Opfikon Hotels with Shuttle Service

Lets begin with the one thing every international traveler staying at an airport hotel needs: power for one's devices. The guest rooms don't have any USB ports. The electrical outlets are the deeply recessed teardrop shape specifically designed to thwart the use of international outlet adaptor kits. The hotel does not have adaptors to lend. The front desk's solution? They have USB ports behind the front desk (then why not in the rooms?) and you can leave your device at the desk to be charged. Clearly, this hotel would prefer that you be Swiss. The WiFi network was completely unsecured and it kept disconnecting. Every 30 seconds or so. Moving on to the room: not very comfortable. The outside temperature was around 78F/25.5C and I had the AC turned up, but I still couldn't wear anything other than my unmentionables until the sun set and the outdoor temperature drpped. There are heavy metal blinds on the windows which can be opened but not raised or lowered. Kind of like the metal grates you see on store windows in dicey neighborhoods in New York. The sheets were thin. On one of the beds, the sheet had several black marks, although it appeared to have been laundered. There was a safe and an electric kettle. In the closet, the panel covering the circuit breaker panel had been removed from (or fallen off?) the wall and was on the floor leaning against the closet wall. Good thing I didn't need to hang anything up. Maybe someone was trying to find a way to plug in their phone. The water pressure in the shower was just barely adequate. Someone had installed the sink faucet handle incorrectly, so you could only turn it to the left. The towels were pretty good, however. The breakfast buffet is 5CHF, but if you want to get breakfast in your room, you will pay an additional 26CHF. I like getting room service for breakfast and I've stayed at many hotels that are much better than this one, but I have never seen a room service charge anywhere in the same galaxy. Even if breakfast costs $25 and there is a $3 charge plus 18% service charge plus you tip 18%, that is still less than half of what the Dorint will charge you to get breakfast brought to you room. I ate at the bar with a group of people and we requested separate checks before we ordered. The food was fine, if pricey. My gin and soda cost 21.5 CHF. Again, I stayed in two other, far better, hotels in the Bernes Alps during the same trip, and I never paid more than 13CHF for the same drink. When it came time to pay, one might have wondered if the server and bartender were solving Fermat's last theorem rather than adding up seven checks for a one course supper. It took as long to pay as it did to eat.

Chosen this hotel as it is near to the airport and they have just resumed the airport shuttle service which is a plus point. However, when I arrive the hotel in the morning after a long 13 hours flight from Singapore, the room was not ready which is kind of understandable. After a long wait until 2pm, my room was not ready yet, and only at 3.30pm I got my room key. To my horror, the room was filthy. It was not cleaned, soiled cups everywhere and the trash bin was not cleared, and chocolate crumbs on my bed. It was disgusting. Immediately I went down to the reception to ask for another room, and instead of higher floor, I was assigned a ground floor. The front desk (I believed she is the supervisor), she was very rude. It is a shame to the Swiss Hospitality. Avoid this hotel at all cost.

Location close to the airport, hotel provides a shuttle that runs about every 20 minutes. Room is fairly standard, with comfortable bed. A big plus is well functioning air conditioning, unlike in most hotels in Switzerland we've been to that can get quite warm and stuffy on warm days. The restaurant serves good and varied food, and the staff was helpful and friendly. Only odd thing was no coffeemaker in the room, just instant coffee and an electric kettle to boil water.

Check-in was S L O W despite being the only one in line smh. Fully paid for the hotel and receptionist lady sighed and said hotel wasn’t paid. Showed her my paid trip.com voucher and she scrambled to find it in the system. Strange lady indeed. Certainly live up to its B U D G E T name by having hotel guests boil their eggs in an ancient looking machine. I suspect this is to prevent hotel guests from consuming any of the hotel eggs. This only implies no scrambled eggs for hotel guests who are craving for it. Limited food selection for breakfast smh. WC light is sensor based. If you’re in it for your big business too long it’ll go dark smh. Something you might want to consider if you’re traveling with younger children or elderly. Separate shower area with see through glass door. Glass door appears tinted but because it is a B U D G E T hotel you can see the silhouette and parts of the body of the person showering smh. Something to consider if you’re traveling with friends. The 2 saving graces are the close proximity to Zurich airport and 2 train station stops away there’s decent halal restaurant and Elif Halal Market you can find there.