Stavanger Lille Hotel

The apartment was modern and neat inside, with IKEA furniture, a cooking island, a big flatscreen TV, working WiFi, bar stools, a clean fridge, enough kitchen utensils, and a dishwasher. The bathroom was great, with a new shower, and the beds were made up. There were two separate bedrooms and a shared living room, fine for four people or two couples. The first impression on arrival was reasonable, though the neighborhood seemed to be slowly getting poorer and felt starkly different from other places we saw in Norway. There were lots of people hanging around on the street. We’d booked through Stavanger Lille Hotel, but our apartment was at Pedersgata 23, another street 1.5 km away, a five-minute drive. Reception directed us there after we paid at the hotel. Since it was too far to walk back and forth with all the suitcases, we couldn’t leave the car at the hotel. We were also told parking there wasn’t desirable since we weren’t staying at the hotel. After unloading, we weren’t sure if we could park in the street. Reception hadn’t mentioned the parking situation, and the traffic signs led us to ask passers-by. They pointed us to a paid car park. In the surrounding streets, parking was only for permit holders, and local residents said officers check often, so it wasn’t worth risking a fine. The price was reasonable, but it wasn’t customer-friendly that reception hadn’t warned us or offered guests a parking permit. There was a staircase up to the apartment. A new elevator was there but didn’t work. It had a disabled logo and seemed to be some kind of lift operated with an electronic key we didn’t have, so we had to carry the suitcases upstairs. The curtains were the main problem. They looked like Luxaflex, but were more decorative and wouldn’t close. In summer, when the nights are short and it stays light, I went to bed with the sun still shining into the room and woke with it directly in my face. That would make sleep difficult if you wanted to sleep later. People on the street could also see me lying in bed, which felt very strange and gave no privacy. We changed clothes in the bathroom instead of the bedroom. Smoking wasn’t allowed inside and there was no balcony, so people smoked outside the front. One night, while we were smoking, a drunk man suddenly sat next to us. It was a weeknight; he talked nonsense, then left shortly afterward. It felt typical of the neighborhood to me. Even so, we enjoyed ourselves. We walked around Stavanger on the first day, and the next day went hiking at Pulpit Rock (Preikestolen). We stayed two nights at Stavanger Lille Hotel, which was fine for that long, though I’d have found the bad Luxaflex more difficult on a longer stay. Checkout was easy: we left the keys in a box for the cleaning lady, but that meant there was no chance to give feedback directly to reception. I’d add a star if reception had told us about parking before redirecting us, and another if the Luxaflex were fixed so they could close.