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May 1, 2015, 3:54 am

uggboy

Join Date: Apr 2011

Programs: We love to Fly, Hotels and Discovery

Posts: 1,471

Hotel Continental, Oslo, Norway, April 2015, 2 nights

April 2015, 2 nights

There are a few reasons why we wanted to stay at the Hotel Continental in Oslo.

|| Our Stay @ The Hotel Continental, Oslo, Norway || Incl. Deluxe Room, Caroline for Breakfast || Dagligstuen for Dinner || The hotel is the only Leading Hotels of the World member in Norway || April 2015 || Highly recommended, it's a beautiful hotel || by || UggBoy♥UggGirl || PHOTO || WORLD || TRAVEL ||, on Flickr

We are big fans of Leading Hotels of the World (LHW) and have stayed in over a dozen by now. The Hotel Continental is a long term member and ever since we laid eyes on it in our first LHW catalogues we wanted to stay there. Until recently we were unlucky with flight prices or the hotel was not available or the season was wrong. We don't like snow, so coming in deep winter seemed a bit odd for us.

It is a grand hotel - a bit of the history is described below -, which we like too.

It is newly renovated and in our opinion tastefully done.

The location is unbeatable with direct access to Oslo Gardermoen Airport via the Flytoget Express Train. The Hotel Continental is just across the road from the National Theatre, a very short stroll from the sea or the Royal Palace and major shopping.

It is the only five star hotel and member of LHW in Norway.

It is family owned and managed.

The hotel is in the hands of the same family for over 100 years. It all started with Caroline Boman, who was originally from Sweden, and Christian Hansen, her future husband. They met at the Grand Hotel (today part of Rica Hotels), where they both worked. In 1909 they leased the hotel and three years later bought it.

The original building is still there. It contains the Theatercaféen and the Annenetagen today. Arne Boman Hansen, the son of Caroline and Christian, bought the two adjacent buildings, demolished them and completed a new hotel wing in 1932. It is Art Deco style and contained 76 new hotel rooms with their own bathrooms and the lobby bar Dagligstuen. The main entrance was moved from the Art Nouveau building to the new wing. Due to the financial crisis of 1929 meant the expansion nearly didn't happen, but the bankers trusted the reputation of Caroline Boman and lent the money.

Ellen Brochmann, the daughter of Arne, was responsible for a few restoration and renovation projects. It had been Arne's wish to open an American-style cafeteria on the site of the second plot of the block. His untimely death crossed that plan, but Ellen made Arne's dream come true. In 1960 the cafeteria was closed and demolished to make way for an 8 storey building with 88 new hotel rooms, restaurants and a banquet hall. The layout with three interconnecting buildings hasn't changed since then and takes in a whole block. The current owner Elisabeth Caroline Brochmann, daughter of Ellen and Caspar, took over the hotel thirty years ago and is responsible for the newest renovation.

After a pleasant direct flight with SAS from Dublin to Oslo we took the Flytoget towards Drammen - it's important or you're ending up at the Central Station and you have to find your way to the National Theatret Station. Return tickets are available at counters or ticket machines and cost 170 Norwegian Kroner (NOK, ca. 20 Euro or 21.60 USD) each way. The journey takes approximately 27 minutes.

We had been in contact with the hotel before arrival and our e-mail was promptly and warmly answered. Our wish for a room on a higher floor was fulfilled.

From the train station we walked down the hill, the Royal Palace to our left. It didn't take longer than three minutes to reach the hotel.

When entering the lobby the reception was straight in front of us, the Theatercaféen to the left, the lifts and Dagligstuen to the right.

There is also the Eik Annen Etagen, Steamen, the sidewalk cafe, and Caroline, the breakfast restaurant.

Check in was very quick. The receptionist was friendly. Within two minutes we were on the way to our room. We had booked consciously a Deluxe Room, because we thought the Standard and Superior Rooms were too small and we wanted a seating area.

To our surprise we received a Deluxe Room with balcony. It was unfurnished, but we enjoyed every day during our two night stay to go outside. The views were over the city and the Oslo fjord.

The room was large and bright with wooden floors, high ceilings and a mix of classic and contemporary styles in mostly white, light brown and red colors.

The tapestry with plant prints was amazing and looked even better when the sun was lighting it. The color was silver and reminded me of our room at the Berkeley Hotel in London. Please see also review.

There was a sofa with coffee table. On it were the LHW catalogue, Collection and Feel Good of Norway magazines. The upholstery was very soft.

On the writing desk was a glassed in TV, general information about the hotel and the city, a hotel brochure and the twenty four hour in room dining menu including the mini bar price list. There was also an invitation to join LHW for a one year complimentary membership, which could be done by filling in the form provided with the title "Welcome at LHW".

TV channels were mostly local. There were a few international channels included, like Bloomberg, CNN and BBC World.

The room had a built in wardrobe, where the minibar and safe were located. It had good storage space and longer stays shouldn't be a problem.

The minibar contained soft drinks, the Hotel Continental's own beer and liquors. Voss water and lemonade were for example 60 NOK (ca. 7.15 Euro or 7.80 USD), snacks ranged between 40 NOK and 60 NOK (between ca. 4.80 and 7.15 Euro or 5.20 USD and 7.80 USD) and Bowmore 12 years old Whiskey was 130 NOK (ca. 15.50 Euro or 16.90 USD).

In room dining is 24 hours available. The selection was small, but sufficient.
Sandwiches start from 139 NOK (ca. 16.55 Euro or ca. 18 USD), salads from 175 NOK (ca. 20.80 Euro or ca. 22.70 USD), starters from 189 NOK (ca. 22.50 Euro or 24.50 USD), main courses from 195 NOK (ca. 23.20 Euro or ca. 25.25 USD) and desserts from 95 NOK (ca. 11.30 Euro or 12.30 USD).

The queen sized bed was like a cocoon, soft and warm. It was a bit too short for him, though, but didn't impact his sleep quality.

It had a beautiful throw and a bench in front of it, which made this particular space very elegant and inviting.

The artwork included a lithograph of the National Theatre and a sketch of a female.

The tiled bathroom was small with under floor heating, a bath tub/shower combination, sink and toilet. The amenities were by Molton Brown London, which we like.

Water pressure was good and the temperature constant.

Our bed was every evening turned down while we weren't there.

The only small critscism about the bathroom would be the placement of the sink. It is too near to the shelve above it and I always feared I would bang my head when bending down. Thank goodness I was always careful and it didn't happen, but I splashed water on my feet and pajamas each time.

We enjoyed spending time on our large room and could relax there, but also exploring the hotel. It was very detailed, tastefully decorated and artworks were everywhere.

Our rate included breakfast and free WIFI.

The internet access was fast and reliable.

We went every morning to the Caroline Restaurant, where cold items were served buffet style and hot items could be ordered a la carte.

We were brought to our table by the Maître d'.
A waitress took our orders for coffee/tea, juice, pancakes and omelets. Specialty coffees weren't a problem either, so we had our favorite brew Cappuccino.

All of the breakfast staff took great care of us, delivering cutlery as needed - without even asking - and clearing plates.

They were friendly, warm and good spirits.

At the buffet were some local specialties, like brown cheese and pickled herring beside cold cuts, cheese, yogurt, smoked salmon, fresh fruits, jams, bread, different flavored milk, including lactose free blueberry milk (We liked it very much.), smoothies and much more.

The selection was good and the quality of the hot and cold items very high.

On the Friday morning the restaurant was not that busy. There were more guests the following morning. The majority were from the region. The rest were French, German and British. During our first breakfast there were more single travelers. On Saturday there were more couples and families.

One night we also had dinner at Dagligstuen. We were impressed by the service, ambience and quality of the meal. A more detailed review is going to follow soon.

Before flying on to Berlin we needed to print our boarding passes. Reception was so kind to let us use the Business Office on the landing between the ground floor and the 1st floor. It is really just that. It's very small with a writing desk, a computer and printer. The office is only accessible by key. Normally the charges are 75 NOK (ca. 9 Euro or 9.90 USD) per 30 minutes, but the staff let us use it for free.

All wake up calls were reliable and on time.

Staff remembered our names and pronounced it perfectly. We were very happy about it.

We can't say enough positive things about the kind and attentive staff.

As always check out approached too fast and it was done as quickly as check in.

We were a bit sad to leave and have very fond memories. Our expectations were exceeded.

Should we be in Oslo again, we will definitely include the Hotel Continental in our itinerary.

Would we recommend this hotel to a friend? YES! ^
Would we stay again at this hotel in our future? YES! ^

Here's a selection of our images we took during our stay in April 2015 at the Hotel Continental, Oslo, Norway:

Last edited by uggboy; May 3, 2015 at 12:24 pm