Palau Smekja

As soon as you pull into town you are accosted by aggressive locals selling boat tours. We stayed in this hotel for 2 nights. The first night we were in room #1, overlooking the road towards the bridge. It was 1 floor above the main thoroughfare. The AC did not work. When we complained we were told that it was cool in the evening and to leave our window open. Big mistake. It was so loud all night. First it was people talking loudly on their phones, then it was trucks and motorcycles passing all night. Then it was dogs barking and cats fighting. Night 1, no sleep. In the morning we told the staff and they moved us up 1 floor and on the other side of the hotel to room 6. It was a much nicer room and the AC worked. The problem was that at night, the walls are so thin that we could hear the people in the room near us snoring and coughing, all night. Night 2, no sleep. It was not a good experience.

Quite rude/ judgmental front desk and other staff. Also the bigger issue is that we were not notified prior to arrival that all the hotel restaurant facilities were completely shut down due to some large private group booking. Not even room service was available to get a hamburger or any type of food at all. We arrived quite late at like 9:30pm after a very long day of 5 hrs of driving and specifically had selected the hotel due to a highly rated restaurant/spa/gym. If someone had thought it prudent to let guests know before arrival that none of their facilities were available we could have planned accordingly and gotten dinner somewhere else on the way. However they did not. By the time we got to our room after finding this out it was after 10pm and mostly all of the local restaurants were already closed. The one restaurant in town the front desk staff kept trying to insist I go to would probably have given me food positioning given its abysmal reviews- so we did not get dinner that night. The room itself was nice and the gym was good, however given the attitudes of most staff I encountered and the poor communication I would not stay again .

Even before arriving at the hotel, I received an email informing me that the room I had booked did not include access to the swimming pool. I have to say that the advertising was misleading, and the fact that the hotel sends this email in advance suggests they are aware of the issue. Although it was stated in the fine print after selecting the room that pool access was not included, the layout is very confusing. Hotel rooms, rooms with pool access, and rooms without pool access are all mixed together, making it very difficult to notice the difference when booking. This felt misleading and was very disappointing. Overall, however, the place is lovely. There are restaurants, cafés, and a supermarket, making it very convenient. The rooms are beautiful, and the staff are wonderful!