Hotel Old Town — Hotel in Zurich

This was the 1st hotel we stayed in during our 10 day vacation in Switzerland. We stayed here 2 nights. Pros: Location is great, room had air conditioning, shower had great water pressure. Cons: Mini Fridge had a half-eaten container of ice cream in the freezer, blanket for bed could be larger, outlets at bedside lamps did not work. We arrived around noon hoping to be able to check in early (I had emailed before asking if this was possible and if they could store our luggage, but never got a reply if this was an option). It was raining and unfortunately I had fallen on the slick cobblestone getting to the hotel and hurt my leg pretty badly and could not walk very well. When we got to the hotel, the person in the restaurant (there is no front desk) let us know the room would not be ready until 2 PM, but they could hold our luggage and put it in the room once it was ready. That was fine, but then told us we could not sit in the restaurant to wait. There was no one there (again it was pouring rain outside) and when my husband stated once more that I was injured, the man just spread his arms out and stated there was no where for people to wait. So, we left and sat in the burger king just down the street for about 2 hours (where a very nice man sitting across from us asked if I was OK because he saw me hobble in). When we went back at 2, our room was ready and then we were told that we were to only use the back entrance to come and go to our room. That seemed weird, but was ok as this entrance worked fine. Our last night I wanted to get a drink at the bar in the restaurant and take it up to the room. When we walked into the entrance of the restaurant a waiter asked us what we wanted and I stated we were staying there and I wanted to get a drink from the bar. Then the same gentleman who would not let us wait for our room the 1st day started shuffling us to the back where you can go through to get to your rooms stating there was wine in our fridge. I stated again I wanted a glass of wine from the bar to take up with me, and he kept saying "there is wine in your room you can drink". There was 1 couple in the restaurant at this time. I gave up at that point because I was not happy. The "wine" in the room is a bottle of Prosecco in the mini-fridge (they will charge you for) which I do not like. So, to say the least, no night cap. I would not stay at this hotel again just because of the...

Think this has been said on a few reviews - one member of staff in particular was quite blunt and rude insisting that once we’d checked in, we were not to walk through the restaurant and to use the back door. Fair enough, but there’s ways of saying things! ||Room was very clean and bed was extremely comfortable. Bit confused with the mini bar as it had items in it but when it questioned the prices, I was told there was a list on the table which there wasn’t. Not sure how they would have charged you for what you’d taken if you did? We had a free mini bar a few days before in Budapest but didn’t want to risk it. We also didn’t realise that although Switzerland has the same voltage as the rest of Europe, the plug heads are very different so none of our round head adapters fitted. Luckily, we had a different shaped USB adapter which fitted with a shove so we could charge our phones for the airport home. We won’t talking about my hair and the lack of hair straighteners being able to use, ha ha!||The hotel was in a great position for sightseeing and the train station. We even managed an impromptu trip up Mount Rigi and the Lindt factory from there.||Everything is expensive so you just have to lump it. Amazing to think I can get 3 keyrings for £5 in London yet they were about £6.50 each there! The Coop supermarket near the station was a godsend for snacks and drinks. Reasonable prices and they even have a hot station with wedges, sausage rolls etc. I even managed to buy some nice bars of Swiss chocolate for gifts which were reasonable. Didn’t bother buying Lindt as it’s cheaper in Tesco plus we’d got so many free samples at the factory!||Zürich itself is very pretty so...

It is difficult to label a property as a "hotel" without certain amenities that make it one. First of all, the hotel has no front desk. One checks in at the bar of their restaurant where the waitstaff/manager handles your check-in/check-out. The rooms looked better in pictures than in reality. There is no telephone in the room to contact the staff should you need anything. You'd have to go down to the restaurant and talk with the waitstaff. Double duty personnel maybe? The room is marginally lit by LED reading lights by the bed that we had to open the door to the bathroom so the light from the bathroom could light up the room. There is an LED "lamp" on the table but it was neither plugged in (required a special plug that I've never seen in my life) nor was it operational. Housekeeping services were minimal - housekeeping only came to empty the trash and replenish toilet paper supplies. Breakfast buffet was basic with only eggs as the hot food item. Menu never changed in the 5 days we were there. The one good thing about the property was its location being in the center of Old Town. However, that was a double-edged sword as being centrally located to shops, bars and restaurants meant noisy crowds till 4-5 am everyday and you wouldn't dare open the windows unless you wanted to join the party as well. To be honest, I would label this property more as a "guest house" rather than a hotel. Now that I know better, I would definitely dish out a little bit more cash and stay at a full-fledged hotel a few blocks away...