Scandic Palace Hotel - Copenhagen, Denmark 

Don't even THINK about staying here until renovations are finished!!
Posted: Sun, Sep 30 2007
OK, I knew that there were some issues concerning the renovation of this hotel, but I try to stay as loyal to the Starwood hotel chain as possible, as I am a gold member and they generally upgrade my room. Also, I am an avid Starwood point collector. I have to say that the room was reasonably priced for Copenhagen (a bit over US$200). The location is very convenient, right around town hall plaza. This, and the affiliation with Starwood are the only good points I can think of regarding this hotel. I checked in and was told that I was upgraded to a large room. I walked into an unrenovated room. Clearly, nothing had been done to this room since the 1970's, but it was big and had a nice view of the central square. The room was dingy with torn furniture and marks all over the walls. The floor was clearly in the midst of renovation with workers and work materials all over the floor. Unfortunately, the room had absolutely no internet access whatsoever!! I couldn't believe that a Starwood hotel would even have a room without internet access in 2007. I would expect this from even a much more downmarket brand of hotel! I didn't complain about the shabby of the state of the room, but I did complain about the lack of internet. The people at the desk were relatively understanding and said that only the renovated rooms had internet access. She told me that this was stated in the website. I'm not sure that this was the case when I booked the hotel, but I can't be sure. She offered that I could use the internet downstairs if I needed access. There is a single computer in the lobby which was often occupied, so this was not something I wanted. I decided to look accross the street at the Square Hotel to see if they had a room, but they wanted significantly more than what I had booked the Palace for. I was kicking myself because I could have booked the Square at the same price as the Palace when I originally booked. FYI, the Square was suggested by a friend and Wallpaper guide and looked much nicer than the Palace. The staff at the hotel did eventually agree to move to a renovated room after one night, which was a good thing. The bed in the old room was so uncomfortable, my back was killing me the next day. If they had not moved my room, I would have paid the extra to stay at the Square. Once I moved into the room, internet access was actually patchy and very expensive (about US$40 per day). Maid service was intermittent at best. I came home one day at 5 PM and the room still had not been cleaned. The noise from the renovation was pretty bad at 7:30 in the morning. I also had to basically walk through a construction site to get to my room. In general, there is a lot of noise in this hotel. They should have put double glazing on the windows in the renovated rooms, but they have not. This hotel will probably be OK once the renovation is finished. The renovated room was pretty good, but right now this is not a good place to stay even if you are a committed Starwood member. They should just shut the place down until the renovation is finished, rather than subjecting guests to a mess. The product currently being offered is not acceptable. I can't say anything bad about the staff at the hotel. I'm sure that they have to deal with a lot of complaints, but they kept their cool and seemed to try to just get on with doing their job without too much drama. Overall, this was not an experience I would reccomend to anyone staying in Copenhagen.