Junior Léman Lakeview Suite at Hotel President Wilson Geneva

100   Recommended
Room 626 , Junior Lakeview Suite
June 30, 2018 by

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Hotel President Wilson, A Luxury Collection Hotel
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Room 626

Junior Lakeview Suite

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Junior Lakeview Suite

Intro

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The President Wilson was our last stop on our trip to Austria and Switzerland.   We were flying back home via Geneva so instead of just passing through we decided to include a short 2 night visit. It was our first trip to Geneva. After researching the hotel we decided to book a cash rate rather than points since we wanted to guarantee a great room.  There was a special promo running at the time for a much reduced rate on a Junior Lakeview Suite that included room service breakfast, champagne, flowers, chocolates and car service transportation to the airport. The hotel has very few suites (only 22) and we were doubtful that we would be upgraded if we booked a standard room, so we opted to book the Junior Suite.

We didn’t know much about the hotel other than it claimed to have the most expensive Presidential Suite in Europe ($83,000 a night), that the rooms had been recently renovated and that it had wonderful views of Lac Léman.  Our fear was that the hotel might be “too corporate” and feel impersonal with its large business clientele. But we ended up being very pleased with our decision to stay there.

The hotel does have an excellent location- right on Geneva’s  Quai du Mont-Blanc, with it’s lakeside promenade and panoramic views of Lake Geneva and Mont Blanc.  The financial district and Old Town are within walking distance  and it is just a few steps to the famous Jet d’Eau. 

 

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Check In

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We arrived over an hour before check in and since our room was not quite ready, Morgan, the extremely personable Reception Clerk escorted us to the poolside bar area to wait.  There were comfortable couches to sit in, beautiful views and it was a gorgeous day, so we didn’t mind sipping a glass of champagne while we waited.

 

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About an hour later Morgan came out to the pool area to let us know our room was ready. Since the Suites above the Juniors were much larger and sold for double our price we weren’t expecting any upgrade. She did assure us that our junior suite had a fantastic view. Before escorting us to our room offered our choice of Platinum amenities. We typically choose the Platinum breakfast but since breakfast was included in our rate our choices were a bottle of wine or a Swiss Army knife. Though in most cases we would have chosen the wine we had arrived with our own special Valais bottles we had picked up in Martigny so we chose the knife, which turned out to be a nice Victorinox.

Room

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Our room (626) was very spacious for a Junior Suite (over 700 SF) and had the promised wonderful views.

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Our champagne, chocolates and flowers were waiting for us.

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The room was well laid out with a good size living room, bedroom and large bath with floor to ceiling windows in the living room and bedroom.

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The living room had a desk area, a sofa and two comfortable chairs around a coffee table.  The window (which opened) looked out over the pool, the Quai across the lake to the mountains.  

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It had a Bang & Olufsen TV and a Nespresso coffee machine. There was also a console by the front door with water and snacks and a complimentary travel phone (which we never tried)

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The bedroom was also good sized with a large comfortable bed next to the window with stunning views of the lake.

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The large master bathroom had marble tile, a large walk in shower, separate tub and Hermes toiletries  (the last Starwood I remember having those was the Prince de Galles many years ago)   After the plush towels and bathrobes at the W Verbier the ones here were a little disappointing.  I’m always surprised that luxury hotels don’t make that a priority.  There was also a separate guest bathroom.

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Service

Service at this hotel was on par with top luxury hotels we have visited. We were very impressed with the service level, each staff member we dealt with was warm and attentive.  Aside from Morgan at reception who welcomed us at the beginning of our stay and checked with us to make sure we were happy,  we found the concierge team to be top notch. They were very helpful in arranging a day trip to Yvoire France on a private boat and assisted us with dinner reservations. Though our room did not include a butler it had a few butler like touches including shoe shine. (ETA- I knew that there was a little detail I was forgetting. In addition to the swiss army knife the hotel gifted, they gave us a small present I've never seen at any other hotel- a wooden toothbrush with my name engraved on the handle. An inexpensive gift, but a nice gesture)

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Dining

Although the hotel has some well respected restaurants including Bayview, the much-acclaimed Michelin Star French restaurant by chef Michel Roth and a Lebanese restaurant called Arabesque we wanted to dine more casually and locally and the concierge recommended Café du Soleil, a quaint little restaurant with by far the best fondue we have ever had. We were happy we opted for that and would highly recommend it.

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Although we love the buffet at some hotels we also appreciate the option to have our Platinum breakfast in our room as it makes our stay much more leisurely, especially in cities where we tend to stay out late at night. In this case, our room rate included room service breakfast, which we really enjoyed.  If it hadn’t been included as Plats we could have dined at the buffet in the restaurant.

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We had our choice of the entire breakfast menu for our room service breakfasts.

 

Location

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We didn’t spend enough time at the hotel to really check out the area, but the location was great for us. We could either walk or were a short Uber ride from everywhere we wanted to go. We loved our walks along the Quai down to the Jet d’Eau and the dock for our boat ride to France. There was almost always live music and a festive air and it was very scenic-with flowers, ducks, swans, sailboats and the Alps in the distance.

It is close to the City Center and walking distance to numerous bars, restaurants and boutiques.

Overall

Geneva was an afterthought on this vacation and we only included it because it was convenient for our flight back to London, but we really enjoyed our stay at the President Wilson and would return there again.

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