I have stayed in a range of hotel types, from yurt to luxury, but I have never, ever, had such a bad experience as Hotel Riddargatan. I had planned a short stay in Stockholm and was looking for a nice, centrally located hotel. That’s how I made the mistake to book this hotel. Apart its location, everything else is completely unsatisfactory, especially given the hotel rates.
Upon our arrival, we were bluntly informed that there was a “problem” with our room. The “problem” was that it was not available. The receptionist rudely informed us that we would be placed in another room type for the day and we could then move to our original room. It turned out that they knew about this a whole day in advance, but chose not to inform us “because reservations can be cancelled to the same day [sic] and we hoped that we would be able to help you”. The receptionist was shockingly, I repeat SHOCKINGLY rude, in explaining the situation to us, as was the reception desk manager. Customer service must be an unknown phrase to them and their rudeness was consistent throughout our stay in this hotel.
The rooms are very mediocre, not particularly clean, and I was disgusted by the sight of a dirty duvet peeking out of the duvet cover. Given the hotel rates, the toiletries were a complete joke. I was travelling light and did not bring much with me thinking that in a such a hotel I would at least find some shampoo and conditioner. But clearly I expected too much since I have found better toiletries in one or two star hotels. Breakfast is also below average with a deceptively “rich” range of choices. Quality-wise, medium would be a very generous description.
Overall, the hotel is more of a hole in the wall than the cool, design, upmarket business it would like itself to be. It is extremely expensive for what it offers and has the rudest staff I have ever encountered, at least at the front desk. I strongly recommend you spend a few more minutes on the web to find an alternative.
Note: We decided to stay in the room we were given since we did not want the hassle of moving rooms etc when we had so little time in the city. In compensation, they offered us a complimentary night in their hotel (what a joke - I’d rather sleep on a bench in the park!) or 1000 SEK (~100 Euro or 78 GBP) which was about a third of what the cost difference was between the room we booked and the one we got.