I often travel to Vevey, and have always stayed in Hotel Astra, which is amazing hotel, but sometimes overpriced. This time, my friends and I booked four rooms at Vision Apartments, which is just across the road... but we really wish we hadn't. In the lobby, and the upper floors, everything was fine. But as soon as you I opened the door to go to the lower floor (where my ”Deluxe room”, VCU001, was located), I started noticing a smell. In the corridors, which were perfectly clean, it got worse. And in my room it was even worse. It's like a mixture of mould, and cigarette smoke. When I got home, I had to wash all of my clothes, even the clean ones, as they all smelt so bad from the room. Just to add to my misery, one of my neighbours had a shower at 5am on the Saturday morning, and it sounded like my room was in a washing machine. I was genuinely Googling for nearby hotels at 5.20am. The apartment block is right next to the train station, so despite incredibly thick windows, you might be woken up by the noise and vibrations every few minutes (particularly if you're on the lower-ground floor). The air conditioning was useless. It had three buttons which did nothing but vary the amount of noise, without ever making the room cooler, even on the coldest setting. The room itself is quite nice (if you don't breathe in). It's modern, has a fairly small but comfortable bed, and the bathroom is genuinely beautiful. You have a fridge, microwave, a collection of glasses and a coffee machine. There is a Coop Pronto at the train station, which is two minutes away. The confirmation email from the hotel says you can request a free ”Montreux Riviera Card”, but as reception is closed during the weekend, you need to request this in advance if you're arriving after 6pm on Friday. Two of our group of four DID request this... but they didn't receive a card. And as they arrived at 6.15pm on Friday, there was no way for them to get one. (Sigh.) And as other guests have mentioned, there's no room key or card. You always need to enter the building and into your room using a 6-digit code. Personally, I miss having a key, and there's no safe in the room to lock away valuables. And you'd often get people outside, waiting for you to enter your code to enter the building, then following you into the building. With absolutely no staff working throughout the weekend, was it meant to be up to the clients to stop this happening ? There is also a Spa, which, according to the sign, was completely closed due to COVID. This felt like an excuse... the spa area in Hotel Astra, next door, has been opened for weeks, with restrictions on the number of people using it at once. Update: the reception is completely closed during the weekend, but I received an email apologising for the smell, and they said they'd ”inform our cleaning department about this issue”. Errr, no. The apartment and corridors were immaculately clean... but they stank. It hits you as soon
