Mandarin Oriental Palace, Luzern

We had a wonderful stay at the Mandarin Oriental Palace, Luzern. The hotel strikes a beautiful balance between luxury and comfort, with thoughtful details throughout. Even small touches, like the TV remote stored in a leather case, reflect the level of care that has gone into the guest experience. If possible, I highly recommend booking a lake-view room. The views of Lake Lucerne are beautiful, and we loved keeping the balcony doors open to enjoy the fresh air and peaceful setting. The service was consistently excellent. Everyone we interacted with was friendly, professional, and eager to help, even accommodating a request outside of normal hours. Breakfast was another highlight, with a great selection of fresh, healthy, and allergy-friendly options. Our room was spacious and comfortable, with a very cozy bed and a beautiful bathroom. The location worked perfectly for us. It's right on Lake Lucerne, just far enough from the busiest part of town to feel peaceful, while still being only a short walk to the city center. We especially enjoyed swimming in the lake directly in front of the hotel, and there's also a popular local swim club just steps away. The spa and sauna were lovely and very relaxing. Although we didn't book a treatment, the facilities were beautiful. The gym is fairly small but had everything we needed for a workout. The hotel also makes a great base for exploring central Switzerland. We took several day trips and appreciated returning each evening to such a comfortable and relaxing place. Overall, this is a beautiful hotel with excellent service, a fantastic location, and a peaceful atmosphere. We would happily stay here again.

I highly recommend this hotel if you're visiting Lucerne. Fantastic location both in terms of scenery/views (it's right on the lake) and proximity to Old Town and dining/shopping areas. At all levels, from the concierge to servers in the restaurant, the staff was very helpful and friendly. My family (two adults, two teenagers) all enjoyed breakfasts at Mozern and, especially Quai 10, where we ate several times during the course of our stay. This was our first stop on a two-week Switzerland/Italy trip and was, surprisingly, our favorite stop on the trip.

The historic hotel was located a short bus ride from Lucerne and the bus stop was across the street. The hotel was lovely as was our room with a balcony. We had a very good view of the water. Both breakfast and dinner were good but the server at dinner got a few orders confused. The breakfast was buffet but the dinner was not n the dinner service was slow..

I should live in the hotel. My stay was amazing. Did I mention that I would not be opposed to spending everyday there. Best service on the Planet. If a peaceful lakeside small city vacation is on your radar, look no further. Did I mention the black out shades, cleanliness, staff of my dreams, location and a view.

Upon arrival I walked to the check in desk. Where I was greeted by this lady who the first thing she told me (even though it was 1415) that the room is not ready. Which is standard behavior by hotels that pride on semantics. She made me review the reservation and then she said they have to add 300 CHF per night (3 nights) as a deposit. When she gave me the POS machine I discovered there was 1000 CHF over the total amount of the bill plus the 300 CHF/ NIGHT deposit. First I told her and she said it is correct Sir; at which point I was bothered she did not even care to review; so I hit back by telling her my background in numbers. At which point she apologized politely and charged me the correct amount. Then immediately she said housekeeping informed her that the room will be ready in 45 minutes - take note she made no call or used the intercom systems; housekeeping communicated with her telepathically. I was like no worries we will go see the center and back at 1500. We went back to the hotel and this time we were greeted with Emily. Who escorted us to the elevator. At this point we asked about the Japanese and French restaurants in the hotel. She said she will check and get back to us. We were assigned room 421. Upon walking in the room (again given my background in numbers) I immediately found out the size has nothing to so with the Deluxe Lake View Room advertised on the website. I am attaching a picture of the floor plan and putting a circle around room 421. As the floor plan shows this room is literally shoved behind the service elevator and stairs and a big chunk is taken so that they can fit another room next to it and make a side entrance and bathroom. I decided to go down again to the check in desk. This time I was greeted by Cristina. I politely told her I got the worst deluxe lake view room. She started by saying well you got what you booked. At this point I pulled the floor plan and asked her to explain how the room 421 is similar to the 20 rooms on the same side. She said again that is a deluxe lake room view but let me see what I can do. She took 10 minutes then told me she needs time that I should go to the room and she will call me. After 36 minutes exactly she called me and told me she has 3 solutions. I asked her to show me all 3 so that we can decide. While showing me the 3 solutions on 2 occasions we spotted on the floor cleaning cloths. At which point I also explained to her I started my career at a hotel inspection firm. To make a long story short we chose the solution but the room was not made by housekeeping. She said they need time and we ended up getting the solution room at 1800 - completely voiding the hotel's claim that they are strict by their check in and check out time policy. So we wasted 3 hours due to a room called 421 who is forced to exist in the Palace's floor plan. May I also mentioned we settled for a partial lake view room. I would like to point out that during the solution tour we did ask Cristina again for the French and Japanese restaurants and she said she will get back to us. We chose the Japanese; she called us to the room and said she will check or put us on the waiting list. Sadly we never heard back from her or Emily. She did send us a nice prosecco bottle to the room. Which is a 10 for effort. The note on it was lovely specially with the phase of my life I am going thru. Now for a hotel that charges over 1K CHF a night one detail I need to give you is that during breakfast if you want to upgrade your breakfast to like lets say Egg Benedict you will be charged 20 CHF. Do not ask me why but they do. Breakfast is good but not wow. The service here I have to say impeccable. Furthermore for a hotel of this caliber do not expect a barista made coffee; they use the machines you can find in any 4 or 5 star hotel. Lastly the staff tries way to hard to show they are elite. Like if you ask where are the restrooms they will say something like it is located right next to the beautiful bar. Or if you ask for the elevator they would say in front of the gorgeous stairs. Beauty does not need to be announced; it draws attention automatically. One last thing is if you order any main course from the all day dining room service; the sauce itself is 8 CHF. My one sentence summary is for a ultra luxury hotel; they lose such title with ultra concentration on insignificant charges and the staff trying ultra hard to show they are elite; they are so busy in such useless details that they forget clients' request like my reservation at the restaurant. If it was not for Cristina partially solving the horrible room I would have given them a zero not even a one star.