Essential by Dorint Interlaken

Staff, location & great breakfast

The view out our window was partially blocked by railway structure

Very spacious apartment and was very clean and modern. We really enjoyed being able to spread ourselves out and not feel cramped in a small space. The kitchen was very clean and allowed us to be able to prepare our own food without any issues. The benefit of staying here was having the main town 5 minutes away and have the train station behind us. It was the perfect location for us

The apartment did not have any air conditioning which at night made the apartment feel very warm/hot. But the staff provided us a fan which allowed us to stay cool at night.

Great location connected to the train station. Everything is walking distance. The staff were very friendly and helpful.

The family room was a little smaller than expected however it wasn’t bad.

We stayed here because one thing was very important to us: air conditioning. Before our trip, I spent months researching hotels in Switzerland because I already knew many of them don’t have AC. I specifically chose this hotel, and paid more for it, because it advertised air conditioning and confirmed the rooms had it. Unfortunately, that was the biggest disappointment of our stay. The AC simply did not cool the room. The staff kept saying it was working and that this is the Swiss eco system, but the room stayed around 26–27°C the entire time. I’m used to sleeping at around 18°C, and there was no way to lower the temperature. The fan barely worked because of the eco settings. Thankfully, the weather outside wasn’t very hot. If it had been, sleeping would have been a complete nightmare. I complained on the first day and was told they would look into it, but nothing changed. I paid extra for air conditioning and ended up spending my entire stay sleeping in a warm room. That was extremely frustrating, and for that reason alone I would not stay here again. The second major issue was the pillows. They are extremely soft and floppy, and the pillowcases constantly slide off during the night. Every single night I woke up with the pillowcase halfway off the pillow. If this happens to every guest, it doesn’t feel very hygienic, and it was honestly quite unpleasant. On the positive side, the location is very convenient. The hotel is attached to Interlaken West station, making it easy to arrive by train, and you can walk to many restaurants and shops in about 10 to 20 minutes. Just keep in mind that most mountain excursions and many train connections leave from Interlaken Ost, so you’ll usually need to take a shuttle, train, or bus over there. The room itself was clean and well organized, and the included breakfast was very good. As for the staff, they weren’t rude, but they also weren’t particularly warm or helpful.