Scandic Holmenkollen Park

We were extremely disappointed by our stay at Scandic Holmenkollen Park from 17-19 May. The hotel itself is beautiful, and the front desk team on arrival were friendly. We also appreciated the older gentleman waiter. Those were among the few good parts. We weren’t told before arriving that the spa and pool would be closed because of the ongoing strikes. If we’d known, we’d have changed the booking or stayed somewhere else. We expected the full hotel experience, but major facilities were unavailable, and there was little attempt to make things more comfortable for guests. The food choices were limited, the TV service didn’t work properly, and our room wasn’t cleaned between days. I understand the hotel seemed short staffed, and I’m willing to give them some benefit of the doubt, but that doesn’t excuse the lack of care. Service should still have been top notch, and the hotel could have done something to make the stay more comfortable. At the bar, the security man was particularly rude and disrespectful to my partner and me. He wouldn’t give us a drinks menu and seemed to expect us to guess which wines were available. It felt insulting and summed up the attitude we experienced. We were told at reception that we’d been upgraded, but we got the same room we’d booked. More than that, management didn’t seem to take responsibility or make any gesture to soften the impact, such as a discount or complimentary drinks. It felt as though guests were left to deal with the consequences themselves. Afterwards, we contacted the hotel, and Trip.com tried to reach them by email and phone too. The hotel ignored us completely. That silence says a lot. Management need to look hard at how this was handled from start to finish. The strike closures were part of the disappointment, but so were the poor service, lack of communication and dismissive attitude. For a hotel of this standard, it was unacceptable.