Review: Hotel Victoria Jungfraujoch (Interlaken, Switzerland)

Introduction
Virgin Atlantic 207 787-9 Economy Class Hong Kong to London Heathrow
Swissport Lounge London Heathrow
Virgin Atlantic 206 787-9 Premium Economy Class London Heathrow to Hong Kong
Plaza Premium Lounge Hong Kong
United Club Hong Kong
Swiss 139 777-300ER Business Class Hong Kong to Zurich
Swiss Arrivals Lounge Zurich
Glacier Express 902 Zermatt to Andermatt
Hotel Victoria Jungfraujoch
Touring the Hotel Schynige Platte
Hotel Baur au Lac Zurich
Swiss Senator Lounge Terminal A
Swiss Panorama Business Class Lounge Terminal E
Swiss 138 777-300ER Business Class Zurich to Hong Kong

Boy, oh boy, this must have been one of the most amusing hotel stays I’ve ever had. Not that I didn’t enjoy it, but writing this is going to be like writing a comedy. So let me begin…

We pulled up to the hotel around Monday afternoon. The exterior of the hotel looks pretty charming, as it’s a big, old hotel.

Hotel Victoria Jungfrau Exterior

The lobby was actually pretty nice, and had a “rustic” feel to it while not being too shabby. It was very airy, which makes sense, as the hotel has a pretty rich history (which means less rental costs back in the day, which means bigger areas could be used and cheaper materials could be obtained).

Hotel Victoria Jungfrau Lobby

There was an elevator smack in the middle of the lobby, but that’s pretty much there just for style, as it only goes to the first floor – meanwhile the three “actual” lifts go straight up to the rooms, albeit being smaller.

Hotel Victoria Jungfrau Lobby Elevator

The concierge pointed us to the reception for check-in, which is in a little nook off the lobby, partitioned by almost Arabic-looking pillars.

Hotel Victoria Jungfrau Reception

The reception checked us in, and upgraded us from a Superior Duplex Suite to a Deluxe Duplex Suite based on availability, while our friends were given the junior suite they booked. During the check-in process, the associate was very nice, and offered us hibiscus tea. They didn’t give me a glass, nor did they give the kids, though I requested my own in the end (technically, if my parents are entitled to tea, so are we…no?).

The reception initially said that one more person turned up than expected, so an extra charge would have to be added. He then realised that he accidentally disregarded the “teenagers” section, and didn’t realise I was 15 (for some funny reason, in Switzerland, I’ve always been seen as an under-12 wherever I went). We were then on our way, where he escorted us up the glass elevator, and showed us where the spa was.

Hotel Victoria Jungfrau Spa Signage

He then explained that our wing of the hotel was over 50 years old, and then took us up to the room. He ushered us into the lift, and by the time we were up on the fourth floor, he was there waiting for us…how?

The hallways are well decorated – they seem aged, but not in a way that seems shabby.

Hotel Victoria Jungfrau Hallways

He first ushered us into the junior suite. The junior suite was rather large for European standards, and consisted of a big room with a sofa bed and a huge king-size.

Hotel Victoria Jungfrau Junior Suite Bed

Hotel Victoria Jungfrau Junior Suite TV and Desk

Hotel Victoria Jungfrau Junior Suite Living Room Chair

The room featured a coffee machine, which seemed free as well.

Hotel Victoria Jungfrau Junior Suite Coffee Machine

I thought that the junior suite looked like a nice room, but more than anything I was interested in what the room I’d be staying in would look like. I followed the hotel associate to my room, which was located past a cool atrium area…

Hotel Victoria Jungfrau Atrium

…and directly to the left, so it was about a 30-second walk. I didn’t mind that, but look at the doorbell – it’s ancient (that said, it’s fine, since it does the job). And to make things more sketchy, above that is a camera…

Hotel Victoria Jungfrau Deluxe Duplex Suite Signage and Entrance

Hotel Victoria Jungfraujoch
Check-in: Monday, July 25, 2016
Room Type: Deluxe Duplex Suite
Room Number: 406
Stay duration: 4 nights
Check-out: Friday, July 29, 2016

My initial impressions of the suite were great. It seemed rather rustic, featuring yellow walls, but I like that. The living room featured a comfortable sofa, a dining table, a few chairs, and a desk somewhere near the middle of the room.

Hotel Victoria Jungfrau Deluxe Duplex Suite Living Room

To the left of the living room was a half-bath, which featured a (rather small space consisting of) a toilet and sink.

Hotel Victoria Jungfrau Deluxe Duplex Suite Half-Bath Entrance

Hotel Victoria Jungfrau Deluxe Duplex Suite Half-Bath Sink

Hotel Victoria Jungfrau Deluxe Duplex Suite Half-Bath Toilet

The desk was kind of smack-dab in the middle of the room. It did divide the room into two parts, but somehow I feel like the placement could be a little closer to a corner.

Hotel Victoria Jungfrau Deluxe Duplex Suite Desk

The sofa was to the corner of the room. It wasn’t particularly comfortable, but I didn’t have major problems working there.

Hotel Victoria Jungfrau Deluxe Duplex Suite Sofa

The table had nice napkin art, which just added to the “rustic” feel of the room.

Hotel Victoria Jungfrau Deluxe Duplex Suite Desk

There was free bottled Coke in the room, as well as coupons for free ice-cream for the kids but not for me (if you’re gonna treat me as a 12-year-old around here, you might as well give me free ice-cream). In the box is popcorn, which was pretty good.

Hotel Victoria Jungfrau Deluxe Duplex Suite Free Ice Cream and Coke

I quite liked that there was a free fruit bowl, and it was well stocked as well.

Hotel Victoria Jungfrau Deluxe Duplex Suite Living Room Fruit Bowl

Furthermore, there was a setup by the half-bath that featured a coffee machine, lots of bottled water, and a minibar with soft drinks and hard liquor.

Hotel Victoria Jungfrau Deluxe Duplex Suite Coffee Machine

Hotel Victoria Jungfrau Deluxe Duplex Suite Bar Setup

Hotel Victoria Jungfrau Deluxe Duplex Suite Minibar

All the water was free, which was good, as we did have to stay hydrated during our time there.

Hotel Victoria Jungfrau Deluxe Duplex Suite Free Water

There was a massive flatscreen TV, easily the biggest I’ve seen anywhere. It was positioned well and my sister didn’t hesitate taking full advantage of it during the stay.

Hotel Victoria Jungfrau Deluxe Duplex Suite Living Room Flatscreen TV

Past the living room was a balcony, which feature a couple of chairs facing Jungfrau. While you couldn’t actually see the tip of the mountain, that didn’t stop the view from being absolutely pleasant all along.

Hotel Victoria Jungfrau Deluxe Duplex Suite Balcony

Hotel Victoria Jungfrau Deluxe Duplex Suite Balcony View

The stairs up to the master bedroom were cool, and were “planks”, in the sense that they “float” above the ground and you could look down if you wanted to.

Hotel Victoria Jungfrau Deluxe Duplex Suite Stairs

The actual bedroom was small, but the bed was comfortable.

Hotel Victoria Jungfrau Deluxe Duplex Suite Bedroom

The uppermost level was given to the bathroom, which was a few steps up from the bedroom. The bathroom featured a separate tub and shower, two sinks opposite each other and an enclosed toilet. It’s worth noting that as big as it was, only one person could use it at a time – the frosted glass was ineffective to the point where you can clearly see the junk of the person in the shower. We initially kept a “no-lock” policy but scrapped that in favour of privacy.

Hotel Victoria Jungfrau Deluxe Duplex Suite Bathroom Tub

Hotel Victoria Jungfrau Deluxe Duplex Suite Sink

While the tones of the bathroom aren’t my style, they’re fitting given the age of the hotel.

Hotel Victoria Jungfrau Deluxe Duplex Suite Shower

I quite liked the Molton Brown amenities, so suffice to say that the housekeepers found a few bottles gone missing by the end of our stay.

Hotel Victoria Jungfrau Deluxe Duplex Suite Bathroom Toiletries

Overall I thought the room was massive in terms of size, and well appointed, though I did feel like for such an expensive room there could be nicer touches. I tried to log in to the WiFi, though, and it was excruciatingly slow. Well, not really, the download speeds were fine and I could catch up with my friends. The upload speeds were bad enough for me to stop blogging, though (and that’s saying a lot).

Our rollaways were being set up when we entered the room. While my dad’s featured a proper duvet and was fine, mine featured an airline-style blanket which I couldn’t sleep in the first night. The hotel allowed four people in the room, and if you allow us all in you might as well give us all the same amount of comfort, and not some scratchy cat-blanket.

Hotel Victoria Jungfrau Deluxe Duplex Suite Rollaway

I’ll try to start with the “soft product” of the hotel, so I’ll begin with the room. The first time my parents and I called reception to say that the room was too hot, we got instructions that we had to set the temperature of the room to “low” on the device that the room provided, as “low” meant temperature and not fan speed.

Hotel Victoria Jungfrau Deluxe Duplex Suite Temperature Controls

The room didn’t get any colder, so we asked someone else, who said that “high” was in fact the correct temperature. That didn’t work either, so we called the front desk a third time, where they said that the room didn’t provide air conditioning at all. WTF?

The fourth time I was once again told that since the hotel was 50+ years old, they didn’t use modern technology to cool the room, so I left it at that. But the hotel clearly markets that:

Advanced high-tech features include a built-in TV monitor in the bathroom and full air conditioning in all rooms.

Even if I’ve missed something, it’s sensible to expect that a room retailing for over 10,000 HKD has air conditioning, no?

Shortly after that my friends from the junior suite called to say that they found a half-eaten pizza below their bed on the second day of their stay. Even the guy we called up was left amused.

Hotel Victoria Jungfraujoch Junior Suite Afternoon Snack

Not long after my friends all received some chocolates with an apology card, so that’d been resolved, so I’ll leave that as a funny oversight and won’t blame the hotel any further at that.

Breakfast was served at Brasserie, one of the hotel’s restaurants. It was located off a tangent past a birdbath and further into one of the hallways branching off from the lobby.

Hotel Victoria Jungfrau Hallway to Breakfast

Hotel Victoria Jungfrau Brasserie

The restaurant is pretty well appointed for its age, and the seats are comfortable.

Hotel Victoria Jungfrau Brasserie Restaurant Seating

The breakfast spread was good, though the exact same food was served every day. I guess I shouldn’t be complaining, as it is a blessing to have hot food during breakfast in Europe.

Hotel Victoria Jungfrau Brasserie Breakfast Spread

There was South Asian food, which unfortunately was way bland for my liking.

Hotel Victoria Jungfrau Brasserie Breakfast Spread

The juice was funny as well – I mean, just the package, as it definitely didn’t taste funny.

Hotel Victoria Jungfrau Brasserie Breakfast Spread Juice

There’s nothing like taking white congee and adding every type of seafood imaginable that the breakfast has to offer. Mmmm…

Hotel Victoria Jungfrau Brasserie Breakfast Congee

In terms of what else the hotel has to offer, they do have a nice spa area, which includes the gym and the pool. The pool was occupied at all times, so I couldn’t grab pictures, but it features two nice jacuzzis, a huge lap pool and an outdoor heated saltwater pool, so it’s a really nice area.

Hotel Victoria Jungfrau Spa Area

I didn’t manage to get pictures of the gym as there were people inside and I didn’t get quality workouts during my time there, but here are my best shots.

Hotel Victoria Jungfrau Gym

While I couldn’t eat there, the hotel’s other restaurants also look nice. This is La Terrasse, which is the high-end restaurant at the hotel.

Hotel Victoria Jungfrau La Terrasse

The hotel also features a nice bar, which was rather hard to find – though I did get the ice cream for ~~myself~~ my sister, which was over-the-top.

Hotel Victoria Jungfrau Bar

At the bar, the associates first asked me if I was getting ice cream for myself or my sister, then when I was waiting, they asked me to “move out of the way” and “be patient”. Meow!

I mean, the ice cream sure was good, but…

Hotel Victoria Jungfrau Bar Ice Cream

Lastly, the service at the hotel was good. The service for the first few days were exceptional, though whenever we approached the front desk with a complaint, the associates there were blunt and almost borderline rude sometimes. I know we went down with valid points everytime, so we kind of cornered them, so all I can really say to that is “oops”.

Bottom Line

I wouldn’t be able to imagine paying HK$10,000 for this hotel with all the mishaps, but I won’t complain this time, given that my parents had a substantial discount on their final rate based on the package. I’m happy I visited the hotel, though I’m definitely not dying to return, and would definitely look at different options the next time I’m in Interlaken (not that I think I have a reason to ever be in Interlaken again..)

Review: Hotel Victoria Jungfraujoch (Interlaken, Switzerland)

Bottom Line

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