Even after a four night stay, I can't work out what market niche this hotel is trying to reach.
Rooms: very clean and fairly recently refurbished, with some effort put into fabrics and decorative elements - it looks nice in a clean, understated, Scandinavian kind of way. There is, however, very little space to work if you're a business traveller, and even less space to unpack a bag if you're staying a few days. There was very little noise from the corridor even at busy times, or between rooms. Views from high up in the hotel were lovely and the best thing about the room. Bathroom was nice with great underfloor heating, but the eco-friendly profile of the hotel of course means no tub, let alone any toiletries bar a non-descript refill bottle of soap. On the whole, my room was fine but not extraordinary.
Staff and service: I stayed in this hotel over Christmas, with extended family. The website indicated that the hotel would have a choice of dining options, as well as a pub adjacent to the hotel itself. No mention of closure during certain dates was made. In actual fact, we were able to have dinner in the hotel on a single evening of our stay, and lunch was a no-go throughout, and when asking the reception staff for advice, we were told to make sure to "have a big breakfast" as there was nothing open in or near the hotel. Admittedly, the breakfast buffet was excellent, but the comment felt very indicative of the attitude to service in this hotel. We were offered a small discount when pointing this out to staff, but above all, staff could have made a great difference if they had been willing to tackle the problem of stranded tourists with a little bit of imagination rather than with a shrug. At the price we paid, I would have expected a different attitude.
In sum, this hotel is a decent choice if you need a place to sleep, but don't expect anything beyond that, whether in terms of work support or that little extra touch to make a vacation an experience.
- Scandic Hotel Sundsvall
