Hotel Filip

Two months after I cancelled, I got an automated email saying the hotel had charged my card. I’m now just hoping to get the money back. I’d never had such a terrible experience with a hotel. It started in January, when I tried several times to get information about my booking and heard nothing. I emailed, contacted them on Facebook and Instagram, and, as others have said, couldn’t get anyone to answer the phone. I cancelled two months ahead because of the awful communication, but their website returned an error every time I tried, across different browsers and search engines. So I emailed again to clearly cancel, putting it in capital letters in the subject line. They need to address the terrible customer service and lack of response.

My girlfriend and I spent about an hour and a half dealing with this, most of it standing outside in -10°C weather. The manager eventually got us into the lobby, then took another 20 minutes to work out how to get us into our room. There are no staff physically at the hotel. Once we were finally inside, the lack of urgency or empathy bothered me most. He just asked, “is the room clean?” I said yes, and he replied, “okay then have a good night” before hanging up. I’ve never had a stranger show such disregard for someone’s wellbeing, let alone someone in hospitality. We’d chosen Hotel Filip for a weekend in Oslo and had booked through Priceline, which was a separate problem and also a mistake. We arrived late and were locked out because the hotel hadn’t sent the required text code, and nothing beforehand had told us we’d need one to enter the lobby. We called the number on the door three times without an answer. Twenty minutes later, after Priceline couldn’t help either, we tried the hotel again and finally got through. If you’ll arrive at night or in cold weather, I strongly recommend against staying here. The experience was frustrating and uncomfortable, and could have been dangerous.

The digital key gave me a bit of trouble, but it was fixed within a couple of minutes. It happened because I booked through Revolut. The location was good, the room was standard, and it was a quiet place. I was satisfied and got what I expected.

The room was superb and the hotel is close to the water, though quite a way from the centre. It’s a very nice place, but having no staff and relying on everything being automated lets it down.