Hotel 1904

I want to like this hotel more than I do - or rather did, during a three-night stay in mid July. The location was terrific and convenient. The style and feel was hip and tasteful. And the people working there, from the front desk to housekeeping to the bartender and servers, were helpful and personable - the type of young hospitality pros who take pride in their work and hotel. They are the folks you want to see when you roll into a place like Alesund not knowing much other than the tour you'd previously booked. Everything else is to be discovered. But there are real drawbacks - little things that added up. The TV channels are limited. We wanted to watch Wimbledon but couldn't find a channel carrying it. There were no tissues in the room. There was only one trashcan. It was in the bathroom. Would it have killed them to have a second in the room? Though you may ask why one was needed if there were no tissues to throw in it. Housekeeping left all the trash, food wrapers, and take away coffee cups with old coffee for the entire stay. Why not toss them? And then Sunday night the hotel's restaurant closed at 4 pm. So did the bar. If your tour came back at 5 pm and you walked back to the hotel from the dock, another 15 minutes, arriving hungry, you were out of luck. Did they still charge full price for Sunday even though the hotel wasn't providing full services? You bet. Oh, and if you have heavy luggage, beware that you have to carry them up some stairs to enter the hotel. No concierge, no help. So those are the drawbacks. I'm not trying to knit pick here. I'm just trying to provide a fair and thorough review. It's 2026, not 1904; upgrade the TV, add the extras. All that said, I'd probably say again - location and people make a difference.

An excellent hotel in a remarkable island-town. This is a trip that I would gladly repeat, enjoying the fin-de-siècle atmosphere, the vistas, the best smoked salmon, and a tranquil pace of life.

I rented a Double Deluxe room which has a very comfortable bed and a beautiful bathroom. Love the bathtub and the nice rainshower as well as the Dyson hairdryer! The breakfast was good but was exactly the same every day. There is a separate coffee area with a barista who makes coffee to order for free with your breakfast. We loved this but then found out this coffee area is closed on Sundays when it is not peak season and the only coffee available with the buffet was drip coffee in a carafe. We stayed for 5 nights and the area was very quiet the first 3 weeknights. But then on Friday and Saturday nights, there was a lot of loud street noise that went on until after midnight and it got hot in the room since we had to close the windows. Even then, noise kept us awake.