Smarthotel Hammerfest

The room was small but very comfortable, on the 5th floor with great views on town and harbor. The receptionist was helpful and friendly, unlike the other staff. Check-in and check-out was straightforward.

There is no parking and it is not easy to find a good/legal place to park. I asked around and nobody really seem to know what to do. In the end I parked about 15' away, not sure if it was allowed. The staff in the hotel restaurant was incredibly unwelcoming. The looked at me intensely as I was an intruder without saying hi. A pity, the place looked nice and the food smelled good. When checking out, the guy didn't say anything, like wishing me a good trip, bye or asked about my stay. It was awkward.

Very comfortable bed! Easy check-in and out. Nice staff.

The room felt a bit more like a box than a hotel room. Did miss common facilities like a water kettle and drinking glasses for water and other beverages.

We had booked the largest(?) apartment on the topfloor (#923). It has a magnificent view of Hammerfest harbour, which is THE reason to get that apt — and absolutely worth your money. The (open) kitchen wasn’t fancy but it’ll suit basic cooking (2 IR-burners, microwave, and reasonable air extractor, but no oven or dishwasher) for 2-4 people. But for 4 adults, we’d say, the apt is too small — it actually has only two chairs (plus a much lower couch). No noise from other rooms whatsoever. We felt the two beds were excellent. Bathroom is pretty large (some 9-10 m2) and has a toilet for disabled people. Of course the hotel also has an elevator. We very much liked the VERY friendly staff — every one of the, I think, five of them we met. They quickly fixed several minor quirks we ran into and explained where to park relatively cheap (which is difficult in Hammerfest). We also liked the FREE availability of both washing machines and dryers. Breakfast was included but we preferred to have our own it in the apartment. Finally the hotel has a +simple+ daily diner-menu, which we didn’t try, but which seemed quite OK (its orginal+separate full restaurant OLLU was closed at the time of our winter visit). If you fancy a +relatively+ fancy dinner (there are NO truly stylish fine-dining restaurants in Hfest) go to Sakaya. They have seriously excellent sushi, which we had, and many other Asian specialties, which we didn’t try.

The biggest drawback (of probably ALL rooms in the hotel) was that the windows could hardly be opened — only some 5cm ajar on the upper side. It’s may well be due to building regulations which the hotel isn’t responsible for at all. But still it’s utterly nuts. (If someone wants to jump out of a window - let them. Punishing everyone else by keeping windows basically closed is beyond ridiculous.) Another stupid issue is that the bathroom door is a sliding one, hence it doesn’t close properly like your average toilet door. If you don’t care about +100%+ privacy you’re fine, but I really think the hotel should improve that door. And finally, the lighting of the apt was close to abyssmal unpleasant and non-cosy. Come on, SmartHotel, get rid of those horrible ceiling lights. Simply get a couple of ultracheap IKEA-lamps and the whole apt will improve to the max.

The location, the room with a view, the staff