across more in reviews, although I had read rooms were on the dark side. Mine was uncomfortable, unpractical, run down, not clean, and akin to a Scandic hotel next to the airport. But worst, there is no view whatsoever. You look straight into the wall of the adjacent mall, or rather being on full display for the offices across just a few meters away, so you can not pull the curtains unless your an exhibitionist, and even if you do, no light comes in and the room remains completely dark, night or day. Looking at the layout, half of the rooms of the hotel suffer this. I did ask if I could change rooms, knowing there was no point but still having the need to be told so, and rightly so, I was indeed told we are all assigned rooms and there is no questioning or changing this. Completely out of the hands of the front staff.

The rest of the hotel tries to look suave with an Easter Island-esque statue in the staircase by the lobby but it does not deliver. Having arrived late I wanted to grab a glass of wine and a bite at the hotel. The smaller restaurant/bar on ground floor looked nice-ish but was in complete chaos between the bachelor party having just arrived and the after workers from she surrounding offices. The restaurant upstairs was on the other hand entirely empty so I opted to not try my luck at neither and headed out instead. As to the breakfast, which Swedes attach great importance to, it was ok but not great and forced me to set an alarm as I saw it was set to close early. This was also when I realized it is a fairly big hotel and the large restaurant, so empty the night before, could hardly accommodate everyone, and while selection was decent, the vibe and presentation was more of a school cantina trying to feed the hoards rather than a five star hotel, and that feeling of enjoying a slow weekend breakfast did not materialize whatsoever, and the charge of 70 euros felt entirely unjustified, especially when the Nutella was some sort of knock-off brand… who even does that?

So to summarize. I will not be returning. And I would urge you to stay at one of the many other genuinely good hotels that Stockholm has to offer. At Six is not one of them. But if you want a full Scandic hotel experience for quadruple the price, this is one of...

I’ve just returned from a really good weekend stay here and would certainly consider the hotel again on a future visit to the city. Correspondence with the team in the days leading up to the stay was adequate enough and they arranged a seamless transfer from the airport if you don’t fancy getting the train on arrival. The property is about a ten minute walk from the Arlanda Express station, so is far from inconvenient and is actually the faster option. At around midnight the check in process was super quick and seamless with a friendly receptionist and the four lifts serve all the floors very quickly.

The corridors are modern but very dark, to a point which could be off putting to some. The dim lighting continues into the room which, although having lots of different options, can never be made properly bright. It was however spacious enough for a short stay, on the ninth floor with a decent view over the square in front of the hotel. The bed was massive with lots of pillows and the sofa in front of the window provided some additional comfort. There was lots of storage throughout the room with plenty of hangers in the wardrobe as well as a pair of coat hooks behind the main door and enough drawers for a lengthy stay. There was a good sized TV, a well stocked mini bar as well as accessories drawer, all the amenities you’d want such as slippers, shoe horn, hair dryer etc, as well as a Bluetooth radio which had surprisingly good sound quality.

The issues with the room were mainly the poor quality air conditioning, which never seemed to get the room cool enough, and the fact the TV didn’t work - although I’m sure had we reported the issue it would have been rectified quickly. While housekeeping was great at observing the ‘do not disturb’ sign and still returning proactively late into the afternoon, there was never a turndown service which was mentioned in the facilities. Also while the mini bar had a fantastic range of items it wasn’t stocked up throughout the stay as standard, instead needing the guest to request it.

The bathroom was equally as modern as the main bedroom area, with the gold fixtures adding a real touch of class. There was only a walk-in shower instead of a bath but the large head and shelf made it a pleasure to use. The toiletries were great, with shampoo and shower gel etc provided in large bottles and there were enough high quality towels. Unless you were careful the shower did have a tendency to leak if on full power, but there’s really no need so you quickly get used to how to prevent that. The built in lights in the mirror were a great touch, as was the night light underneath the main sink area.

The decor throughout the hotel is very contemporary but in a Scandi and tasteful way. Everywhere was always spotlessly clean which is surprising given I never saw any cleaning staff and only a member of housekeeping in the corridor once. The lobby has some interesting seating amongst the sculptures and throughout the stay there was always a selection of drinks and treats available for guests checking in and out.

Unfortunately I didn’t get a chance to sample the restaurant but the wine bar on the ground floor was a nice relaxing retreat. Comfortable and cosy, with a wide variety of drinks and wine selection, made it a delight to spend time in. The staff were very professional and when serving wine ensured they explained it well, which in my experience was a first for such a venue. Prices weren’t unreasonable and it’s a shame I only really discovered it on the final day of the stay!

Checking out was totally seamless, fast and given the brilliant location for exploring the more popular parts of the city it’s somewhere I’d love to...

American Express guests beware!! This is a hotel with mostly nice amenities, good rooms, comfortable beds, great gym and delicious breakfast. But all this does not matter if the service is worse than in a Laotian hostel. My guess is that the hotel would work smoother with sloths operating the front desk, which is sad because our first stay here 2 months ago everything worked perfectly fine, hence why we came back here with our family.

First the receptionist was unable to find the name of our aunt on the reservation. My husband booked 2 rooms with AMEX and because we knew she would be arriving before us we triple checked her name is on the booking. But still when she arrived, the staff informed her that she does not have a reservation. She insisted and after some convincing they called us, the situation was explained and they checked her in. We understand that mistakes happen but our aunt doesn’t speak English, and her Swedish isn’t the best. So you can imagine this was quite nervwrecking to a 70+ year to be dismissed and told she has no booking. Then upon arrival we realized we got the wrong room. We had booked a king sized bed and they gave us 2 queens. We checked the website and found that king bed rooms were available. When we checked in they even told us that since the hotel was fully booked we won’t receive an upgrade (which is part of the Amex deal) but of course on the websites better rooms were still available. Only when we showed them that, they miraculously found the upgraded rooms and moved us in. Too bad my mum-in-law and aunt already unpacked. Once we got to our room, we found out that the minbar didn’t work. We decided to take a shower, only to found out the bathrobes were missing. We called for the room service, they brought only one, and had to check the room for missing bathrobes (!!!) before agreeing to bring another one. Another benefit to AMEX is a late check out, for which we asked immediately when we were checking in. I’m in my 3rd trimester and have hard time sleeping during the night, so my wellbeing is completely dependent on naps that I take around noon. I was just taking one on the day of our departure, while my husband went on a walk, when a call from the front desk woke me up asking to move out. I guess they missed the note. Once again it took some clarifying. But it’s not over. An hour or so later the maid just walked in on me laying there naked, barely being able to fall asleep again. And that was despite there being a clear “do not disturb” sign on the handle. I don’t blame the lady and assume it happened because the front desk didn’t communicate that our room is late check out. Have I mentioned how incompetent the staff is at this hotel ?!? My husband, after finding me crying from tiredness and frustration, talked to the manager. She explained that they have a lot of untrained staff and that apparently this is not the level of service they want to provide. Then upon our check out they gave us a complimentary taxi ride to the central station 1 km from the hotel. Kind of feels lame, considering the taxi ride was probably around 3% of our stay, and what we got for our money was stress instead of promised relaxation. If the staff is not able to handle simple reservation, I dread to think how would they behave in an unusual or emergency situation. We choose 5 star hotels for the quality of service and do not mind paying extra for the peace of mind, but this hotel simply does not deliver. We...