101 Hotel, a Member of Design Hotels

I was prepared to forego many of the benefits of my Titanium Bonvoy status at this Design Hotel, a group that is independent of Marriott but awards Bonvoy points, nights stayed & complementary upgrades based on availability. We were clearly told that breakfast is never included. However, we found that the service & amenities provided here were unacceptable, regardless of one’s loyalty program or status. Design over function is unfortunately a priority at this property. The hallways are painted dark with minimal lighting- a safety risk especially when navigating steps. The electrical outlets in our room were illogically placed, for example with 2 on one side of the bed, and none on the other side. There was no bedside lighting. There was insufficient drawer & storage space, & the closet consisted of a free standing rack in an alcove. Our room was equipped with a capsule coffee machine, but no cups, sugar or milk were provided in the room. This required that I obtain cups from the bar & additionally ask for new capsules every day, as they were not provided by housekeeping. The television was streaming only- no local or cable channels, which was disappointing. The towels were old, frayed, stained & didn’t smell clean, until I complained, & were provided with towels that were slightly newer. There was no body lotion provided- a staple in most hotels. When I inquired, the response was: “No, we don’t provide lotion.” No apology. There were no bathing amenities next to the footed bathtub. The set provided for the room was glued to the shower wall, certainly not within proximity to the bathtub to use. Some days, our wastebaskets were not emptied. One of the worst offenses was that our sheets had not been changed after 4 nights. When I complained, the front desk employees were surprised & had the room serviced immediately while we waited in the lobby for an hour with complementary glasses of wine. That inconvenience was unnecessary. The evening turndown service was non-existent, literally nothing was done to the room: the bedding was not folded down, towels & coffee capsules were not replaced, & of course, no chocolate. Our room was located on the first floor over a restaurant. We needed to keep at least one window open to remove the smell of the restaurant’s exhaust at night, as the ventilation system in our room apparently didn’t function effectively. Of course, that meant the street noise, typical in Reykjavik, was worse. The room darkening shades were insufficient & let a lot of light in. All of the above shortcomings were frustrating & disappointing at a minimum. On a positive note, the location of the hotel is excellent, & the employees were generally friendly & tried to remediate these issues, which should not have occurred in the first place. Hospitality & pleasure were unfortunately minimal at this hotel & it is not recommended.

I gave this hotel a 3 rating. Largely because the room was no big deal and the heated floors in the room too warm for us. Also, the blinds allowed way too much light in. Plus, there was plenty of noise outside. And they provided no lotion which we found very interesting. The staff was wonderful in the place was clean. Also a good location.

This is definitely the hotel to book if you’re looking to be centrally located. Close to the waterfront and right in the center of restaurants, art galleries, and museums. Rooms are spacious and comfortable. With a touch of unique art, this was a great place to start our Icelandic adventure.

We got a top floor room- view of Harpa which was amazing. The bed was comfortable, the room was spacious & the water pressure/heat in the shower was great! The location cannot be beat- it’s so central and walkable! The spa is a steam room and hot tub in the basement, and we never saw another person using it the whole time we were there. The room had one open plug that we found to charge stuff and the hotel or space next door had club music bumping until 11 pm- this was also the hottest room I’ve ever stayed in and even with windows open I could not cool the room down- those are my only 3 critiques. Staff were super nice, the flybus stop is across the street. I did not go to the restaurant so I am not sure about that.

Where do I start?

First, as a Marriott Ambassador, there was no recognition of the status and ZERO, I mean ZERO flexibility about anything. There was no consideration for including breakfast. It was an additional charge for a menial continental breakfast- end of story. In addition, Items that you consider complimentary like these dry nuts at the bar are charged with glee. When questioned, it’s a standard “welcome to Iceland”. Truly irritating and disturbing for a property operating under the Marriott banner ( more about that later).

The coffee amenities in the rooms were scant ( only the pods, no cream, no sugar, no spoons or stirrers, no napkins for your use as you prepare your coffee) and when you ask about these additional but expected items, the answer was « no, we don’t have that » then end of story. No room to ask or get them to extend the courtesy of going above and beyond. So you were stuck drinking the coffee in its primitive form.
If you borrow an umbrella, you get told a couple of Times that if you don’t return it, you will be charged and even after you return it, the next person that you see when you need an other umbrella practically harasses you asking you if you returned the previous one.

You are made to feel like you are doing them a favor staying there and you practically don’t want to touch or use anything for fear they will charge you or question you. And let me add that the charges for items are simply RIDICULOUS!!
They are rigid/bordeline unwelcoming and don’t care in any way to go above and beyond what is “allowed”. They claim to not be a Marriott property per se even though they ARE part of the Autograph portfolio. So that thought process allows them to simply come across and apply the policy of “our way or the high way”. The concept of customer service in its true form evades them and they seem to be proud of it.

While the location of the hotel is convenient, I will NEVER patronize them again. There was a wonderful manager (I believe Ella) who, I can say, did the best to provide the kind of service we are accustomed to. To her, I will say thank you!

My stay with them started with a very unfortunate issue that they refuse to flex on and it never truly got better from there. I tolerated them because the location is really prime but otherwise, I had no desire to expand any energy trying to get them to act like they cared about me as a customer paying an arm and leg for that stay.

For all the air of superiority that they try to exude, the hotel rooms were not the cleanest. Dirty shades with huge and unpleasant watermark stains, bugs plastered all across them and extremely rusty hardware, practically a tetanus shot away from a disaster. Outlets were not strategically placed for guest conveniences and the stairwell was so dark the we needed to light our way with our phones.

They give off the impression that they truly do not care whether or not you choose to patronize them. So, with that, I say do exactly that and STAY AWAY if you can avoid it.

Pros: location is impeccable. Literally 1 mins from the bus stop 6 that you’ll start almost all of your tours, and airport flybus, walking distance to the downtown area with everything (the church, food, supermarkets). Super friendly and helpful front desks (every front desk staff we encountered were friendly resourceful and nice). Room was comfortable with nice amenities. Hot tub at the basement and gym looks nice but we didn’t use them.

Cons: noise level was something else. You need to open the windows for ventilation but there were people screaming and yelling outside even during 3am. That’s probably the only downside.

Would be nice if the hotel offers a kettle, tea and coffee bottles of water at the minibar (you can grab some free bottled water in the basement gym though).

By far the best hotel in Iceland. Perfect location, super clean, and the design is amazing.

Grossly overpriced, tiny rooms, arrogant and incompetent front desk staff. Stayed in February and in March, both times equally terrible.
Avoid.

Amazing hotel, the art is expectionall! High quality and service standards

Not much. The location

Breakfast was very good and priced according to Iceland. Location of the hotel is excellent!!!

Very stylish and a good location

It was very inviting and comfortable. Staff was friendly and attentive. The art was lovely.

Hotel 101 is in a great location. The rooms were spacious and very clean. The lobby was warm and inviting. The staff was over and above friendly and helpful. Would have given 5 stars but the only negative was that they do not allow overnight storage of bags. We were going on a tour for several days and then returning to 101 and had counted on doing so. Not possible. Never had that happen at a hotel before. Need to fix that!