As I’ve already covered, we’re currently taking a trip to Iceland (even if it didn’t totally work out as planned), and spent a couple of nights at Marriott’s Reykjavik EDITION. While I’ll have a full review when I return home, I’d like to share some brief thoughts on our stay, as I was curious how this property would stack up. I’m rather critical of the EDITION brand, for reasons I’ve explained in the past.
However, I really enjoyed the Reykjavik EDITION. It’s generally considered to be the city’s best hotel, and I’d say it’s also one of my favorite EDITION properties I’ve stayed at. Let me share a few random thoughts, and again, I’ll have a much more detailed review soon.
The EDITION aesthetic works really well for Iceland
One of my complaints about the EDITION brand is that I find the property design to be uber-minimalist, in a way that feels like they’re trying to save on costs, while passing it off as luxury and design-forward. So in that sense, I liked the design of the Reykjavik EDITION.
For one, I thought the design was a little more elevated than some other EDITION properties. Furthermore, the EDITION aesthetic just seems a lot more appropriate in a Nordic country, where minimalist design is the norm, and anything else would feel quite out of place.
Based on my Marriott Bonvoy Ambassador status, we were upgraded to a corner suite. It wasn’t huge, but had a great view, and functional design.
There are definitely some aspects of the EDITION design aesthetic that I still can’t get behind, like the bathroom tiles, but hey, that’s minor in the scheme of things, and a personal preference.
The Reykjavik EDITION has great food and beverage outlets
The Reykjavik EDITION has an impressive selection of food and beverage outlets, and that’s despite the fact that two of the five were closed during our stay. EDITION seems to typically close its specialty outlets on Mondays and Tuesdays, and coincidentally, I typically stay at EDITION properties on Mondays and Tuesdays.
The EDITION’s lobby bar is pretty lively, and has a great selection of (pricey) cocktails.
As someone who loves good coffee, I also like how there’s TIDES Cafe, a proper coffee shop with barista coffee, pastries, sandwiches, etc.
Meanwhile TIDES is the hotel’s all-day dining restaurant, and there’s a good breakfast buffet (by Icelandic standards), as well as a high quality (but very, very pricey) lunch and dinner. I have a story about that, which I’ll cover in a separate post.
The hotel also has a rooftop bar and lounge, which apparently has nice views and a good vibe. However, sadly it was closed on both of the nights we were there. Lastly, the hotel has a speakeasy that’s supposedly exclusively for suite guests. So while we would’ve had access to that, it only seems to be open on weekends, so we couldn’t check it out.
EDITION service, destination fees, and friction
I found the staff at the EDITION to be friendly across the board. Virtually everyone working at the hotel is a foreigner, but that seems to be pretty common in Iceland, and frankly, it bothers me less than in a place like Japan (not to dismiss the value of interactions with locals in Iceland, but for me, Japan is 80% about the people and the food).
I was amazed by how international the staff were, since each staff member seemed to be from a different country — Brazil, Germany, South Africa, Spain, Ukraine, etc. They were all super friendly and well intentioned.
Now, there are a couple of quirks we experienced at the EDITION, and I’d describe them as things that added friction, in totally unnecessary ways. That’s one of my general issues with Marriott, is that it’s just not a company that tries to make things easy.
Let me give one minor example. The property has a destination fee of 7,000 ISK (~$56) per night, and for that, you receive access to the wellness area (which is beautiful), and a 7,000 ISK credit to use at the restaurant and cafe.
Upon entering the spa area, we were informed by the friendly receptionist that we weren’t eligible for access because it was our departure day. There was only one issue… it wasn’t our departure day, as we had a single reservation booked for two nights, and this was on the middle day of our stay. Even when I explained that to her, she doubled down, and only after I showed her our reservation confirmation did she acknowledge she was looking at the wrong guest.
But here’s the bigger issue — this just seems like such an unnecessary restriction. When you arrive at the hotel, you get a welcome letter explaining the destination fee, and it doesn’t state that you don’t receive spa access on your departure day (it explains the food and beverage credit isn’t valid on the departure day, but says nothing of the wellness area access). So imagine if it had been our departure day, we showed up in our bathrobes, and we were turned away. That would probably leave us disappointed and with a bad impression, no?
Meanwhile the food and beverage credit is an interesting one. It exclusively works in the lobby coffee shop and the main restaurant, but it doesn’t work in the lobby bar.
The hotel is strategic here. In the restaurant, it can only be applied to lunch and dinner (and not to breakfast), or to drinks at the restaurant bar.
While everything in Iceland is expensive, it sure feels like the lunch and dinner pricing at TIDES sort of has prices that are inflated to reflect that most people dining there are hotel guests who have a destination fee credit to spend. Even if you’re from Miami or New York, you might get sticker shock. We’re talking $59 for lasagna and $64 for a locally caught cod.
I get it, the whole thing just leaves a slightly bad taste in my mouth, and feels a bit like a “gotcha.” Fortunately the credit can be used for drinks in the restaurant’s (rather small) bar, so as you’d expect, that tends to get very busy, since the credit will cover most of two drinks.
Let me give one more example of friction. Our rate included breakfast (we booked through Marriott STARS), and when you show up at the entrance (before being seated), you’re asked to first fill out a slip to “acknowledge your attendance.”
There’s a line there to add tip, and while tipping isn’t standard in Iceland, EDITION is an American hotel chain, and many/most Americans do tip out of habit. So it feels awfully strange to be asked to tip in advance, and on top of that, it creates a bottleneck for getting into the restaurant, since there’s not actually any good surface on which to fill out the check. And let’s be honest, the only reason they have you sign this is in order to get a tip.
These are all minor things, but as someone who is detail oriented, they do stand out to me…
Bottom line
The Reykjavik EDITION is a great hotel, and arguably the best hotel in Iceland’s capital. The property has a convenient location, nice design, friendly service, and solid food and beverage outlets. There are some quirks to the experience, but all things considered, I’d definitely recommend this property, and I think it’s one of the brand’s better ones.
What’s your take on the Reykjavik EDITION?
