This hotel is very close to the waterfront - only a few minutes walk to the pier. The Aker Brygge is a nice area to hang out at night- for the bars/restaurants or just a quiet walk down the promenade. The hotel room is small but clean. The bed is very comfy! Have read some reviews about other hotels in the city centre where they could be quite noisy with bars/nightclubs and traffic noise around. This hotel is pretty quiet- though you can occasionally hear the tram if you open the window at night. Staff are very nice and friendly. There is free internet at the lobby and even a Wii to play on! Lots of toys are available for kids in the lobby too. Breakfast is of a great variety - both hot and cold food are served. We booked this hotel directly through the hotel's web site as they have a long weekend offer. I think it was worth the money.

Writing this review a little late as we stayed there three years ago. We got this hotel through a deal on the Visit Oslo website (the Oslo tourist board) and paid a reasonable price for B&B (for Oslo!) which included the Oslo Card. The Oslo Card is a great bargain if you want to use a lot of public transport and visit museums. It makes it easy and cheap. The hotel is in one corner of an office block but it is right behind the harbour, so is very convenient for sightseeing and evening strolls. There are lots of restaurants there, but we found the set menu in the hotel to be better value and well cooked. The room was small but clean and comfortable. No kettle, but that is normal in Norway. Breakfast was a good buffet spread, not the best I have seen but good enough. Reception was businesslike rather than friendly, but did everything we asked. They were particularly helpful in keeping our baggage in their storeroom on the last day, so we could go sightseeing before catching a late flight.

The building the hotel is in is mostly office spaces. The offices use a different enterance and we only saw the occupants when we looked into the atrium area. It is a new building and everything seemed to be in working order. The rooms were small but clean, quiet and comfortable. The front desk was friendly. They helped us get our Oslo Passes and find our husbands (we ladies dropped the guys off at the hotel before returning the rental car to the airport and catching the train back to Oslo). I do not recommend driving in Oslo. We got there during rush hour. They had several streets shut down for a parade and there are lots of one way streets or streets that dead end into pedestrain only zones. We drove in circles for far too long. Breakfast was the typical Norwegian fare; scrambled eggs, bacon, cheeses, deli meats, breads, yogurt and cereal. The hotel is about a 10 minute, moderate walk to the National Theatre Train Station and the waterfront/City Hall. Even the fairly long walk to Akershus Castle was easy - no hills until we got to the castle and the waterfront made for a nice stroll.

We had booked a suite, and been told that we could check in early. Arriving at 2.45 pm, we were told by a very unpleasant receptionist that check-in was not possible until 3 pm. The "suite" was ok, but the bathroom very small. It was not possible to open the windows, the telephone did not work and the sofa had seen better days. At check-in we were told that extended check-out time would not be possible. All in all a rather unpleasant experience, and I strongly recommend finding other accommodation