Review: Hotel Reisen, Stockholm (Hyatt’s The Unbound Collection)

This is our review of Hotel Reisen in Stockholm.

As anyone who regularly visits Scandinavia will know, there are remarkably few hotels that take part in one of the major global hotel programs. The exception is Radisson which was once owned by airline SAS.

This makes Hotel Reisen in Stockholm, which joined Hyatt’s Unbound Collection in 2021, something of a rarity.

The Reisen has a long and storied history, dating back to the 17th century as a popular cafe before becoming a hotel in the 1800s. Fortunately, the rooms are not quite as old as that and the hotel has recently finished a top-to-bottom refurbishment.

EDIT: We published another review of Hotel Reisen in 2024 – click here. The 2024 review focuses on the suites whilst the review you are reading now looks at standard rooms.

The reason for my trip to Stockholm will become clear in a day or so. Hyatt kindly offered to provide a free room for me at Hotel Reisen.

The hotel website is here.

Where is Hotel Reisen?

Hotel Reisen is on the island of Stadsholmen in Gamla Stan, the old town of Stockholm. It is on the Eastern side, right next to bay of Stockholms ström:

The location is excellent. You have various commuter ferries just a couple of minutes walk away, including the 10 minute ferry to Djurgarden where all the major museums are, as well as Fjäderholmarna, a pretty collection of islands that now feature arts, crafts, cafes and restaurants.

The Royal Palace is literally round the corner, as is the Nobel Prize Museum.

The only thing not so close by is the metro. The closest station, Gamla Stan, is on the western side of the island, serving the green and red lines, although there is a bus stop right outside the hotel. To save time, I ended up getting an Uber from Arlanda Airport, which took about 40 minutes and cost around £45.

Inside Hotel Reisen, Stockholm

The hotel has a relatively unassuming exterior and looks like any one of the other historical buildings along this stretch of the bay.

There is no grand entrance, just a little door on the corner and some steps up into the lobby (the restaurant entrance, on the left hand side, has a ramp for accessibility):

You can tell the hotel has recently been refurbished. I thought the designers did a great job of bringing together heritage design features with contemporary styling and finishes:

I was checked in very quickly and the reception staff were amazing – very friendly, and I ended up going back several times for various tips and recommendations for exploring the city.

Rooms at Hotel Reisen

I was given a room with king bed and sauna on the 5th floor (there are a couple floors above, too).

Because this is a historic building it isn’t shaped like your classic hotel room. Instead you walk into a small corridor area with wardrobe:

Inside you’ll find various amenities, including the safe, ironing board:

.… plus a vanity box with dental kit, comb, shoe polish and what they call a ‘lady kit’. This is normally in the bathroom so I was surprised to find it in the wardrobe!

Stepping into the room you have two armchairs on the right hand side:

In between them you’ll find a coffee machine – in this case one of those Nespresso Virtuo machines that spins the capsules at high speeds.

In the cupboard below is a fully stocked mini fridge:

To the left is the king bed:

Although this is a king bed and a single mattress, you get two single duvets as per the Northern European tradition:

Connectivity is great, with European sockets on either side, although no USB connections. There is also a light switch, although I was a bit confused because they didn’t seem to do much! I ended up adjusting the lights manually as they all have individual on/off switches.

To the right of the bed is a large TV and writing desk:

The TV is in a bit of an odd position by necessity, as the wall opposite the bed is interrupted by four sets of windows. Here is the view, by the way. I could see the water and the national museum from my room:

Between the desk and the bed you have the bathroom:

As I mentioned above, some rooms come with their own mini sauna, just big enough for two people. Of course I had to give this a test drive and can confirm it works very well!

and

Opposite the sauna is the shower with dual rainfall/normal shower heads:

Toiletries are by Björk and Berries, a Swedish brand, in pump bottles attached to the wall. I have no problem with this as long as they are smart, which they were.

You also get a little set of Maria Åkerberg samples and peeling gloves:

I thought the room was very well put together and the design worked very well. The only thing missed out in the recent renovation was installing air conditioning, which I confirmed with reception the next morning. Whilst there is a thermostat and blower, there is no AC. I ended up opening the windows which wasn’t a problem, although might be on particularly hot summer days.

Spa and gym at Hotel Reisen

Both the spa and gym are in the vaulted basement of the hotel, down a narrow stairs and past the bar that’s open in winter:

The gym is just one room, off to the right:

The spa is also small, but pleasant. Note that there are no proper changing rooms down here, which caused confusion on my visit and from many other guests too, I noticed. I ended up heading back to my room to change.

There are a couple of loungers – and I literally mean just a couple:

You have a decent sized sauna which could comfortably fit around 6-10 people I would say. Unlike most saunas in Sweden the hotel asks people to wear swimwear, so don’t worry if you’re not a fan of getting out your birthday suit!

There’s also a beautiful plunge pool that’s 15 degrees – perfect for cooling off in.

Despite it being a weekend it was never too busy. I ended up going down several times, as I prefer cooling off in a plunge pool versus a shower.

Breakfast and dinner at Hotel Reisen

Breakfast is served downstairs in the lobby bar / restaurant area:

It is a full buffet with a Swedish twist. Of course you get the usual hot items, including bacon, egg, baked beans and a frankfurtery sausage:

There’s also pastries, muffins and a selection of breads, yoghurts and cereals.

In the centre, you have cold cuts, fruit and a salad bar, including gravalax as well as two types of herring (very delicious, I can highly recommend it!) as well as eggs Skagen, a delicious prawn-mayo topping.

Although it doesn’t look huge, I was really impressed with the breakfast – everything appeared to be high quality and everything I had was certainly delicious:

Even better were the breakfast staff. At most hotels, the people serving breakfast and clearing plates etc are some of the least engaged. At Hotel Reisen, they were some of the friendliest and even remembered my drinks order when I sat down on the second morning. It’s the sort of service you’d expect at a Four Seasons.

I also enjoyed dinner at the hotel restaurant, the same place as where breakfast is served. The menu is relatively compact. There were just three options for starters – Steak Tartare, Burrata Toast Skagen, which I had, which consisted of very buttery toast and the prawn-mayo Skagen combination:

It was so good I ended up having it again another night!

The choice of mains is slightly more comprehensive. I had to go for the meatballs, which were fantastic and definitely the best meatballs I had during my trip:

To finish off I just had the chocolate truffles which were a nice, small way to finish off dinner:

Conclusion

Hyatt’s portfolio of hotels, even amongst its collection brands, are consistently good, and Hotel Reisen is no different.

It has obviously benefited from an extensive refurbishment – the rooms are excellent, bar the lack of air conditioning, and the other public spaces including the spa are to an equally high standard.

Despite no a la carte options (how was I going to survive without my typical eggs royale!) the breakfast was very good and I particularly liked the Swedish touches, including the delicious herring and egg Skagen. Dinner, although not flashy, was excellent.

The Hotel Reisen is definitely one of my favourite city hotels and I would return in a heartbeat.

Rooms start at £200 or 15,000 World of Hyatt points per night. As is typical with Hyatt, there are exceptional suite upgrade deals for 6,000 or 9,000 points per night – buying points makes huge sense here and there is currently a bonus offer too. You can find out more, and book, on the hotel website here.

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