easyHotel.com offers a few simple and cheap hotels where you can get a bed and a bathroom for a very inviting price. We arrived in Basel, Switzerland and took a taxi to the hotel. Tired from a long flight from the U.S. and a day riding the train from Germany, we walked into the easyHotel lobby. The hotel was plain on the outside and it seemed to be in a nice area. My wife was hesitant about the place and thought it would be run down or poorly managed. In fact, when we got to the room, we were pleasantly surprised to find a clean, tidy room that would do just fine. We wanted a place to crash for the night and then we were moving on. easyHotel was able to provide the basics. I paid online (in advance) for the room. The total cost was 53.60 Swiss francs. That’s about $48.00. Not bad for an extremely expensive Swiss town. I needed to save money where I could during our trip, so this was a good option.
The room was small, with only enough space to walk around the bed. The bathroom was also pretty cramped, but it was functional. There were no table surfaces to put anything on and no closet or drawers. Just a peg to hang a few clothes on. We were constantly joking about the non-functional feel of the room. It was just so different from what we are used to in a hotel. But, the savings made it worthwhile. There was a cipher lock on the door. When you check in, they give you a code to open your door. It also opens the door to the building so you can come and go anytime.
Some of the negatives we came across:
1. The room was up on the third floor. There’s no elevator. If you’ve been to Europe, you know the third floor is our fourth floor, since they consider the ground floor to be floor 0. We had to carry our heavy luggage up three flights of stairs to get to the room. That was unpleasant. But, the savings once again made the inconvenience worth it.
2. There was no telephone in the room. The lobby was also without a phone. So to call a taxi in the morning, we had to wake up the attendant and wait for them to come to the office and call one for us. The good news is that the taxi arrived in less than five minutes.
3. The TV was an extra charge if you want it. That was OK with me. I just wanted a place to sleep before moving on.
4. There is a penalty if you cancel, so read the fine print before booking. I canceled an easyHotel reservation once when illness prevented us from going on our vacation. They charged us 15.00 GBP for canceling, even though I canceled weeks in advance of our trip. So be aware of their cancelation policy.
5. There was no internet access except for a single terminal in the hotel office, which wasn’t always open. I didn’t try to use it, as we left very early the next morning.
Overall, the room was OK. My wife said at least it was clean. She won’t stay anywhere that isn’t clean and tidy. She joked that staying at easyHotel was a lot like sleeping in a storage locker. Four walls and a lock on the door. We still laugh about that. If you need a cheap but clean room for the night, check out easyHotel.com. They have rooms in more cities all the time. They also help you book other hotels with their online system. I would recommend this hotel as a cheap, comfortable option. Check their website for the current easyHotel locations.
Steven Ward founded 10 Minute Travel in 2006. He wanted to create a website that would focus on interesting sights and attractions. The website has seen several changes over the years. Steve is a retired Coast Guard Officer who has worked in the IT field after leaving the service. He has been all over Alaska on ships, sailed through the Panama Canal, stopped in Jamaica and Aruba, and gone on a handful of trips to Europe and Asia. Taiwan, Japan, and Thailand were some of the more recent trips overseas. If there is a vaccine for the travel bug, he will refuse it. 🙂
