A comfortable night at the Plaza (Radisson SAS Plaza Hotel (Oslo, Norway))

Member Name: gardkarlsen

Product:	Radisson SAS Plaza Hotel (Oslo, Norway)
Date:	19/12/05 (49 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Comfortable bed, nice modern room, good location, close to airport transport

Disadvantages: No safe in the room, the automatic mini bar, crowded breakfast area

I stayed at Radisson SAS Plaza Hotel in December 2005 at room 919.

The hotel is hard to miss in downtown Oslo. With its 37 floors it is Norway's biggest hotels and one of the tallest building in Oslo (if not the tallest). The location is not bad at…if you arrive at Oslo Central Station after taking the Airport Express train it only takes about 5 minutes walk to get to the hotel. I think it is the only Norwegian hotel that I have been to that has a international feel when you walk into the reception: there are bell boys in fancy red uniforms, flat screen TV's showing news, bars etc. The check in was fast when we were there even if the hotel was quite busy in connection with the Nobel Peace Price preparations. Remember that you have to use your card once you get into the elevator in order to be able to press the button to get to your floor.

Our room had a combination of white neutral walls and a blue wall behind the bed. The floor had a blue carpet by the way. We got a HUGE bed, a small table with two comfortable chairs on each side, a little desk with another comfortable chair, a TV column with a TV and a mini bar (with snacks and water boiler), a closet with hangers etc. The TV had the regular options of Norwegian, Swedish etc channels but I think we also had access to CNN, BBC, Travel, Discovery etc. And there was also a pay TV option.

The bed is normally what I have a problem with at hotels. The mattresses are normally too hard for my likings. But in our room we had Jensen mattresses which is a well known brand here in Norway (http://www.jensen.no/) and there were even a little brochure with information about the mattress. According to the hotel web page the rooms were refurbished in 2004 and 2005 and I think it shows.

The bathroom was also very nice. The walls and floor is covered with grayish white tiles and there is a huge mirror over the sink area. The bathtub was large and it had two different shower options and a curtain kept the water in place :-) The towels were hung up on warmers and that was nice when getting out of the shower…the floor also have heating of course. When it comes to amenities in the bath: shower cap, soap, different soaps to have in the bath (apple, lemon, orange), body lotion, nail file, a couple of sanitary pads (I don't think I have seen that before), a hair dryer mounted on the wall etc.

It was nice to have an iron in the room so that I could iron my shirt before going to the Christmas party that I was attending. But I didn't like the mini bar that was installed in the room. It is automatic so once you remove something from it, it automatically gets charged to the room.

The breakfast in the morning at the hotel was excellent. The breakfast is served at the restaurant Gaio on the second floor and there was a nice selection of standard warm dishes like bacon, eggs, mushrooms, sausages etc. But you can also get lots of different types of bread and spread to put on it (remember to try the Norwegian brunost, sweet brown goat cheese) and of course different types of cereal and fruits. Even if the place is huge we still had a problem finding a table when we were there but I assume that it is because the hotel was fully booked in connection with the Nobel Peace Price.

I didn't get to use much of the other hotel facilities this time but there is a sauna, fitness center and a little swimming pool on the 34th or 35th floor and there is also a bar on top where you get a nice view. I think there is also wireless internet connection available put I didn't bring my laptop so I didn't get to try it out.

I said that the location was quite good if you are arriving on the airport express train. But the location of the hotel compared to Oslo itself is not bad either. There is a "subway" station near by so that you can take the trams to e.g. Vigeland park area. It is also located right next to Oslo Spektrum where many of the concerts are held in Oslo. And if you just want to walk it only takes a couple of minutes to get to Oslo City (the shopping mall) and about 5 minutes to get to Karl Johans Gate…the main street of Oslo.

Check out the pictures from more detailed information. Or check out the hotel web page: http://www.plaza.oslo.radissonsas.com/

Summary: Nice hotel, modern rooms and good location :-)