Cedar Jet

Hi there

I have a choice to also stay at First Hotel Vestebro with AC and breakfast as opposed to a newly renovated single room with no b/f or ac at Palace

The price difference is 2950 First hotev, to 2880 Palace -nothing in it price wise.

Im just not sure I wont need ac and a quieter location the Vestebro offers..any local Copenhageners able to comment??
Thanks
CJ

raunow

The single rooms at the Palace are VERY small (but they have some very nice Jr. Suites). And if you hit one of the hot summer days in Copenhagen, you'll miss the AC in the Palace. Especially if you plan on sleeping late, since you'll hear the loud bells from City Hall every 15 min if you open the windows. First Vesterbro is in a slightly less noisy location, but still only 5mins walk from the Town Hall Square.

So if getting SPG credits is not vital to you, I'd probably go for some other hotel than the Palace in the summer. Personally I'd sleep on the sidewalk if needed to stay SPG Platinum, but that's a completely different story...

BTW, nearly 3000,- for a room seems very high, there must be some convention in town ? I had a single room at the Palace for 1060,- two weeks ago. I don't know how it prices on the days you're looking at, but another First Hotel - Skt. Petri - is a very nice hotel with a great location.

Cedar Jet

Hi mate

Thanks for reply.
Apologies, the rates I quoted are for 3 nights total at each of the hotels. Pretty good value for CPH. Think I'll stick with First Hotel Vestebro. SKT Petri was not available for the dates I was in town. I'd certainly like the SPG points but not at the expense of being unable to sleep 3 nights!


CJ

kevinsac

While I could manage without a/c.....if the First is willing to set you up with a boyfriend during your stay, that might make the deal for me!

Seriously, I did not realize that the Palace did not have a/c in the renovated rooms. That surprises me.

Cedar Jet

What ever turns you on in a hotel mate

Yeah the hotel is not offering dinner, lunch or AC. PASS. Even if rate is 960 a night still not worth the potential poor stay. At 500DKK I may consider it.

First Hotel it is

CJ

raunow

In all fairness, they are putting in a/c as part of their ongoing renovation. Once completed (around new year) all rooms will have a/c. This is advertised clearly on their webpage.

sbtinme

Precisely correct. And ... the ductwork is all in place at this time; the renovated rooms (which is now 80% of the property) all have the ceiling high vents in place with the wall mounted thermostats.

It really is somewhat outrageous, in 2008, that this property still doesn't have a/c in the summer. While we all know that Scandinavia is plenty chilly for most of the year, they also have their fair share of humidity and heat in the mid-summer. I've spent more than one steamy night in this hotel with a warm bed and a hot pillow. Not my idea of luxury.

With some creative engineering, this hotel COULD HAVE permitted a/c to the renovated rooms this summer and then added the final part of the property in the fall when they were complete. I'm disappointed in the hotel's owners for not making that happen.

Cedar Jet

Precisely why Palace lost my business. I am on a multi city EU holiday and can't afford to be sleepless after I leave CPH. Maybe next time I'm in CPH I'll give it a shot.

CJ

Cedar Jet

Just noticed the 960 DKK rate per night for a single renovated room(single bed) has jumped today to 1540DKK!

With all due respect Palace, but for a tiny room, no AC, no room service, no restaurant for lunch or dinner and renovations taking place..I find that a joke.

CJ

tjk1976

I have a 4 night stay at the Palace coming up in mid August and I am debating whether or not to chance it given all of the concerns cited about the renovation chaos and lack of a/c. Has anyone had any good (or bad) experiences at the Palace in the last few weeks? Any upgrade successes as a Plat?

The location really appeals to us and, based on the rate when I booked it (approx 2200DKK), 10K points per night seemed like a great use of points.

GuysInCT

Hated it, worst SPG hotel I have ever stayed at. Was there for 3 nights 2 weeks ago. All the recent comments are accurate, what were they thinking with the renovated rooms, a total mess. I will never ever stay here again nor consider recommending it to anyone.

No upgrade, though they said my room was a deluxe king. Small, noisy, hot, flooded bathroom, no clock, no a/c (of course), very minimal hotel services, very expensive internet.

tjk1976

Thanks GuysInCT... Disappointing but useful insight. It's a real shame that there are no good *wood properties in Denmark. Come on, no a/c? Are you kidding me?

lalala

I'm debating staying here for one night (10000 pts) because I don't want to schelp from airport to the city and back.

My stay in in late August, do you think I can live without AC for the sake of seeing CPH instead of just seeing the inside of the airport?

lala

wetkarma

I stayed 3 nights recently (plat member) and on balance its probably worth staying elsewhere. The staff at the hotel are very nice and try to be very helpful, but at the end of the day its currently hot and humid in Copenhagen and this makes the lack of an AC a significant defect at night.

The hotel tries to compensate by leaving 2 fans in the rooms, and they will even bring up others upon request - but the fan is basically moving hot air around.

Separately - I stayed in one of their renovated suites, which (I thought) had a few design defects. The glass coffee table had square vs round edges - which made it easy to cut/scrape your legs on if you were not careful. The bathroom while having a wonderful tub and an excellent overhead shower -- suffered from a complete lack of hooks/anywhere to hang a robe or towel.

The closet area struck me as poorly conceived with sliding doors unable to slide past each other (thus limiting access to the closet) and quite a bit of dead space in front of the closet itself.

The floor of the rooms had new carpet with an interesting 'frog' type design, but unfortunately the carpet covered a floor which was not quite flat/even. Walking around I felt a bit like I was at sea or drunk. The balcony struck me as rather unsafe as it canted slightly downwards to the courtyard -- and of course the courtyard view is currently very disappointing.

Finally -- and for me this is really the dealbreaker; internet access is unstable and slow at best. I lost network access twice during my stay, both times requiring a staff member to come by and 'reset' my services. For unknown reasons, the phone also was at times non-functional necessitating a LONG walk from the suite to the elevators and down to the lobby.

To the hotels credit however, the staff are quite professional and VERY understanding when it comes to complaints. My perspective is that once they finish the renovations they will easily be a nice three star hotel, but five stars? Not likely.

tjk1976

Very informative feedback, thanks guys. ^ To top things off, I have yet to receive a reply to an email that I sent to the Palace's GM several days ago in which I asked about the status of their renos.

Overall, it's just not worth chancing our comfort during our precious few nights in Copenhagen which will be the last 4 nights of our upcoming European trip. It's a shame that the Palace is Starwood's only hotel in Denmark. I just did a search on TripAdvisor and was surprised by the almost nonexistant selection of premium hotels in Copenhagen. The grand old hotels (D'Angleterre, etc.) look very tired and the Marriott, which looks good, is in a very bad location. So, I norrowed it down to the Skt Petri and the Hotel Front. My sister stayed at the Petri in May and said it was decent (about a 4 star), but as luck would have it, it is fully booked for the time of my upcomng trip, so I'm going with the Front.