This apartment motel was booked for me by the office for a 3 week trip in Norway. Our group was 8 people and 20 August – 06 Sept 06 (appr. 3 weeks). We arrived late on August 20th without our luggage which were still stuck somewhere in the great beyond of Heathrow (if anyone remembered, it was the Travellers’ Worst Nightmare of Flight Regulations).
The motel has a practical, no-nonsense interior. Clean-cut lines, modern fixtures, and especially the kitchen was small but very efficient, although the linoleum bathroom floor was a bit tacky.
The location was quite convenient, right across the street from the Vikingskipet Winter Olympic Stadium, and only a few minutes walk from a supermarket. They have their automated laundry, wide parking space, spacious public dining area, well-spaced blocks. With all these nice perks, what could go wrong? Everything, as it later turned out.
The buffet breakfast was a beacon of dull food. The bread was hard, the scrambled egg was watery, with absolutely no variety. After awhile, we gave up and try to cook our own food in the morning. The automated laundry doesn’t work, and even after we complained twice to the management, they just keep saying they will fix it later. We asked for the use of the service laundry (which we will pay, of course) but were refused. Surprisingly, when we tell this problem to our Norwegian friend, she went and talked to the management and then they said it was alright to use the service laundry. Gee, maybe the staffs would be nicer to you if you were Nordic-looking! Attention, all Asian tourists, discrimination abound.
The service also left a lot to be desired. The sheets were hardly ever changed, even after you made several complaints to the staffs. But they are very eager in changing towels, maybe you can use them as sheets. The staffs were sometimes so surly, I kept wondering inwardly, that all this time I live with the mistaken notion that a hotel is some kind of service industry. And we also wondered was it something we did, because we came from a very different culture than the Norwegians. But every time we interacted with them, we always remember to say our please, and excuse me, and thank yous. You see, our mothers raised us right.
So, will I ever stay in Vikingskipet Apartment Motel again? No way in hell.