Introduction
I just arrived in Geneva on an Ethiopian Airlines flight from Manchester. By the time I’m landside, it’s gone 21h30, so I figure I might as well spend the night at a hotel near the airport. There are no hotels at Geneva that are directly linked to the terminal. There are several hotels close by, but they may still not necessarily be in walking distance if you’re schlepping around with you a suitcase. I’m staying at the Crowne Plaza. To access the hotel, you can either catch the shuttle from arrivals level, which runs every twenty minutes, or you can take the bus line 10 from departures level, which only takes a few minutes longer.
Check-In
From the outside, the building looks rather old. If I had to guess, I’d say it was built sometime in the early nineties. It is well maintained, though.
The lobby is spacious and looks as though it was only recently renovated. It’s an odd oblong shape and the sparse furniture looks rather lost in the large space. What is also immediately noticeable, is the excessively sweet scent of room perfume. That seems to be a French thing. It’s very strong and not at all pleasant.
In any case, the young lady swiftly checks me in and hands me the key. It’s getting late, so I appreciate that she doesn’t give me the usual Spiel you often get at hotels, where they give you detailed information you didn’t ask for about the restaurant/gym/spa/bar that is impossible to remember all anyway.
Standard Double
My room is on the fifth floor, opposite the lifts. It has a window overlooking the main road to the airport. You can hear the cars passing outside, but it’s not particularly loud and it’s not a busy street either.
The room is fairly small, with the bed taking up a lot of space. I think it would make this a tight fit for two people sharing. By the window is a small desk wedged into the corner.
Amenities
Despite it being a standard room, the amenities are not bad at all. There are slippers and bathrobes, and there’s a kettle with tea, coffee, and hot chocolate. The minibar is empty, save for a complimentary bottle of still water. I always find that a bit unnecessary in Switzerland, as the tap water is excellent wherever you go.
The Bathroom
The bathroom is quite small and has a bath rather than a walk-in shower. The amenities are by a brand I’ve never heard of called Antipodes, and they’re not very good. The body wash hardly creates a foam and the smell is iffy. I suspect the main driver in choosing these cosmetics was that they had to look and feel sustainable – whatever that may mean…
In terms of the much feared and infamous Knight of Malta shower test, this hotel is a fail of epic proportion on two counts: first, the water pressure on the fifth floor is only so, so. Also for the flooding, not good. The glass divider doesn’t extend far enough, and the bottom is also not fully water tight. As a result, there’s water everywhere and I only manage to stop it from soaking into the carpet outside the bathroom by throwing the extra towels on the floor to absorb the excess water.
By the way, the view from the hotel is nothing spectacular. You can hear the aircraft flying past the hotel on take-off, but by the time they emerge behind the buildings, they’re already past the hotel.
Conclusion
As previously explained, the hotel has old bones, so to speak, but it’s obviously been well maintained and regularly updated. I think the Crowne Plaza Geneva Airport perfectly serves its purpose as a place for weary travellers to get some respite for a night. I didn’t get the opportunity to have breakfast, though, as I had to make an early start the next morning, and the restaurant hadn’t opened yet.