Just had a 2 nights stay at the Easy Hotel in Basel, Switzerland.

As some of you might know, Easy Jet founder Stelios, created a series of "easy" products. One of them, his most recent venture, is the Easy Hotel, with two properties, one in London and the second one in Basel.

We all know that Easy Jet is the no frills airline, but how far one can go to create a no frills hotel chain?

First of all, their property in Basel is by the convention centre, so catering to business people should be expected. However, it is not the case and far from it.

The room I had was 12 sq meters. That's ok. However no workdesk or any furniture or chair for that matter. So I had to use my computer in the bed, not the best working position!

Then, no soap or shampoo in the room. I had a dispenser near (but not IN) the shower (no bath), but it was empty. No people at the reception after 11h00pm, so I couldn't even get it filled up, specially that they charge you 18 Fr Swiss for changing the bed sheets and cleaning the room and 15 Fr Swiss to change the towels. But it's a service, not an obligation for the customer, so I opted out. Since I travel quite a lot, I do have soap bar and shampoo in my travelling kit, so I managed.

Then, believe it or not, half a roll of toilet paper AND no glasses at all to drink water. I ended up having to use the cap of my shaving cream container as a drinking glass!!

There is a nice flat screen TV in the room, attached to the wall. Now, if one wants to use it, a nice 11 Fr Swiss is to be charged PER day to "rent" the remote control!!

Wi-Fi Internet acces was supposed to be available for 5 Fr Swiss per hour. However, their router was down, so no Internet access at all.

Rooms with a window don't have A/C. It was quite humid this week in Basel and I could have used some A/C, but since I had a window, I had to deal with the streetcars going on all night, with very little sleep.

Of course, I only paid 56 Euro per night, so I guess I had what I paid for some of you might say. I wasn't expecting a palace, but I was expecting a little more than having to count the toilet paper sheets one by one to go through the end of my stay, and I was'nt expecting to have to use my shaving cream cap to have drinking water...but maybe I'm too fussy!!

One thing is for sure, my next visit in Basel won't be at the Easy Hotel...

The only positive side to that stay it that it does make me appreciate a little more the amenities we, sometimes, takes for granted when on the road!