Checked in on a short notice after cutting our stay short at the Clarion Stockholm. And what a difference. At the same price for a DeLuxe room, Rival outperforms Clarion Stockholm in every aspect except maybe room size.

Friendly staff, common areas (bar, café, lobby etc.) that make you feel like you could stay in the hotel all day, a nice restaurant and wonderful rooms. The DeLuxe room we booked had a very nice view of Mariatorget, a balcony, nice bed, very good storage space for clothes/bags, big LCD TV and DVD with CD:s/DVD:s in the room and more to rent at the front desk. The bathroom had both shower and tub and a good assortment of amenities. And you could watch the TV or listen to the music while in the tub. By the way, most of the furniture is designer furniture and this gives the room a very smart feeling.

Great hotel all round, incredibly friendly staff, funky bar, excellent breakfasts with good coffee (very rare in most hotels I find!), great location and fun rooms. The rooms are a little small but perfectly designed with everything you would need, would highly recommend with no drawbacks at all (and I am fussy!

We think that Stockholm is one of many Scandinavian cities that seem to come up short on great hotels. With limited choices, our decision to stay at the Hotel Rival was a good one. We booked one of the larger rooms overlooking the square and it was well worth the extra money. The room was good size with ample storage space and a nice bathroom with separate shower. The bathroom also has a glass window with blinds that open to the room. The view from the room was wonderful because the buildings on the square are very attractive and we saw some very nice sunsets. The room had gray walls, lots of honey colored woodwork, and simple modern furniture. The beds were comfortable. There was a good size flat screen tv and a dvd/cd player. The room also had a small cd collection with varied musical styles for your use in the room. There were also three dvds for your use in your room, with additional choices available for a small charge from the front desk. The hotel has a “cinema” theme – and artwork consists of large photos of stars and stills from Swedish films. Our room had a shot from “ABBA: The Movie” over the bed which was priceless. (Benny Andersson from ABBA is a part owner of the hotel.)

We enjoyed the complimentary breakfast each day in a nice room overlooking the square. On the weekends there is a hot station, during the week, they will cook to order hot foods. There is also a computer available in the lobby for hotel guests to use without charge.

The staff was friendly, but always seemed to need to look into questions about basic tourist sites. The hotel’s location is in a nice neighborhood about a fifteen minute walk to old town. The subway is approximately a four minute walk from the hotel and we recommend you get a pass and use the subway often. Stockholm is a big city if you are really going to explore it, and the easy to use subway will come in handy. You can even travel with your luggage from the airport and then walk to the hotel without difficulty.

Unlike other reviewers of this hotel, we did not have a problem with noise on the street, but we could see how it could be a problem on warm summer nights with the windows open. There can definitely be a “scene” at this hotel some nights.

Have just come back from a one night stay at the Rival and cannot faulth the place. Very good service, lovely location on a leafy square and quality rooms. This place is worth every penny and deserves it's 5 yellow dots!