Rederiet Hotell

The rooms were large and clean, the staff very friendly, and breakfast delicious. My family and I really enjoyed our recent stay, and the location was great too. If we're lucky enough to visit Farsund again, we'll definitely stay here.

We had a convenient mall across the street and the wedding venue just across the parking lot. The accommodations worked very well for the older folks who needed a lower floor. There were all the ice cubes we could ever want.

From the little bridge into Farsund, Rederiet Hotell is already in view. It has two buildings side by side, a pretty white wooden house and a much newer one. We received a door code the day before arrival, so check-in was unattended. Just inside, room keys were waiting in envelopes on a small table. The room was a shock. The hotel promotes its history, but ours felt dated, with hot, sticky air that didn't move. The furniture was worn and old. There was a wardrobe with an ironing board, iron, hairdryer, and folding luggage rack, plus a desk and chair, armchair, double bed, and a little table squeezed between the desk and chair. Coffee-making things were on the desk, and the small TV looked like it was from the early days of flat screens. The bathroom was to the left. The room was also very dirty: lots of dust on top of the headboard, and dust, dirt, and hairs under the mattress. The shower pressure was miserable, and the connection between the hose and shower head was damaged, so a fair amount of water never reached the head. The bathroom power sockets are worth a look in the photo. Breakfast was a complete disaster, poor in both quality and choice, and hardly edible. The fried eggs were rubbery, one was discoloured, the sausages tasted as if they'd been cooked days earlier or reheated, and the soft-boiled eggs were cold. There was only black coffee and tea. There wasn't even hot water on the buffet, so we had to ask. The tiny fridge with milk, apple juice, and orange juice was off by itself rather than where you'd need it, and the orange juice was empty. The sliced meats, cheeses, and fish, salmon and trout, were left without ice. There was no food safety here. Apart from us, only an elderly couple was there. The toilets are downstairs from the breakfast area. Another appalling sight: there were shit stains in the toilet and on the toilet paper. There was no human contact at check-in. At breakfast, the only staff member was a young Ukranian lad. When we asked if we could order a cappuccino, he looked shocked and had to contact his manager. A minute later he came back and said, "Sorry, my boss says its not possible." Not much of a manager. I felt bad for the Ukranian lad. It was clear he hadn't been trained and didn't know what working in a hotel involved. I paid 1813kr for the worst hotel experience of my life. The price-performance ratio was ridiculous. I believe the building used to be a shipping company and first became a hotel in 1998, but there was nothing historic about the part where we stayed. It had no charm or sense of history. It was plain to see that old offices had been turned into sub-standard rooms. I wouldn't stay here. Management is failing to provide a memorable experience, let alone the historic one advertised.

We stopped for lunch at Rederiet hotell, but they were out of one menu item and didn't tell us before all of us ordered the same thing. I switched to the caeser salad, which was supposed to come with croutons, but it arrived without them. When I asked, they said they didn't have any. They did offer to take the meal back and let me choose something else, but by then everyone else had their food, so waiting a long time for a replacement didn't seem practical. I asked for bread on the side instead, but they forgot and never came back, which made the meal boring. The fish soup was good, at least. With prices this high, I'd expect better service and a complete meal. I'm not sure I'd recommend it.