Numa l Topp Apartments

We stopped here for 4 nights whilst visiting Oslo. We wanted to self cater and be able to wash our clothes etc. Apartment was very well equipped and location was excellent. Entry was by a code. Our apartment had a balcony which was very pleasant to sit out on in the evening sun. There is a pizza restaurant and wine bar below which might annoy some guests but we didn't find it an issue. Would definitely stay again.

The Numa Topp Apartments are in a terrific neighborhood, elegant and chic. From the apartments it’s a 5-min walk to a tram stop, “Niels Juels gate” (“Solli” is very close too). There are many good restaurants and shops in the neighborhood, along with convenient grocery stores (Meny, Kiwi and Rema 1000). Our room (descried as “1 Bedroom Apartment with Balcony and Sofa Bed”) had large windows for ample light, a small dining table, and an even smaller kitchen space. The kitchen had everything we needed for our 3-night stay (most places charge for things like coffee pods or salt/pepper, Numa didn't). The bed was comfy, as was the sofa bed (a small complaint that when it was set up as a bed, it encompassed the entire room). The bathroom worked well with a nice shower. The clothes washing machine was efficient, but the combo dryer portion was useless. I didn’t expect a dryer in a European apartment and after watching many YouTube videos and reading the online user manual (the unit itself had settings in Norwegian, of course), we really didn’t have a functioning one after all. Overall, the room was great. The administrative part of staying here? Not so great. Only after I booked the room did I realize that this is a 100% self-service property. There is no lobby. There are no humans at a front desk. All communication is done by WhatsApp or email. We arrived on the ferry at 10:00 am and requested an early check-in (their website gave us the opportunity to do so). The property provided a PIN for the front door and stated “this is also the code to open the door of your room”. There was confusion but I learned this did not mean our room was ready. We were lucky to find free lockers for our luggage. But again, no lobby to wait, just a hallway. Later during our stay, I texted the property via WhatsApp asking for more washing machine laundry pods. The AI was very confused by my request, going round and round with irrelevant replies. I finally got a “live person” to answer my texts, directing me to the “essentials closet” and then “located in the hallway on the way to our rooms”. As you can guess, I was wandering the halls wondering which hallway had this closet, opening random cupboards and electrical panels. I found it on the ground floor in the entryway. On the morning of our arrival date, I was notified by email that the room I paid for, in full, six months prior (“Large 1 Bedroom Apartment with Sofa Bed – Duplex”) was no longer available. The property gave me a choice of a different room or a refund for the entire stay. Naturally I took the new room since I didn’t have a back-up hotel room in Oslo (who does?). The property offered me a 15% refund for my inconvenience. Back home, I followed up for the refund, was told their finance department was advised to “proceed with urgency”. After about two weeks, I received the refund. The property itself is a solid 4-star place. It was less expensive than most, but at what cost? If you’re not relatively t