My rating is 4.5 stars. If it weren't for the mishap checking in, my review would be a perfect one…read more
I rolled into Karlskrona 1.5 hours later than anticipated. I had walked from the train station to the hotel, which took five minutes. However, when you have travelled for so long, and then spent hours doing a train-train-bus-train combination from Copenhagen, this walk seemed like forever.
To add insult to injury, there are tons of cobblestones that you need to walk on get to the front entrance of this Clarion hotel. I had a computer bag and one piece of luggage. Both were difficult to roll. On top of that, the restaurant had patrons who were likely observing me struggling. At this stage, I didn't care.
I got to the front desk and was greeted by a friendly woman. I said my last name and she checked the system. I handed my credit card. She said that my credit card was on file and that she didn't need it. I felt that was weird, but I accepted her response.
I got a room on the third floor of the same building that we were in. There is a separate building where you have to leave it to get to this one that has the restaurant.
Being tired, I needed help finding the elevator. It felt like a freight elevator. You press a button to get the elevator. A beep sounds that signals that it's safe to open the door. Same goes with getting to the floor that you want. You wait for the beep before opening the door.
My room was close to the elevator. I went in and noticed how humid it was. This hotel does not have air conditioning, but you do get an oscillating fan. It was perfect. I had it running the whole time that I was in the room and was comfortable.
I only had two hours of sleep on my flight to Copenhagen. I napped for about fifteen minutes on the bus. I literally changed into my pajamas and crashed on the bed.
Roughly 1.5 hours later, the phone rang. I thought that I was dreaming. The ringing stopped and then happened again. I picked up the phone. The woman downstairs said that there was a "miscommunication." She thought that my last name was Chan. My last name rhymes with it. There was apparently another Chinese woman who had a reservation. She gave her room to me. She asked that I come downstairs to sort out the issue.
So, I changed and went downstairs. She apologized for waking me up. I gave her my credit card. I advised her that I didn't want to change rooms, for I had already slept on the bed and made the room my home away from home. She fixed everything.
While I was there, I went for dinner. Dinner is served from 6 till 9 pm every night and is buffet-style. Your room rate comes complete with breakfast and dinner. The food was incredible. My first night had fried eggs and a wonderful salad bar. While I was stocking up on nourishment, I said hi to a woman who was also there for training. Through her, I met another colleague whom I have never met in person, but recognized her voice from conference calls that we have been on.
We had dinner together and chatted. A fourth colleague had overheard our conversation and introduced himself. If it hadn't been for the hotel debacle, I wouldn't have met my colleagues this particular evening.
We had breakfast and dinner together most of the time. A couple of us had branched out to wander around the city after work. It was nice that we had a final dinner together before we travelled home.
Getting back to the food, the dinner menu changed each night. I had goat curry one evening, sauteed mushrooms that were amazing as a side another night, chilli con carne, and more.
The breakfast buffet has roughly the same items. You have hard-boiled and scrambled eggs, sausage, meatballs, bacon, cereal, pastries, bread, yogurt, and more. I was pleased that it offered soy yogurt in vanilla and blueberry.
My room was comfortable. I had two single beds smashed together to form a double bed. I slept well every night. The shower was great and came complete with shower gel. As with most European hotels, you don't get a ton of shelf space for your toiletries. I was fine, though.
I liked that the hooks in the room were circular. They were both practical and whimsical. The closet was also minimalistic, with five hangers. It also had a shoe horn.
On my final night, I went to the front desk to ask for a wakeup call for 4:30 am. He was a great chatty person to talk to. He first offered to check me out now, which meant that my bill is settled and that I could leave quickly in the morning. Great!
He went one step more by offering a breakfast bag for me to take on the train. He said that it would have a couple of sandwiches with cheese and ham. Nice!
My checkout went smoothly. The wakeup call happened and was automated. I went downstairs and my breakfast bag was waiting at the front desk. A woman at the front desk popped over to say bye as I put my food in my bag. It was a nice touch!
The hospitality and generosity at this hotel are top notch. I highly recommend staying here.
(319)
