Moxy Bergen, Norway [Master Thread]
 

We're going to Bergen (from Oslo, by train) around 2023.9.25 for a couple of days. The only Marriott hotel there is Moxy Bergen. I'm Plat.

When reading TA reviews, some say it's good, but a lot of people are unhappy because there is no table/desk for laptop (that's an important negative for me), no wardrobe and need to hang clothes on wall. There's also no fridge or kettle/coffeemaker. Bed is hard. Some even say no chair (really?) Gravel road outside hotel so difficult to haul luggages. For Elites they give you $10 F&B voucher which doesn't cover half of the breakfast. Many reviews say it's a hip hotel design, probably for young people who don't have luggages or laptops.

Is it really that bad? Because if it is, I'll stay elsewhere, even though the redemption rate is not bad.

With the exception of the gravel road, this sounds like many Moxy hotels. I can't comment on this particular Moxy, but I've stayed in Moxy rooms that indeed have no table, chair, etc., or maybe have a small folding table hanging on the wall that you can place adjacent to the bed.

As for the gravel road, I don't see why you couldn't pull the car up to load or unload.

Have you stayed at a Moxy before? Sounds pretty typical, and why I avoid the brand.

We have not stayed at a Moxy before. If that sounds like a typical Moxy, then no we won't stay in that kind of hotel. I need to work on my laptop, on a desk, with chair. All the other minuses are inconveniences individually, but all of them do add up to big negatives.

We won't have a car. We'll travel by train Oslo to Bergen, then fly to SVG and CPH before coming home to Toronto.

You won't be happy. Maybe one day, try a Moxy when you are traveling solo. But it's certainly not a place I would stay with more than one person in a room, and probably not for more than one night. It is a minimalist budget hotel aimed at young travelers who don't need much in the way of amenities.

I loved Bergen, but we quickly realized that (despite my usual penchant for chain hotels & accompanying benefits) renting an apartment was the way to go. We found a great one on booking.com at a very reasonable cost, with a full living room and kitchen. I normally loathe airbnb/vrbo-style setups because of all the "rules" associated, but there seem to be a bunch of apartment-style accommodations on sites like booking.com (which I also don't normally use) that operate much like hotel rooms, just without any staff on hand. (You get a code to a lockbox for the key, etc. -- but you can leave your towels and linens as they are when you leave instead of having to start a load or take out the trash or whatever nonsense airbnb "hosts" often make their guests do.)

Yeah most Moxy are like that and bad for working.

I usually only stay there for mattress runs because it’s cheap

Recently stayed in my first Moxy - though not this specific Moxy - the hotel was clean (good), but not useful for trying to get any work done (no real "desk" - it was a "Murphy" stye fold-out desk that would fold down from the wall? The accompanying chair was a rope style-chair that would not have worked well, either; floors were concrete; nowhere to put *anything* in the room -- I guess the three random pegs on the wall?, etc). Not even a place I could find to set down a purse other than the bed! Not complaining -- it is a well-defined brand -- just not the brand for me for this trip. Reminds me if you crossed an aloft with a Fourpoints by Sheraton, maybe with an extra dash of "W" flavor in the common spaces?

I had a wonderful stay at the Thon Hotel Rosenkrantz in Bergen a few years ago (pre-COVID-19). I am very brand loyal, so it takes a lot for me to agree to stay off-Marriott and this was before the Moxy arrived on the scene. Great location, fantastic breakfast.

Just read the reviews on TA about the Bergen Moxy and had to laugh -- at a US-based Moxy I had the same problem -- nowhere to put anything. No shelves, no table, no countertop, no closet, a tiny side table entirely consumed by a clock. I ended up putting everything (even my soda I was drinking) on the concrete floor next to the bed. If this doesn't sound appealing to you, would avoid this brand.

Moxy is Moxy :-)
 

I found your replays to the point :-) I have been there and had good stay, try to get the room facing Marina and bay. Work in the lobby like in coworking space. Just enjoy Bergen

It's a Moxy, this is what you should expect. I stayed at the one in Copenhagen and my kids and I have developed Moxyphobia (even they don't like it as teenagers). There is not even a phone in the room. It is literally a barebone hotel, a nicer hostel with a toilet and towels and soap shampoo and conditioner. The reception is in the bar so you might get a free drink on arrival (which worth quite some in Norway).

During my 2 months stay I brought my kettle, grill cheese machine, airfryer etc. own cutleries and an american coolbox (good enough to keep things cool) to survive with 3 kids.

Gravel road is standard in older streets in Europe, it means that the hotel must be in the city centre.

Norway is expensive.

you stayed in a moxy for 3 months?!

This sounds awful.

Kudos to you for surviving 2 months @ a Moxy, my goodness. The longest I've stayed at a Moxy was about 10 days, the one in Utrecht in NL. They were the only Marriott in area. I bought a kettle on the first day.

To the OP, if you do stay at the Moxy, ask for a chair and cushions for the room. YMMV, but the Moxy I was at just asked me to take my pick of chairs in the lobby/breakfast/communal work space area. The small Murphy table is just big enough for 13" laptop, mouse/mousepad, and a cup of coffee.

I will be there in a month so will report back on the hotel. I purposefully booked the larger room b/c, yes, Moxys are generally crap and I'm only staying in them if (a) everything else Marriott/Hyatt/Hilton is very expensive (happened couple of times in London) or (b) it's the only Marriott and there is no Hilton/Hyatt. Scandinavia and Norway especially is pretty bad when it comes to the supply of the big three hotels. Norway has 0 Hiltons, 2 Marriotts and 2 Hyatts (through SLH). I'm in Bergen at least once a year (or at least I was pre-Covid). If you have Hyatt points or can transfer then Opus 16 in Bergen is pretty nice but availability can be tricky. From non-big three hotels (again all pre-Covid) I really liked Thon Rosenkrantz and Clairon Admiral. FWIW, if you're sightseeing AirBnB that is not so central might not be crazy b/c there is really not much to do in Bergen (max 2 days) but there is really nice nature outside. So I'd do AirBnB in one of the suburbs where you can park the rental car and just go from there. Public transit in Bergen is excellent via busses and tram so it's relatively easy to get to downtown w/o a car.

Well, for me, the Moxy Bergen is one of the best in all Europe. A little different from the traditional tiny Moxy prototype for Europe. It does have a desk, though its tiny and fits a Laptop Ok (at least mine), but it is not for everyone. I, of course, loved working from the Lobby, which is the main reason Moxy exist, as a coworking and comingling experience in the lobby and using the room just to sleep. The concrete walls give it a great touch and it is a bigger room vs Moxy LHR or Moxy Paris Opera. Being Titanium, I rather stay at a Moxy for a great price if that is the only option, than going to another brand. Also, Moxy Bergen location is amazing.

But well, like they say, not all brands are for everyone, and being elite outside of the USA gets you was farther than inside, where everyone is elite due to credit cards.