This is an OK hotel if you stay for 2 or 3 nights, but gets very annoying if you return every week like I did on several business trips. The location is good, the hotel is a 5-minute walk away from the train station, although it is a very steep street so if you have a lot of luggage you might consider taking a taxi. The rooms are OK if you are not unfortunate enough to get one of the very narrow rooms at the back with no outside window and a single bed. The beds are generally uncomfortable, they resemble hospital beds. There is a penetrating restaurant smell in all the rooms I have been in, irrelevant of how far you are from the restaurants, so it can be disturbing. The television set is ok, with about 200 international channels, so you can at least feel a bit home watching your own news. The bathrooms are renovated.
There is a so-called gym available, but it is rather a museum of run-down very old equipment.
Part of the staff is very nice and helpful, although I always had someone at the reception desk who didn't seem to remember me week after week after week, and seemed to be surprised when I arrived there to check in; which I find poor service. The room prices are fluctuating between 160 and sometimes even 400 CHF a night, depending on what kind of convention or meeting takes place either in Lausanne or Geneva. 400 CHF is a very outrageous price for a room in this hotel.
There was no free internet available in 2011 in the hotel, something might have changed in this area as I see free Wifi offered on the website now.
I stayed at this hotel on 27 business trips throughout 2011.
- Hotel Alpha Palmiers
- Alpha Palmiers Hotel Lausanne
