Mandarin Oriental Palace, Luzern

We have stayed in many Mandarin Oriental hotels around the world so we were excited to visit their relatively new hotel in Luzern. Let’s start with the positives… beautiful renovation of the property and the rooms are excellently decorated with everything you could possibly desire. We had a superior lake view with balcony which was great for sitting on and having our morning coffee or a glass of wine before dinner. The views are breathtakingly beautiful so would strongly suggest you book a room overlooking the lake! Now for the not so good…I booked a table in advance in MOzern and advised we wanted to take advantage of their ‘Palace Hour’ which is marketed on their social media and website. On arrival to the restaurant I had to ask for that particular menu as the waitress just gave me the standard drinks and food menu, whilst it may not have been their intention to forget about it, I felt it somewhat inconsiderate and strangely felt they weren’t promoting it in order to charge full price for the selection of food and beverages, if it is available then why not offer it? We ordered some cocktails, mine arrived in a dirty glass with lipstick marks so had to be changed. Our food was tasty and of good quality. We ate breakfast in MOzern, a meal I always look forward to, however, it was quite frankly a shambles. We waited over 25 minutes for our coffee, chased three times for them to come out stone cold. Another 10 minutes passes and coffee arrives which was fine. Certain things on the buffet had run out and weren’t replenished quickly enough, I had to wait a while for sauces too. All in all a completely unacceptable level of service. On our day of arrival whilst waiting for our room to be ready we decided to have a drink near the reception area, menus were provided and then it took an unacceptable period of time for anyone to take our order, so much so I asked concierge if we had been forgotten about. On our day of departure the outdoor terrace was closed due to some construction work. No information was provided about this in advance so we were left with the only option to have drinks at the bar even though the weather was glorious, if we were advised of this in advance we may have gone elsewhere. It is clear there is a communication issue and there are training issues within their food and beverage department. Whilst I am a big fan of Mandarin Oriental, I feel they fell quite short of my expectations and experiences from their other properties. Interestingly I was advised on checkout they would email me my final bill and someone from food and beverage would be in contact with me. I have received neither.

Fantastic hotel. We had a terrace room with a great views over lake Luzern. Room was beautifully appointed with everything we needed. Comfortable and large bed meant we slept well, great size bathroom and large walk in shower. Terrace had seating , table and umbrella allowing you to relax and eat on it if the wether permitted. Staff were brilliant.

Our panoramic Jr.. suite allowed impressive view of the lake and mountains. The room was well appointed with good amenities. Room service was prompt, food was excellent. Service in the restaurant was beyond efficient and friendly. When my husband remarked that he really liked the chocolate served at breakfast, our waitress brought us the name and suggested where we could purchase. The hotel itself is a beautiful grand dame - painstakingly restored. It was lovely in every way.