Clarion Collection Hotel Grand, Gjøvik

Rooms and historical aspect of the building are fine but catering to bus tour groups really ruins the feel for individual travelers - I realize they make money off the bus groups, but I will never stay there again—

I spent a few weeks at Grand in November and December, and I could not be more pleased with my stay. If you are going to visit Gjøvik Grand is the perfect place to stay. It’s a short walk from the rail- and bus station, and once settled in your room you live in the heart of what can be called the “restaurant district” of Gjøvik. The hotel is connected to Egons, but I recommend experiencing the restaurants and cafes close by. Within a few minutes’ walk you can eat Thai, Vietnamese, Chinese, Italian, Turkish, Indian, and Spanish and Latin food, and the hotel also offers a great evening meal! Grand offers both breakfast and an evening meal included in the stay. Having experienced evening meals in other hotels I did not expect much and I was very pleasantly surprised. The evening meal is a full dinner with usually two options where soup is a constant. The food tastes great. I had the best Boeuf Bourguignon at Grand! It is a clearly a big advantage that the hotel has their own chiefs, since the quality is consistent. In addition there is “fika” with Norwegian waffles every afternoon. They taste good. I was very pleased with my room. Bed was comfortable and big plus with the two armchairs. Great pillows! I also had a very nice bathroom. Housekeeping is not daily for visitors that stay for more than a night, but you inform the front desk when you want to have your room taken care of. The staff is very friendly and I have only good things to say about their service level. There was always a “good morning” and a friendly face. In addition to being close to other restaurants it is also close by the stores downtown and to the shopping centre CC Gjøvik. Before heading to the shopping centre I recommend to see what the individual and independent stores have to offer.

Living at this hotel was like living on a Facebook page. There were ads everywhere, and some were way out of date and even brand names on the water glasses. The hotel restaurant is not a place to eat if you have allergies, and on the other side, there is another restaurant connected to the hotel that is called Egon, and it´s not recommended since they have so many items on the menu it reminds you of a phonebook, and with so many things you know for sure that the food it is not made fresh so listen for the microwave beeping in the background. Rooms are dirty, and they only clean if you ask them, and even if we did, they did not get it done within two days after they were asked to clean the room. In my room, things were broken and just put on the floor and not repaired and put up again, bathroom overflooded when you shower. Workmate's room was so dirty he had to take antihistamine tablets to sleep because of allergies. Another workmate had a dead bird in the window, so they don't check the quality of the rooms that often, and you have a feeling that the hotel is short-staffed. I say this that the staff was friendly and did the best they could, but you get a feeling that the owners or head of the hotel don't care and is greedy since they sold out the whole place with ads, and there is always something to buy and can do nothing else but feel sorry for the people that have to work there. Would I recommend this hotel or any other in this chain? Absolutely NOT, and now we have tried this chain of hotels in Norway and Sweden, and you better of renting a caravan.

We arrived late in the Hotel, past Dinner time. The receptionist was great, she informed us regarding parking options and that the Hotel has a deal with the parking lot opposite the house. The Rooms is comfy, we came as a family of 3, and had been given an extra bed. Very nice and comfy The Bathroom was beautiful, but showering turned into swimming. The drainage in the floor is to small and therefore the whole bathroom gets flooded. Maybe some adjustment to be done there. Breakfast was good. Nothing special, but a good Breakfast. Dinner was disappointing. it was included in our room rate, and we didn't had the possibility to take it without, as we booked late as well. The Food was badly cooked and not nice. Luckily the Hotel has a restaurant "EGON" right inside and next to it, so that the bad experience was possible to reverse. Of course at extra cost, but worth it. Check out was not complicated. Many very good things in this Hotel, only 2 let-downs. The flooding and the Dinner. But my family and me have agreed to be back to the Hotel when we are back in the area, as we feel everyone deserves a second chance.