Hotel Opus XVI (Small Luxury Hotels) - Bergen, Norway

Introduction To make my life simpler and to maximize elite benefits, I generally stick to chain hotels where I have status and I do not research smaller chains or independent hotels, perhaps sometimes to my detriment in some towns. For our trip to Bergen none of the hotel chains we generally stay at have a hotel there (Marriott, Hilton, Hyatt, Accor) so I had to expand my horizons. With Hyatt’s recent partnership with Small Luxury Hotels I investigated what properties might be in the pipeline for Hyatt and I found out about Hotel Opus XVI. I made a speculative booking several months in advance based on the possibility that Opus might join Hyatt and unfortunately it has not done so yet, but nonetheless I ended up deciding to keep this reservation and give it a try, which I did not regret.Hotel Opus XVI is in a historical and protected building right in the heart of Bergen. It used to be a bank and they were allowed to transform it into a hotel without altering the exterior. They opened just one year ago so everything is in excellent condition. They told me that they are currently considering the pros and cons of joining World of Hyatt but they are undecided at this stage. Location The location of the hotel is great, right in city center and walking distance to everything. We took the light rail train from the airport which brings you to the terminal station in about 45 minutes and from there we could easily walk about 250 meters to the hotel. Room I booked a classic room which is one category up from the entry level room. Not having elite status with SLH I did not expect an upgrade and anyway the hotel was sold out during our stay so this is the room we received. The room is somewhat small at 18 square meters and I generally do not like rooms that small but the space was utilized efficiently and it was ok. Despite being an older building, I was pleased to have large and newly replaced windows which were almost floor to ceiling, with the ability to open the top part to get fresh air in the room. Some older buildings have low ceilings and it was the case in the bathroom, but our bedroom room had high ceilings on about three quarters of the room, only the part near the entrance being lower. The room is finished to high standards including hardwood floors in the bedroom and also heated floor in the bathroom. There is also a large window on almost the entire outside facing wall of the bathroom which provides great natural lighting and the bottom portion is frosted glass for privacy. Unlike the bedroom which was tight, the bathroom was fairly spacious and the walk-in rain shower was particularly large for a room of less than 20 square meters. The one weakness of this room which would be easy to fix is that the building next door is very close so when curtains are open in the bedroom we could see people quite well on the other side of the small alley and vice versa. If you don’t want strangers to see you, pulling the curtains is required but it obviously makes the room dark which might not be the desired effect before sunset or after sunrise; there should be sheers in the windows which would help greatly. As a last comment about the room, bathroom amenities used are Molton Brown which I am not particularly fond of. Dining Breakfast is free for SLH members simply by signing up to the loyalty program and Opus XVI lives up to its claim of being a luxury hotel by providing a top notch breakfast to its guests. There is a small a la carte menu to go along with a buffet with the menu having a couple of vegan options which we enjoyed for example the avocado and vegan sausage on toast. However it’s the buffet which makes the hotel stand out: a great variety of fruits such as raspberries, blackberries, cherries, strawberries, and they even had dates. To provide local flavor, they had several kinds of fish including smoked trout and obviously salmon, they had crab and crayfish tails, and the best was two types of caviar. It was a delicious feast to start the day and the only thing missing to make it a royal breakfast was a glass of champagne, which was available but for an extra charge. While the room rates at this hotel are probably not high enough to be able to provide free flow champagne, I do not think a luxury hotel should charge extra for cappuccino but unfortunately any kind of special coffee was offered with a surcharge. Like some Park Hyatts of the world, you can also get breakfast as room service instead of the restaurant, and you only need to pay for the delivery fee. Gym The fitness gym is not the highlight of the hotel. It’s a small window-less room in the basement with low ceilings, at least it partially looks interesting with brick walls. Equipment was fairly new but the elliptical machine does not have a TV/screen which is a puzzling purchase decision from a new luxury hotel. The treadmills have a very large screen but only with internet; the TV did not seem to work. Wifi Wifi was excellent with speeds between 40-85 Mbps depending on time of day. Service Service in the hotel was good, from the pre-arrival email and prompt responses to my questions, the service at reception, the restaurant, housekeeping being done very well and at the exact time requested. Overall Overall I am glad I discovered this hotel and upon returning to Bergen I am very likely to book there again instead of booking an independent hotel or booking with hotel chains where I am not a regular such as the Radisson Blu. At Opus XVI you get a historical building, new rooms in great condition, perfect location, luxury breakfast with a local twist, and good service, all of that at a reasonable price considering that Bergen is not a cheap town. It was our first stay with SLH and this property left a good impression which makes us likely to book with SLH in other destinations in the future as well.