Clarion Hotel® The Hub

We checked in this hotel on the 10th..inspite of having reservation for twin sharing room they gave us double room which was 8 meters, we arrived at 1 am after requesting and arguing we got the room at 3am twin sharing which they said is sold out completely, only after paying the difference we got the room.. The bathrooms lights were not working the locker didnt function, and the hotel didnt have shower cap!!! Last but not the least the girl at the reception was very rude, we had flown for 16 hours...

We stayed here for three nights, very central as it is near the station. The rooms are very different, with a dogs head on the wall with glasses, very little space for clothes to hang, but the beds were very comfortable. The room did not have a telephone, and one of our group was locked in her room, eventually she got out, but what would of happened if she had not. You had to make sure you locked the room with the card when you left as it did not lock automatically. The breakfast was amazing, everything you could have wanted even macaroons for your breakfast !!! The evening meals we had were very different, but very good, thoroughly enjoyed our stay and would use this hotel again.

We stayed here as part of a tour. After a long ride, with a traffic delay of nearly 2 hours, we arrived at our hotel in Oslo…Clarion, The Hub, which proudly calls itself a “self-service” hotel. The good things: nice music & moving pictures around the elevators, comfortable beds, and the best breakfast buffet we have had for the entire trip. But this has got to be the craziest hotel we have ever stayed in. We’ve seen the ‘smart elevator’ technology where you tell it your floor and then you don’t press any buttons, so we learned to deal with that and tried to help others who couldn’t figure it out, but who has seen a safe with a circular dial (it’s hard to put your numbers in when you are used to a grid keypad); the furniture didn’t fit the room so we had to squeeze between the bed & dresser; there were crazy hands & either a sheep or dog? with glasses for décor; the traffic pattern in the dining room and at the buffet was total chaos!! And no phones in the rooms. Well maybe everyone in Europe can use their cellphones, but we are limited with international plans. We could not let the front desk know that we didn’t get towels, we couldn’t call our fellow guests to make plans, and what if there was an emergency? Our guide tried to get box breakfasts for those leaving at 6am – he was told the request had to go up and down an email chain before being approved. That morning he was told that they decided to open the breakfast early instead. And how do you let people know…call their room? Oh, yeah, no phones in the rooms! (We were calmly told by the front desk staff that phones can be requested prior to arrival...how would one know to request one?!) My husband had fun playing around with the “hands” (see photo): they had this travel-related book called "Get Me Out of Here" in the room, which seemed appropriate; and this is how I felt when experiencing any of the above confusion (see last photo). But we all took it in stride and made the best of it!

A way from breakfast that’s everyone speaking about and how special it is I would like to speak about the stuff , the service and the design ! The stuff are absolutely doing everything they can with smile and patient to let you feel comfortable, I had a problem outside the hotel but the stuff in the reception specially Paula was not hesitate to make everything to help me! The design is great, very special and very modern. The bed ooh the bed, go there and try it you will extend your staying just to sleep more on it

We booked this hotel last minute because it was near the train station and very central. Literally a 5 min walk from the station! We arrived super early in the morning and were allowed to place our bags in their baggage room. This was a free-for-all. No bags were tagged and they gave us free access to the room. We literally could have walked off with all kinds of luggage and no one would've have known. Poor security. We were able to check-in after 3pm. Before 3pm, you have to pay for early check-in. Our room was on the 8th floor--and the security to get past the lobby floor was good. You had to swipe your card and enter the floor you'd be staying on. Room was nice--but small for two people. Huge tv with lots of channels in English. Room had black-out curtains which were great. The bed was comfortable with two pillows that were heaven. The bathroom was clean with a nice-sized shower that was also heavenly. Always had hot water. Breakfast was good--lots of selection. Staff seemed like they couldn't keep up with cleaning off tables for others to sit at. Hotel is central, but if noise bothers you, bring some ear plugs. Tram goes by every 20-30 minutes and you hear this all night long. Checkout was easy. Only complaint was that we weren't told the doors don't automatically lock when closed. A maid came by and saw us trying to figure out why the door wasn't locking--and told us that they lock after a minute, but that we'd have to swipe to lock the door again. Would've been nice to know this on checking-in!