Grønnbuene Rorbu Hotel

The rooms are lovely, with kitchens, and the location is great. But the arrival and check-in were a strange mess, with very little information. We booked through Agoda and reached the address we’d been given, but there was nobody there and no office. A tour guide explained that the Thon hotel chain actually manages everything, so we had to walk there with all our heavy luggage. At check-in we asked if they could hold our bags until the room was ready. They said no, but that we could leave them in the lobby, which shocked us. We showed them an email saying the opposite, and only then did they put our bags in a room. Such a shame.

It’s at the end of Andenes’ main street, right by the water. More like a small apartment, with a kitchenette and stove, a fridge, and the option to cook for yourself, plus a bed, sitting area, and shower and toilet. It’s a good standard.

The bed was good, but the stay was otherwise a struggle. The reception is separate from the rooms, which made things harder. The old building creaks loudly whenever people walk, especially when staff run around or pull trolleys. And the fire alarm kept going off very loudly. They even have instructions stuck to the wardrobe for when it happens. I wouldn’t recommend staying here with children. With that alarm, you might escape a fire only to have a heart attack from the noise. The kitchen was dark with the curtains closed for privacy. The extractor over the stove was broken, so cooking was difficult because condensation gathered on the cupboard. One of the main bulbs was burned out, as was the bulb over the stove. We'd stayed at Andenes Suite Hotel before, which was amazing though the beds were poor, and had to extend our time on the island. They were fully booked, so Grønnbuene was the only remaining option. We arrived to find our room wasn’t ready. Staff said the other rooms were ready and we could walk back to reception to ask for a different one, or wait “five minutes.” In reality we waited another 28 minutes. We had no car, so changing rooms meant walking to reception while one of us stayed with the luggage, or simply waiting there for something we’d paid for but couldn’t use. Staff could have called reception to say the room marked clean wasn’t actually ready and ask to move us, then sort out the keys later. They didn’t. We were exhausted, and even after the wait it was hard to get to sleep because staff had started the dishwasher, which is VERY noisy. So no, the room wasn’t ready in five minutes. I’m surprised the reception system works at Thon Hotels by the city entrance, closer to the airport. I think they could afford a proper reception and better fire alarm system, but those clearly aren’t a priority.

We were there for a couple of days in February, when we were almost the only tourists around. The café downstairs was closed for the off-season, but otherwise we had no complaints. Everything was clean on arrival and the room had all we needed. Check-in was at a nearby hotel, where the staff were friendly. Five stars.