Novotel Basel City

It’s a nice hotel, pretty much what you’d expect from a standard Novotel in Europe. Check-in was fast, and Accor members get a welcome drink. Getting there is easy: take tram no. 10 or 11 from Basel station and get off at Münchensteinerstrasse, two stops later. The hotel provides a Basel Card for free public transport. If a ticket inspector asks, you can show your booking confirmation.

Lea at reception looked after us from check-in through the end of the stay, making us feel at home and cared for. Later that evening, Youseff took great care of us at dinner. I’m an elite-level member of three different chains and have stayed at many top-notch hotels around the world. These two employees made Novotel Basel City special compared with all the others. Sincerely, thank you, Lea and Youseff! Arthur Gasparyan

The hotel itself was lovely and clean, and well placed for getting around Basel. It’s about a 10-15 minute walk from the train station, and the Basle cards the hotel handed out were really useful for public transport. My only downside was the room had a coffee machine but no kettle. I’d have preferred a kettle.

The check-in went smoothly overall. The team had missed the extra day we’d prepaid because we arrived early from Singapore, but they corrected it quickly and let us into the room right away. What followed was a disappointing 19-day stay, especially for hygiene and service. Our sheets were never changed. I had a small cut on my finger that left blood on the bed sheet, and it stayed there through several housekeeping visits. Crumbs tracked in on our shoes were also left on the floor for days despite daily “cleaning.” To me, that falls well short of 4-star standards. Breakfast service felt substandard. I’ve worked in hospitality for over two decades, and the team seemed to lack passion and consistent uniform standards. It felt as though staff had been pulled from engineering or the front office to cover breakfast. They mainly cleared plates, sometimes before we’d finished, and made little effort to engage. Despite being long-stay guests, we were never recognized or greeted with “good morning.” There were no smiles, and the focus seemed to be turning tables quickly. I saw little training or customer care. The dining area was untidy again and again. Staff swept crumbs from tables onto the floor, and there was very little cleaning or sanitizing before the next guests sat down. Once, we stepped on scrambled egg left under our table by a previous guest. We also saw jam stains on a placemat covered with a napkin, which eventually stuck to it. Most concerning, there was a piece of glass inside the pepper mill. When we pointed it out, the response was “ok thanks”. Dinner and bar staff seemed uninterested and unsure what to do. There were no smiles or engagement, and no urgency to make guests feel welcome. Maybe it was because some lacked German or Swiss-German skills, or because we never saw any F&B leadership on site to oversee things. There was plenty of food, but the menu didn’t change over the three weeks. We got the same dishes day after day, and the bread rolls were often so hard they couldn’t be eaten. The options felt unimaginative and lacking in passion. Any chef would be bored to tears serving such a repetitive menu for months.