Imperial Hotel

I stayed at Imperial Hotel for three nights in November 2005. I was so excited when I saw on their website that it is a four-star-hotel which looked really stylish from the pictures. Can you imagine how disappointed I was when I arrived there? I have no idea what made this old-fashioned and dark hotel a **** hotel!

The rooms are dark, there aren't even enough lights to make it a bit more brighter. (apparently a big number of rooms have been renovated recently but we obviously got a room which still was unchanged since the 80s)

There is a strange smell in the rooms and the elevators sometimes. I have no idea where that comes from.

There's a humming noise all day and night which keeps you awake.

Breakfasts are not very inspiring, selection is small and rather boring.

There's no pool or spa area and just one German and one English TV channel.

Compared to other 4-star-hotels I've stayed in this was the worst with the worst cost-performance-ratio. The rates are incredible, the regular price of a standard double room is 228 EUR. We stayed in a "Business Room" with two bathrooms, a desk, a balcony and a couch. I don't want to know what the regular price for this would have been. Luckily we didn't have to pay for the hotel so I stop complaining now ;-)

Unique Quality: The only big advantage this hotel has is its location. It's located directly at Vesterport S-train station which means within a 5 minute walk you're at Tivoli, Strøget, Town Hall Square and the main station.

The good thing about our room was that we had a balcony with a view over Copenhagen and two bathrooms.

We stayed here after a VT meeting when we were off to England the next morning and therefore didn't want to return to Malmö in the evening. As I had been curious about this top hotel for a while, having stayed in two others by the same management, we decided to splash out since we got a good deal. It turned out to be a great experience - the hotel feels stylish, even if I would have wanted a less smoky lobby but hey, it's Denmark. On the entrance floor is not only the reception but also the breakfast restaurant which doubles as a little restaurant at times and where breakfast was yummy, even though juice glasses were extremely tiny :))) There is also their other, quite well known Copenhagen restaurant as well as the hotel bar down here.

Our room was in quite a stuffy corridor as it was the first hot spring weekend, but the room was pleasantly cool and had excellent bedding and comfy beds. The bathroom was quite small but everything was spotless. The room was quiet despite the hotel being quite close to the Vesterport commuter station and only five minutes' walk from the Central station but we were briefly woken up by a delivery van early morning. The TV had most Danish and Swedish channels as well as BBC Wold and a couple of American ones.

Unique Quality: Its bar and restaurant area is quite nice and it is very close to the Central station, yet away from the seedy area.

Directions: Next to Vesterport station.

8/17/07 We arrived late night and, having read comments here about some noisy rooms, we had in advance requested a room away from night clubs and trash dumpsters. Our priority was two good nights sleep at the beginning of a long trip. We were given a clean, comfy room facing an inner courtyard. Very quiet both Friday and Saturday nights.

Nice looking, remodeled room and bath. Room was smaller than most US hotels but plenty of space for the two of us and our bags and gear. On this bed, it was impossible not to have a deep, restful sleep.

Up at 06:00, two of the first down for breakfast. It was a wonderful buffet of mostly local foods. Lots of choices so we both had a huge, healthy, wholesome meal to start us on our long day of walking.

Location was perfect for getting an early start to see just about everything in and near the center of town. We could have taken trains to and from the airport, but took a cab only because of our insecurity about the late hour in a strange city. The second night, we could hear fireworks from Tivoli Garden as we turned in -- what a fine ending to a great tourist day!

Staff is friendly, accomodating and helpful to their limits, but there was no dedicated concierge and the people at the front desk, while making themselves available, were limited in this regard. On the other hand, at our request they had a boxed breakfast ready for us to take to the airport for our very early flight next morning. Small negatives: don't rely on the in-room internet; ours did not work. Ok, so the bathroom hadn't been properly cleaned after the previous guest, but all else seemed quite clean and it seemed that the housekeeping staff was undergoing some training.

At current exchange rate, we paid US$430 for two nights with breakfast. Given what we got in a big city, this seemed reasonable.

Overall, we were very happy.

Unique Quality: Excellent location for central Copenhagen site-seeing and main train station.

Directions: Central: Near Town Square, Tivoli Gardens, main train station