Grand Hotel i Lund

We had an excellent dinner here, starting with gin and tonics from the special G&T menu, which had a dozen different tonics and many more gins. The food was modern Scandinavian, featuring such seasonal items as Ramson flowers, nettle sauce and wild asparagus. I had ox tongue and veal tenderloin, which were both very good.
The wine list is extensive and well-​chosen, with all the famous names as well as many lesser-​known gems. The service was old-​school, but friendly and not at all stuffy. The host/​sommelier stopped by to chat for a few minutes at the end of the meal.

The grand in the Grand Hotel means just what it says: «Grand». In fact so much so I’ll especially recommend it for impressing purposes. Whether the subjects to impress are the current or becoming in-​laws, spouses or business clients Grand is the place that might very well help you to seal the deal or at the least maintain the deal!
The Grand Hotel in Lund is a force, read classical institution of refinement, to be recognized with. This is due a factor I refer to as ancestry that helps it to become a master of finesse in gastronomy, service and hospitality.
Take the weekly changing menu, it is intriguing, intricate, eco-​freindly and diverse. It’s creatively inspired of and by regional and seasonal elements/​influences that are combined in harmony and all executed with great finesse. It is indeed exclusive but this is a place for special occasions and for such the town of Lund has no better place to offer. Aside the competent and creative kitchen what you also pay for is this great ancestry, ambiance, vine cellar, bar and staff that are all parts of this bigger picture and concept called «Grand i Lund».
This concept, I must add, should not be regarded as overly posh or snobby. Even bigger hipster types than I, still not need to feel any fear of Grand hotel’s grandiose. At Grand Hotel you are offered the choice of two restaurants where one is more rustic, lively and less refined than the other; meaning less silverware confusion!
Still not convinced Grand is hipster/​casual enough for your likings, well then why not try The Grand concept’s new child, a way of branching out to all classes, called The Grand Deli. A great place to pick up herbs, oils, condiments and spices as well prepared meals that only need to be heated before consumption. They are the prefect take away lunches if you ask me, simple but nevertheless tasty, affordable and uncompromising organic or as they call it without E-​numbers (preservatives).

Rooms were smallish and out dated. But the bit that really annoyed me was the aggressively anti-​vegetarian character of its restaurant. For breakfast, there were 11 kinds of cold meat, and 6 kinds of cheese, and precisely ONE kind of fruit — some very unappealing looking apples.

In short: the hotel, itself, was great; but the service was repeatedly disappointing.
Our room was airy and pleasant. While the rain shower ends up being more of an annoyance than a pleasure, the whole place felt clean and well-​maintained, and that was enough for me. The bed was comfy (though what’s with two separate blankets for a single couple?), the windows let in fresh air, and the seating area by the windows gave us a place to relax.
The breakfast was GREAT. Very thorough, with high-​quality food and lots of individual items I’m still craving over a week later (such as the raisin bread).
The hotel also had lots of little perks that we didn’t get to use, but that gave it a certain feel, like conference rooms and a ballroom, a relaxation area downstairs, and a sauna.
The wifi was free and had a strong signal in our room. There is also a «business center,» which is a computer down a corridor that anyone can use.
The area was great. Close to both the train station and downtown. I always felt safe.
The service was, unfortunately, totally unacceptable for such a high-​level hotel. For example, when we got in, we discovered that the door wouldn’t lock (the deadlock wasn’t working). When I called to report it and ask for it to be fixed, the woman at the front desk insisted we didn’t actually need a lock. I disagreed, and wanted the lock (there was no safe in the room, among other reasons), but I really had to push it. Sure enough, the next morning around 7am a cleaning person walked in on us since we were unable to lock our door. «At least it’ll be fixed today,» we thought. But over the course of our stay there (almost one week long), despite reporting it several times, it was never fixed.
In another incidence, my fiancé had the hotel clean his dress shirts. When a shirt was returned with a collar stay missing, he reported it (hoping that it could be found and returned to him) and was met with unhelpfulness. When he described the collar stay as the plastic one that came with the shirt, unhelpfulness turned to snarkiness as the desk person quite directly stated my fiancé was cheap for using plastic and should invest in metal ones. That comment felt very inappropriate. (Also, sidenote, why invest in metal collar stays if Grant Hotel is just going to lose them?) Suffice it to say that, while my fiancé asked several times about the collar stay, it was never returned to him. And when he asked for any pair of matching stays from the purported box of lost+found collar stays – something they originally offered – the hotel refused!
The one ray of light here was the person who cleaned the room. When we accidentally broke a glass and small shards went all over, I found him in the hallway and – without my asking – he immediately dropped everything he was doing to attend to the situation. I appreciated his responsiveness, especially in the face of his colleagues essentially ignoring our reasonable requests.
In sum, Grand Hotel has been set up as a great hotel. And it is a great hotel. But as soon as something small goes wrong, you’re on your own.