We stayed for 4 nights at the Rival in Stockholm. The hotel website is a great way to book the room and the staff handling reservations are very prompt in replying and responding to queries.

We stayed in a Double Room with a Balcony. This afforded us a view of the park in fron t of the hotel, which was lovely, especially in the early summer weather.

The hotel itself is a hip, modern and chic boutique facility. The style is eclectic and funky to say the least, though functionality and practicality are not sacrified for style. The room was spacious and very well maintained and clean. All the needed amenities are there, including bathrobes, lovely Crabtree and Evelyn toiletries, etc. There was also free wireless internet access, which was a real bonus.

The bed was very comfortable and large - a proper King sized bed, unlike what you tend to get in most other Scandinavian hotels.

The breakfast was excellent. Though simple and the usual continental fare, do try the pancakes which can be specially ordered at no additional cost to the buffet breakfast.

The main drawback to the hotel however, is the location. While there is a T-bana station nearby (Mariatorget), the hotel is actually a bit off from the main heart and bustle of Stockholm. Other hotels like the Sheraton, Bern, Grand Hotel, etc are much better located.

However, if you do not mind the quirky neighbourhood where the Rival is located within, there is really no other better hotel then this one in Stockholm.

I stayed here for two nights in the second week of June. On the first night I stayed in a standard room at the back of the hotel, and was upgraded to a deluxe with a patio at the front of the hotel on the second night.

The rooms are very modern with swanky furnishings, flat screen TVs as reported, DVD player, etc. The standard room had a shower only, was a bit smaller, no patio, but was otherwise identical.

The lobby and bar are very cool and had a lively, attractive & trendy crowd on Saturday night (but deserted on Sunday night).

The hotel staff were very helpful and friendly. They took the time to show me around the hotel, show me vacant rooms so I could pick the one I wanted, make reservations for me at restaurants and clubs & assist with internet access.

Here's the big problem, only a small handful of rooms in the hotel have airconditioning. In summer, the rooms get really hot. In June, you can't open the blinds unless you like to sleep in the sun, because it's only partially dark for a few hours a night. My room was 30 degrees celsius when I came back to the room at "night" to sleep. On the first night, with my room at the back of the hotel, I was able to fall asleep with the windows partially open, since the back courtyard was really quiet (although, I should disclose that it is a playground and had children screaming in it all afternoon), but on the second night, with my room at the front of the hotel, there were people talking, coughing, cracking their knuckles and smoking all "night". You can have warm or dark or semi-quiet, but you can't have all three at the Rival. I managed to have hot, bright and noisy for all of one night, and only a bit better with warm, dim & semi-quiet on the other night.

As I'm a light sleeper, I literally was awake the ENTIRE night on the second night, despite having walked all day and being a bit exhausted.

I should also mention that due to the sun heating up the rooms, they have centrally controlled automatic awnings that come down at an angle from above each room to partially block the sun. A nice feature to control the summer heat in the rooms, but not so nice if you want to sit on your patio. MY PATIO VIEW WAS BLOCKED BY A SCREEN ALL DAY! And when I say view, I don't mean the sky was blocked, I mean I couldn't even look down at the square in front of the hotel. When I asked if it could be retracted in the afternoon, they said they'd only do it once the sun stopped hitting the top floor rooms, which happened around 10 pm!

Instead of expensive electronic centrally controlled awnings, why couldn't they just install air conditioning and let guests employ or retract the blackout blinds in their rooms on their own?!

On the neighborhood, I've been to Stockholm a lot on business, and have always stayed in the Norrmalm (usually the Grand and a few other higher-end hotels--one of which I love, but I'm not going to tell you which until my business there ends since it's already hard enough to get reservations in Stockholm on short notice in the summer). I enjoyed staying in the Sodermalm, where the Rival is located, for a change of pace. It's much less touristy and was a new part of the city for me. BUT, if I were only going to Stockholm once, or if I had to always go back to the same neighborhood, there's no question, I'd stay in the Norrmalm. It has the highest density of shops, restaurants & cafes, a great waterfront, it's closer to the old city & museums, and, if you're there on business, much closer to the financial center. The Sodermalm isn't bad, but it's definitely not better (unless you really, really hate tourists).

I recommend this hotel if you don't want to stay in the Norrmalm or the Gamla Stan AND it's not summer (or they've installed air conditioning).

Stockholm is a fantastic, vibrant City with something for everyone's taste and the hotel RIVAL reflects this. From the moment we entered the hotel we were made to feel at home. The staff are very friendly and accomodating. They really do want you to enjoy your stay in Stockholm. The location in Mariatorget is excellent with the Metro just round the corner and a beautiful little park opposite. All the sights are in easy reach with Gamle Stan about ten minutes walk. The rooms are very Swedish in style, the beds are extremely comfortable [ very appreciated after a long day sight seeing ] and the bathrooms fantastic with huge walk in shower in my room. Free tea, coffee and hot chocolate are available on the fourth floor. I really enjoyed my stay at the RIVAL and I am looking forward to returning some day. If you are considering a weekend in Stockholm then the RIVAL is a must.

Excellant front door staff.

The rooms are small, but who cares when everyone is so nice, and you can play ABBA on the DVD player.

Good location. A little bit of a walk to town center, but lots of restaurants around the hotel.

Can especially suggest a Italian restaurant call Pizzacato about 4 blocks from hotel. Very good with great Prix F lunch menu.