Swissôtel Kursaal Berne — Hotel in Bern

As an Accor member, my husband and I were greeted only greeted once, during check-in. Every time we walked past the reception, nobody cared or greeted us at all. All their heads are always down on the computer screen. Upon check-in, an elderly woman at the reception was the one who attended to us. When she asked if Bern was our first stop, we told her no because we came from Interlaken. She proceeded to say "oh, of course". I am not sure if this is normal reaction, but what did that even mean? Then, my husband asked if there is any room upgrade, to which she immediately shook her head and said "no." From someone from the Asian community, we learnt how to be polite and tactful, so when we heard her brief feedback as such, we were quite taken aback. I believe staff needs to be trained how to politely decline customer's request.

When we moved to our room, I was shocked to see two super single beds combined into two. It was such an uncomfortable sleep, and we could not even open the windows for natural air because if we were to do so, there is no privacy as the only window opposite us is quite near to our building. Room was also stuffy. For 2 nights, I heard dog howling at 5am for an hour - I was trying to sleep. After informing the reception about it on two separate occasions, we were told that the owner will be notified. However, no apology or whatsoever, so basically I should live with it.

On our first night as I wanted to head to the restaurant for a drink, one of the waitress kindly allowed us to sit inside instead of at the common area, where many others who mingling. I was there with my husband, for god sake, and we could be ordering food, too. We are obviously not there for business, but we want to have good time and memories! The night shift F&B manager actually informed the Asian waitress to tell us to move to the common area to have our drink! The ignorance of him, for belittling his employee's effort and not coming to us directly to tell us so. The manager did not even bat an eye on us, most probably because we were Asians, but he was chatting away with other people in business suits. Next morning when we woke up for breakfast, none of the kitchen staff smiled or greeted even though I attempted to - twice! I must say, however, the manager that morning was polite and greeted everyone who met his eyes.

However, the breakfast... was... meh...For a 4 star hotel at a capital city, I would have assumed the people here would be MORE well informed about tourists and/or at least prepare some common food for Asians. During my 2-night stay there, I saw some Chinese and Indian tourists as well, mostly for work. Nevertheless, the spread was very European. Other hotels I had been in other parts in Switzerland - Luzern and Interlaken had attempted to include 2-3 Asian dishes for customers. I seriously feel that this chain could benefit from sending their staff to some 4-star hotels in Asia countries e.g., Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, to see the type of food served.

When we checked out, nobody asked about our experience in the hotel, and up to more than 2-weeks after checking out, my husband who is an Accor member, has NOT received any email from them to get our feedback - I wonder why.

The only saving grace for this hotel are two things: their lovely bartenders and their location, where there is a bus stop right in front of the hotel. In all honesty, I have always had my hopes high for this hotel in Bern because of all the great reviews in Accor website, but my husband and I were severely disappointed at the way we were treated by the people who claimed to be part of the capital city and at the condition...

As soon as we arrived, we immediately knew this was no ordinary Swissôtel property. Located in the heart of Bern, yet having a feel of seclusion from the city, set the tone as soon as we arrived from the tram station opposite the hotel. Lush green gardens, vibrant flowers, a pond full of fish welcomed us into what felt like an oasis more than a hotel. At check in, we were told mini bar is complimentary and so is the access to the grand casino Bern located on the 5th floor of the hotel. They also gave us the Bern transportation card, which provided free transportation within Bern, a very convenient touch. Afterwards we proceeded to our room, to find a newly renovated room with modern touches such as mood lighting and freshly renovated interiors, though the highlight from our room (Swiss advantage room) was the view. The view was stunning, we could see the old town and the famous peaks of the Swiss alps all at once! The view couldn’t have been better! The room had a rain shower, a large tv, a tablet, a wireless phone, along with all the usual facilities. The complimentary mini bar included a bottle of sparkling water, still bottled water, two bottles of apple fizz juice, and 2 bottles of beer. There were no snacks, though! The hotel is located in the Kursaal complex which includes large meeting rooms, ball rooms, gardens, and multiple event spaces. The casino on the rooftop of the hotel provides free entry to in-house guest otherwise 10 chf, and once in the casino a complimentary drink. The city guide and maps at the reception along with the free travel card, helped us explore the city of Bern. The location of the hotel is good, couple of tram stops away from the train station, and one stop or 500 meters away from old town. The reception is spacious, and leads to the garden, which is a highlight of the property. The hotel also has a wellness center, with a state of the art gym, and locker/changing rooms. Other facilities include some in-house meeting rooms, direct access to the Kursaal complex, and a bee garden. As an Accor member we were also given welcome drinks and a late checkout till 1 pm. The mocktails from the bar were refreshing in large glasses, though they were too sweet, and one of the mocktail tasted as if it had frozen fruit. The upkeep of the property was good, having unique touches such as an atrium, a garden, bee garden, etc… There were also a couple of restaurants which we didn’t try (Sushi and Co was a Japanese inspired stall, Giardano was an Italian restaurant with an indoor and outdoor bar, restaurant Fu was the breakfast restaurant and featured Asian specialties, and The rooftop grill was on the rooftop with amazing views. There was also the option of room service, though there was no club lounge. The staff were friendly informing us about the attractions of Bern, and when the Air Conditioning didn’t work, happily giving us a fan. They also happily gave us a neck pillow from the pillow menu, though they didn’t have many of the other listed options such as the “Swiss stone shaving pillow” or “the Mona pillow” or a few other types of pillows. The neck pillow was the only one readily available. The only drawback was that the ac didn’t cool properly/ didn’t work, and it was very hot especially when we visited in the summer time. Installing larger vents for air conditioning would solve the problem, though the staff readily...

The hotel is in a great location, ok it's not in the old town but it's just a short, scenic walk across the bridge and it's right next to the Kursaal tram stop, so you really don't need a taxi from the train station. We had 3 large suitcases and using the low-floor tram was dead easy.|Power sockets in the rooms are all Type J, we didn't have an adaptor so the front desk lent one to us for using UK plugs and electric toothbrush. The tea & coffee facilities are excellent (a whole customised drawer dedicated to the supplies and cups & glasses, I want one of these at home!), and there's a free mini-bar.|The rooms were a good size, we had two premier rooms for a family of five. The bathrooms were a bit weird in materials and colour, like from the '70s but the shower was excellent. Floor a bit marked and scuffed here and there, but the room and bathroom were perfectly clean.|Breakfast is good. No fried eggs, but then nowhere in Switzerland seems to. Everything else is there, all the cereals, pastries and usual cold meats and cheeses and hot food with the standard overcooked bacon that is uniform across the country.|There's a well-equipped gym, an outside bar serving cocktails (you get a voucher for a free drink at check-in), and a mediterranean restaurant with tables inside and out. All the outside ones were booked so we had dinner indoors. Service a bit slow but the food really was good. There's also a sushi place and apparently a rooftop BBQ and bar, but we didnt go up.|Downsides: The air conditioning in the room is pathetic, just a single vent with a trickle of slightly cool air, not enough to cool down the room and the controls on the wall made no difference. Tried setting it to 20, then 19 then 18, but it wouldn't reach lower than 22.7. The fan speed control wasn't working. And the second one was that there's an Asian restaurant that would have been nice to try, but it was bizarrely closed for the summer. So we had dinner in town on the second night. There's no pool. Finally, I have an Accor gold card which gets a free room upgrade if available, but they said the next room up could not accommodate a triple bed setup. Which sounds strange but there we are. So I have this card but strangely never seem to be able to use the benefits.|It's a business oriented hotel, large and modern and open and airy and busy and not the sort of characterful, personal place like say the Chateau d'Ouchy in Lausanne, but it was still absolutely great for the final stop of our family holiday around...