Location

Ibis Styles Luzern City is located north of Lake Luzern and close to Luzern Alstadt, with the Lion Monument being the closest attraction to the hotel, at only a 5-minute walk away. The hotel’s location is excellent for exploring Altstadt Luzern, which can be reached in about 7 minutes on foot. The hotel is approximately a 3-minute bus ride from Luzern train station, and a 7-minute walk to Luzern Lake. Being close to two bus stops that ply through the city, Ibis Styles Luzern City is a great base to explore Luzern and the nearby towns. In terms of amenities, the hotel is right across from Löwencenter, a two-storey shopping mall with shops and a large Coop supermarket. When it comes to food options, there is no lack of restaurants and bakeries within 5 minutes from the hotel, where we were spoilt for choice of food.

The Room

The Ibis chain is known for its no-frills accommodations; naturally, most of the rooms in the chain are rather compact. As we wanted more space, we booked the biggest room in Ibis Styles Luzern City, the Family Room with a total area of 25㎡. There are several configurations and varying sizes of the Family Room, and the room that we were assigned happened to be the smallest Family Room the hotel has (my friends in the other Family Rooms were bigger than this). The decor in the family room felt no-frills, but I applauded the hotel’s effort in dolling up the otherwise plain and boring room with pictures of Luzern and its attractions.

Entryway

The Family Room at Ibis Styles Luzern City has a small entryway that is only furnished with a two-door cabinet with no additional furniture. The entryway is so small that there is no room to accommodate any other furniture. The entrance to the bathroom is also located next to the main entrance to the room in the entryway.

Bathroom

The bathroom in the Family Room, despite its compact size, is very well designed. Due to the overall size of the room and subsequently the area allotted to the bathroom, there is no additional room for the hotel to install a dual sink. Despite the small setup, we welcomed the additional ledge at the sink that offered us additional space to place our toiletries. The toilet is wedged in between the sink and the bathtub, sitting at the end of the bathroom. I am pleasantly surprised to find a bathtub in the compact Family Room. However, the shower/tub combination setup left much to be desired. With such a setup, the shower/tub can be challenging for old folks and guests with children. The bathroom is only fitted with a regular shower head, but with very strong water pressure. The shampoo/body wash combination shower amenity provided, and the absence of other toilet amenities, reminded us of the price bracket the hotel positioned itself in.

Sleeping Area

The sleeping area took up most of the space in the Family Room. I like how the hotel maximises the space usage by fitting a large work desk cum TV console next to the wardrobe. This table, made of solid wood, is also home to the minibar in the room. Speaking of minibar, we only found a Nespresso machine and no mini fridge in the Family Room. Although the hotel offered tea bags as part of its mini bar setup, there is no kettle in the room that allows us to boil water for making tea. Despite having multiple functions, I still find space to work on the work desk. The TV in the Family Room has very limited entertainment options and offers us only local channels to watch.

As the name of the room suggests, the Family Room in Ibis Style Luzern City is furnished with not one but three beds. According to the photos of the room from the hotel’s website, the bed placed next to the work desk was supposed to be a sofa bed. However, a regular wooden queen bed was found in place of a sofa bed. I’d rather find a sofa bed here, where we could at least have a sitting area to relax or place our backpacks on. I also find it odd that there are no bedside tables next to the queen bed, showing that the addition of this bed seems to be an ad-hoc addition by the hotel. Opposite the queen bed is a twin bed placed next to each other, next to the only window the room has. I find the mattress on the twin bed very hard, which affects the sleep quality on the bed. It doesn’t help that the pillows provided were too soft for my liking and that the hotel does not offer a pillow menu. Two stools that were supposed to be the bedside tables were installed on either side of the twin bed. Unlike a regular bedside table, where one would at least find a drawer, this stool does not offer any form of storage. The only space for storage is the limited stool top, which was already full when I placed my mobile phone and two other gadgets I wanted to charge overnight.

Service

We were not impressed by the service of a male staff member during check-in. The staff came across as cold and aloof. During our arrival, he was observed to stand at the reception counter waiting for us to approach him for our check-in instead of initiating the check-in formalities. This male staff member also demonstrated a lack of knowledge in the ACCOR programme. During check-in, I enquired about the complimentary breakfast that came with our booking due to our status with the ACCOR group (our status comes with complimentary breakfast worldwide during weekend stays, and we were at Ibis Styles Luzern City over the weekend). The staff insisted that the complimentary breakfast is only for the Asia Pacific region. He only relented when we showed him the terms on the ACCOR app on our phone. Only at this time was he more forthcoming with information, such as the breakfast timing and where we could get complimentary coffee and water.

Fortunately, the bad service is limited only to this one person. We met with friendly and warm reception staff who were generous in their greetings for the next two days of our stay at Ibis Styles Luzern City. The one who left a deep impression on us was Jasmin. We approached Jasmin and asked her about the luggage lockers in the train station. Jasmin demonstrated excellent local knowledge and generously shared it with us. She even offered for us to leave our luggage at the hotel, but when she found out that we had a tight schedule on our check-out day, she elevated our concerns regarding the safety of our luggage when leaving it in the lockers at the train station. Jasmin is always spotted with a warm smile, which is very much appreciated on a cold winter day.

Breakfast

Breakfast is served in the only restaurant in the hotel, next to the reception. We had breakfast on our last day (we had to leave early the day before) of our stay at Ibis Styles Luzern City. I am impressed with the breakfast selection for an Economy hotel. For hot food selection, Ibis Styles Luzern City offers bacon and scrambled eggs. A huge selection of garden greens, hams and cheeses was made available for cold food. The hotel also has a considerable selection of bread, and I found the croissant to be fresh and crunchy. On top of these, the hotel also offered juices and various cereals. We had a hearty breakfast at Ibis Styles Luzern City.

Overall

For an Economy hotel, the Family Room in Ibis Styles Luzern City is spacious and served its purpose of providing us a roof to rest for the night. The bed is a tad uncomfortable to sleep on, and the storage situation is a little challenging. Other than the one bad apple, the service in the hotel is actually quite good. For an Economy hotel, I thought the service exceeded my expectations. The location of the hotel, being close to the train station and the sights in Altstadt Luzern, is a plus point.