Hotel is now open (review)
This hotel opened on the 16th of November 2009. I am just finishing off a 3-night award stay.
There are not many guests here at all yet. I guess they will fill up in the next coming weeks for the climate conference.
As a platinum I was upgraded to a corner room on the 21st floor. Unfortunately the next morning we flooded the bathroom using the shower - the drain didn't work at all. We were then moved to the same corner room, just on the 24th floor.
The room that we got moved into gave us access to the Club Lounge. At the moment the Club Lounge is physically accessible by anyone since they neither ask for your room number, nor is the key card access system working. (The access to the fitness center is the same way, except that the door is locked and a staff member must open it.)
The lounge has offers a decent breakfast - scrambled eggs, bacon, sausages or sometimes mushrooms, and grilled tomatoes. The cold selections include - several cereals, yoghurt, fruit salad, whole fruit, sliced turkey, sliced ham, cheese, tomatoes and cucumbers, etc. There is a espresseo/coffee machine that makes the standard mix of coffee drinks.
In the evening they have cold hors' d'oeuvres. On one of the nights (Sunday) nothing was served. We aren't sure if this is standard or just a fluke. The staff member on duty didn't know as she was just filling in for someone that was sick.
The lounge is apparently open all the time. I suspect this might change once they get the access card system to work. The coffee machine is always on. There are also two unlocked fridges with soft drinks, beer, white wine (red wine is on the shelf), Bacardi rum, two whiskeys, Gin, and vodka.
Rooms: the rooms are standard size with a large bed, ample closet, lounging chair with small table, desk, flat screen tv, 2 phones. The bathroom has a separate shower and bathtub. There is a single basin with plenty of mirrors, including a shaving mirror. What I like is the lack of tons of promotional information everywhere which helps (in my opinion) give the room a nice clean feeling. The big problem that I have is that the room is always too warm. I think this might just be a teething problem of this brand new hotel as they are still working on this system according to the front desk. I suspect it also might be a problem that I am at the end of a circuit and all the other rooms are vacant.
The hotel is meant to be a low or zero carbon emissions hotel. That is one of the reasons that they don't have hotel information packs on the desk. Instead they have an information system accessible through the tv. I found the information (at least in English) to need completion, a check for accuracy and proof-reading. The TV also offers pay per view, two adult channels, games, internet access, and something called "desk-top-access". You had to pay before being able to see what that access is, but the description suggests you might be able to have a virtual computer with Word, etc. on the tv. I can't imagine how you would operate it with a remote control. In any case, the tv system is still quite quirky and not configured correctly yet. As a matter of fact, the entire system isn't working right now.
Wireless internet access is free with a caveat for those sensitive about personal data. You have to give them your email address and agree to receiving promotional information from the hotel. I gave them my spam mail address. You also have the option to pay a daily fee to get a higher speed connection. There is a port in the wall near the phone which may be suitable for a LAN connection. There isn't a LAN cable lying around though to try it out.
I went and looked at the restaurant's breakfast buffet. It is similar to the one in the lounge, just with a bit more variety and quantity.
The location is good from a transportation perspective. The Oerestad metro and train stations are 3-4 minutes away by foot. With the train or metro you just a few minutes to the airport or to the downtown area. The line also leads to Malmoe and Lund in Sweden. There is a big mall and park nearby, but otherwise the immediate area is rather unimpressive.
My overall impression: once they get the quirks out, this is going to be a fine hotel.