Maybe not so much a travel mistake as a bad experience/lack of experience situation but figured I would share my review of the Radisson Blu in Bergen, Norway:
I will start with the good. The staff are friendly, the location is superb and the hotel is nice and reasonably new. At check in there was no recognition of Club Carlson Gold status and no welcome gift. Our room was small with only a very small window and on first inspection it was clean. However, closer inspection revealed many long black hairs on one side of the bed, stains on the bottom of the end and walls. Gross. We did not hear any noise from other guests. The sauna and steam room on the top floor are small but fine, same for the fitness center. There was a large spread for breakfast - certainly the highlight of the stay, despite being busy and no real service to speak of.
After breakfast we pre-booked our taxi to the train station at reception after not succeeding in using the "07000 Bergen Taxi" booking stand in the lobby. After checkout, we waited at the door where a number of ladies were already waiting. One taxi arrived and 5 ladies quickly squeezed their way in before we could even say a word to each other. We checked at the front desk and the receptionist tracked our taxi and our taxi had indeed been taken. The receptionist booked us another one. Shortly after, one arrived and two more ladies, this time reluctantly jumped in while giving us odd looks. We asked them had they booked it and they said a few words but not in English. Confused, we waited and thought that perhaps a first in line, first served system was being assumed. It was then that a group of 12 or more gathered behind us. The next taxi arrived and we quickly made our move and I started putting our suitcases inside. This time, a man came and confronted the driver with proof via his app that this was indeed HIS taxi. I was furious and briefly argued that we should get the taxi before relenting. AGAIN, this happened with the next taxi. Moments later, a Norgestaxi arrived to drop off some passengers and I quickly asked him to take us to the train station. He obliged and along the way informed us that the Radisson Blu gets a payment for every booking made on behalf of "07000 Bergen Taxi". He then pointed out, literally around the corner, numerous Norgestaxi's waiting with no passengers as they are not allowed to come to the front of the hotel. If you have made if this far in my review, you will see that this is a ridiculous situation. If the hotel wants such a situation to exist then they should employ a bellhop during busy hours to manage the front of their hotel. In the end, we made our train but had the driver from Norgestaxi not arrived, then things could have gotten out of hand.
The hotel has since replied to my review, courteously I must say, however they said that they do not receive "commission" from taxi companies. This is either a flat out lie or they have signed a contract to offer priority access to Bergen Taxi with their display in the lobby.
