Oslo Guldsmeden – Feels like coming home
A personal service and hospitality far beyond your expectations awaits you at Hotel Guldsmeden in the leafy Parkveien street in Oslo. It feels almost like coming home after a long journey.
Text: Edda Espeland / Translation: Linda Vikaune / Photo: Marianne Ramstad Malone
It has to do with the philosophy at the heart of the Guldsmeden concept: Each and every guest is important, and the staff will do everything they can to make your wishes come true. The hospitality follows no strict rules, very little follows standard hotel norms. Staff don’t wear uniforms, but are informally dressed. The style is relaxed; this is a place where everybody should feel welcome. The aim is to give guests something extra, something they can sense and which makes them come back again and again. A kind of hospitality you don’t find in many places anymore.
Guldsmeden is a Danish hotel concept which today includes several hotels in Denmark, one in Iceland, one in Norway, one in Bali and two in the south of France. The hotels are owned by Sandra and Marc Weinert, who opened the very first Guldsmeden hotel in the Danish town of Århus in 1999. The hotel’s address in Guldsmedgade, Goldsmith Street, gave its name to the other hotels in the group. Sandra and Marc’s vision is the beating heart of the hotels, they define hospitality, personal responsibility for the guests and that little something extra, the special touch of beauty and comfort, as the most important qualities. The little details that make Guldsmeden hotels so special to so many. Not to mention the organic breakfast!
The love for Bali
There is something very special about breakfast at Guldsmeden, and they are famous for it. The buffet is decorated with pots of herbs and the colourful Guldsmeden crockery; generous teacups, mugs and plates that can brighten up a grey day by themselves. The food is carefully selected with different types of freshly baked bread, boiled and scrambled eggs, ham, pastrami and salami, cheese, nuts and almonds, dried fruits, specially made yogurt and acacia honey. There is also the tempting Guldsmeden breakfast salad, Miss Jensen’s mini muffins and lots of fruit and vegetables. Take your time and really enjoy it – you won’t be hungry again until the evening! And not only that; the breakfast is organic – Debio is a distinction given to Norwegian restaurants where at least 90% of the food is organic. At the latest check, Guldsmeden’s percentage was 97!
It is the foundation of everything they do – they want to help change the world bit by bit by choosing organic and thinking about the environment, and moderation is also one of the main principles in the Guldsmeden philosophy. That doesn’t mean frugality, there is still room for variety and choice without excess. And above all the breakfast should taste a bit better than anywhere else …
The breakfast room isn’t how you normally expect a breakfast room to be, either. It is small and intimate, with leather chairs, a sofa with cushions and throws, cosy chairs and bamboo tables.
Bamboo is a recurring element in the hotel and all the rooms. The owners fell in love with Bali many years ago and have bought all the furniture from there. The colourful breakfast service is also from Bali.
Each room is furnished with a romantic four-poster bed, desks and wardrobes made from bamboo. The interior and style is the same in all the Guldsmeden hotels, an eclectic mix – bohemian, maybe? Or bohemian chic? People are often not quite sure when they check in and wonder where they have ended up, but are soon overwhelmed by the charm, the candles, the large, green plants and the feeling of being welcome.
All products in the rooms are ecologically certified and completely natural, and guests often wish to buy them after trying them. The hotel uses refill bottles only, which is more environmentally friendly than small plastic bottles that add waste every day.
Guldsmeden has many regular guests, often weekly commuters who have chosen this group of hotels to be their home away from home. They also get more and more tourists, visitors who are looking for organic food – or just looking for a hotel that is different.
They find it here, in Parkveien in Oslo.