Starling Hotel Residence Genève

The room was clean, there’s a safe in it, and the staff were welcoming and quick to help. They also brought an extra heater when I requested one, and it worked perfectly. The tram nearby made it easy to reach places in about 15 minutes, the area felt safe at night, and there are several restaurants close by. A few drawbacks: there was no room cleaning or tidying during my stay, no airport shuttle, and no refrigerator. Also, reception isn’t staffed around the clock. Even so, I’d really recommend staying here.

The staff were friendly, but they leave after a certain time, so if anything goes wrong you have to phone them. Sleep was awful: trams were loud, and ambulances and police kept passing all night. The pillows were really poor quality cushions with no firmness. I left the sign asking for the room to be cleaned, but the bedding wasn’t changed or even made. I’ve never had that happen at any place I’ve stayed before.

The room was average and noisy, and the shades let in enough light to make it bright early in the morning. The bigger problem was getting in at night. After checking in, I was given a receipt with an entrance code, but neither of the two codes worked. The emergency number was offline last night, and they only called me back this morning. I waited outside for 30 minutes until another guest with a working code let me in. When I reported it, I was told the code had changed two months ago, so the printed instructions should have been updated. They also said I “should have checked the late check-in email for the code,” although I had checked in during regular working hours and had no reason to expect the information to be outdated.

The staff were friendly, and the room was clean and nice. The location was good. But the breakfast fruit and vegetables didn’t look very fresh, the coffee machine had no milk, and it took a while to sort that out. There was no room service. I stayed two nights.