LIV Extended Stay

The room was too hot, and lowering the thermostat didn’t bring it below 23.5 degrees. We were lucky the nearby construction shut down over the Holiday season, so it didn’t disturb us, but that also meant the hotel restaurant was closed for our whole stay. Nobody mentioned that when we booked or checked in. The kitchen setup was frustrating. There was no sink stopper, and the front desk suggested wiping dishes with a sponge, though there wasn’t one, or using the dishwasher even though we had only two spoons. Dish soap came in pods that seemed designed to melt, not open. With no stopper, that wasn’t useful, and when my partner tried opening one, it burst all over them. The pans and dishes were so bad we bought our own frying pan, plus a flipper, corkscrew, and strainer, none of which were provided. There wasn’t a table for eating, and we had to ask for a coffee maker. For three guests on a four-night stay, one tiny tube of shampoo was nowhere near enough. This place shouldn’t call itself an aparthotel when it didn’t provide hotel-like amenities or services.

I booked through Booking.com, and the stay at LIV Extended Stay was nothing like I expected. There’s construction right at the property, something the listing didn’t disclose. Drilling and machinery started at 7:00 AM each morning and made it impossible to sleep, relax, or work in the room. The omission felt misleading. I wouldn’t recommend staying here until the work is finished and guests are told about it beforehand.

For the cost of one night, this was a great facility and I’d stay again. There’s construction nearby, so it may not suit you if you plan to sleep past 7 AM, but it didn’t bother me. There’s also a nice little coffee shop just a minute around the corner with an amazing Cortado and breakfast sandwich.

I paid extra for an “executive suite plus den,” but the rooftop hot tubs are directly above us and crash whenever someone gets out. After I called the front desk at 11pm, the noise finally stopped at 12:30am. Then I woke again at 6:45am to banging. I went upstairs and found someone handling chemicals in the hot tub maintenance room, directly above my bed, and asked him to stop making such a racket. The room is right by the elevator and stairs, so people coming out make a lot of noise. The hall smells like cannabis, and the AC only reaches the living room. I had to choose between closing the bedroom door and sweating, or leaving it open and hearing more hallway noise. There was just one drinking glass in the kitchen cupboard and no ice cube tray in the freezer. I’d asked for a lower floor at check-in, but was offered only a first-floor room at three times the price, or a one-bedroom room that defeats the purpose of renting an apartment.