It was a overall good experience , clean , room is spacious.

We stayed as a family of four, for 2 nights in June 2022. We arrived late on the first night (around midnight, I had announced by phone we would arrive late) on a Saturday evening after a dinner with friends. The front clerk took (literally) 5 minutes to read the name on my ID and find my booking on his computer, kept on addressing me with "Du” instead of “Sie” (I don't mind in a trendy shop, but maybe not as a a first time encounter in a hotel reception?), then handed me room cards and vaguely signaled us to the elevators. Arrived at the door, I used the room key, opened the door ... only to find the room was already occupied by somebody else ! Yes, other people were already sleeping in "our" bed ! Luckily they didn't wake up. I hurriedly turned off their light, closed their door and went downstairs, explained the situation, got a vague "ah, that's strange, sorry, let me try to get you another room". At the second attempt we got what we had booked (an empty family room). I also asked the front clerk about the parking as the hotel parking was marked with “full”. He told me I can drive around the corner to find another parking. Or that I can surely get a spot at the hotel’s parking if I wait for 1 or 2 hours. Who is going to do that at midnight? Luckily, a spot had freed up after the mishap with the room had settled. The room itself was reasonably big to sleep four, and looked fine BUT : - The bed was not comfortable, the sofa for the kids neither. The pillows felt awkward too (no pillow choice in the room) - While the sleeping area looked newish, the bathroom doesn't. The sink for example had yellow stains in it. The ventilation inlet in the ceiling is covered in layers of dust, joints of the bathtub are poorly made, the toilet did not flush properly (you have to keep pressing on the button for maybe 10 seconds for it to flush down toilet paper), etc. - Sound-insulation is poor. You hear people talking and walking down the corridor, kids and their parents speaking in the room upstairs, and people in a neighboring room taking a shower. - There is a water kettle and two cups (for a family of 4?) in the room. We only found sad-looking teabags and instant coffee sticks on the 2nd day so well were they hidden - No explanation on the services available at the hotel to be found in the room (maybe thought the TV screen, but the TV did not work, see below) - Welcome drinks (bottle of water in the room's fridge) were provided for 2 (2 bottles) ... when we are a family of 4 and staying 2 nights. No mini-bar service in the room. - EXTREMELY minimal amenities: there is one bar of soap to wash your hands, in the shower a cheap shampoo/shower-gel combo fixed to the wall, and a hair dryer, and towels. Full stop. None of the regular amenities, you would expect in a four star hotel. No shampoo, soap or conditioner, cream, sewing kit, toiletries. No slippers or bathrobe either. Not even a pen. We did find 2 crumbled pieces of dirty hotel letter-head paper to write something, hidden with the teabags on Day 2. - We found out on Day 2 that our TV is not working, probably the batteries in the remote-control were empty, we gave up speaking with the front desk about this. It is probably still not fixed. - On check-out day (check-out is at 11AM), a staff (floor manager?) knocks on the door at 10am (to chase us out?) and vaguely says sorry when we open the door to see what is happening - surely the hotel should have a system telling the cleaning teams which rooms have already been checked-out to avoid this situation? - On check-out morning I thought I'd at least take a swim in the pool : I went downstairs, changed in the pool's locker room, took a shower and entered the pool area ... to find out the hotel pool was rented out for a parents-baby swimming lesson on that day, so not available to hotel customers (and in fact closed yet accessible? - there was a piece of paper sticked towards the bottom of the pool door with opening hours, I didn't notice it when entering). So no pool for me - and sorry looking parents with their cute babies ... I have nothing against such classes, but does a 4 (?) star hotel need to rent out its pool for this ? - We used the hotel parking for 2 days, for a steep 25.- per day. The hotel also has 2 (outdoors...) e-vehicle charging stations (shared with the neighboring Ibis hotel - in fact you need to step out of the car and ask the Ibis front staff to open the barrier manually each time you want to drive in or out of the e-vehicle parking station area, which turns out to be very inconvenient as the Ibis staff were either not at the front desk, or dealing with customers, and you just wait and wait and wait ...). As nothing could go right, both of the charging stations did not work, I could not charge my car at the hotel as I had planned during the entire stay. Nobody (at Ibis) offered to help, the charging station provider couldn't fix the issue remotely either (I ended up calling them myself). I then charged my car somewhere else (on another station with the same provider - so my subscription with them was not the problem). There is also a poster at the reception highlighting that the hotel staff is trained against child prostitution. That is of course great and very important, but had me worried that the hotel might be used as a place people rent out with prostitutes ? I did not see any such clients, but it doesn't exactly feel very welcoming when this is the first thing you notice entering the hotel , especially when travelling as a family. And Escher-Wyss isn't Zurich's red light district either so I fail to understand ... Maybe that is a broader policy though, but still, it felt awkward the second we stepped in. I explained that I had a series of issues during my stay when checking out: about the already-occupied room at check-in, impossibility to charge my car, unfriendly wake-up knock on the door, and got a slightly annoyed "sincere" apology from the person at the front desk, and one day of parking offered as a compensation. The clerk admitted that "Yes, to find someone in your room shouldn't happen, but maybe it’s just "the system” which bugged". And "sorry about the knock, but you know we always have to remind people to leave their rooms" ... The only positive mention would go to the staff cleaning the rooms: their job was done well. The beds were made well, towels provided, surfaces cleaned as they should, etc. The rest of the stay was really a mess. We did not try breakfast as I saw poor reviews on this point and know a couple of nice cafes nearby. I am not usually a difficult guest, and would not write such a review, but the experience and service was just so bad at Novotel Zurich City-West, that I wanted to share, and really recommend anyone considering to STAY AWAY ! An earlier week-end stay (3 months ago) at nearby Sheraton Zurich was incomparably better, and only slightly more expensive. I for one know where I will NOT stay next while in Zurich - ever again.

The entire stay was smooth. As a silver guest, I got free non-alcoholic drinks in the minibar during my stay and also a welcome drink for me and my family. Although everything was fine, in one of the nights we had dinner in the hotel restaurant. It was a little bit disappointing because we seated in a table right beside the entrance, and it seemed that people were getting served only in the tables on the back. My wife had to take the menu herself from the service table. Regardless of this episode, everything was fine and I got 50% discount on the parking fee. Kind regards, Gabriel B.

Staff was very supportive and attentive

I use to stay on this hotel 2 times per year since 2016 (except during pandemic period in 2019 and 2020). I like this hotel, location and attention received from all employees. On the past recent years, this Novotel have changed a little its concept that is not to have mini-bar available in all rooms, which I really don't like. It fits very well to Ibis Hotel, but not for a Novotel 4 stars class. This time in my room I had mini-bar available. The cleaning room is not good, I have noticed this in January and also on this time, this have to improve.