The Elite Hotel is located near the center of the convention and university city of Jonkoping, half-way between Malmo and Stockholm (about 300 km each), on the shore of vast Lake Vattern. Jonkoping is more of a waypoint than a destination: a working city that you can survey on foot in about an hour. The nearby village of Granna is a better place to visit if you want a sample of small-town Sweden. The hotel is centrally located near the ferry dock at the main city marina: There are good and reasonably priced restaurants on the pier nearby, and there are a number of outdoor café’s next to the hotel. You can drop off bags in front, parking is in a municipal garage two blocks away. Overnight rates are reasonable (7 SEK), but make arrangements to get your car out if you want to leave before 6 am. The hotel is a dramatic salmon-colored building along a small canal and park. It has an elegant lobby with an alert and friendly staff who speak good English. Check-in was handled well, but it’s easy to get lost trying to get to your room by stairs (I ended up lost in several cul-de-sacs) so it’s better to take the elevator. The hotel is a bit faded overall: carpets are worn and common rooms, such as the lounge / exercise area can look forlorn. The rooms are more clean and modern, with soft beds and a workdesk, table and chairs, and open closet. The room has customary TV and entertainment, and there is wireless internet through the Cloud Network (120 SEK for 24 hours). (Free Internet is available through a public terminal in the lobby.) The double bed was two twins pushed together. The bathroom is well furnished with a shower-tub, good hot water and pressure, although the tub plug was held by a string and not a chain. We were given a room at the side of the hotel overlooking an active dental practice in the next building: It would be better to request a room at the front. A huge breakfast buffet was included and is huge: five tables of cereals, eggs and meats, cheeses and vegetables, pancakes and juices. They serve 6:30 to 9:30 and there is a busy period around 8 when the business groups move through.

As you can see from many websites, the hotel looks really beautiful from outside. We had a very good impression when we finally arrived after a long drive. The location is excellent, the left and right side are both lakes, very good view if your room can see one of them. There are 5 restaurants at the harbor (one minute walk from hotel) and many others in walking distance. I would recommend the 4th one, excellent Italian seafood. The first one was also good with specialty at shrimps but not as good as 4th. The 3rd one looks also pretty good but we didn't try. Shopping area is also only one minute away, you do not expect hundreds shops there but it is easy to find all kinds of shops. If you want to spend more time in shopping, go to the nearby A6 center (5-10 minuts by car) then you can stay there for the whole day. We had two rooms, one at 1st floor which looks newly decorated. However this one has limited lake view and can be very hot inside at sun set time. Another room is @ 3rd floor as "business room" and it has great lake view. The room is older but still not too bad. Both rooms are big, sould be more than 20m2. In the bathroom they have almost every thing you can expect from a 5 star (this is a 4 star hotel), like shaver, toothbrush, sewing kit, comb...etc. Close to lobby there is also a nice room for childern with many toys and books, good for parents like us. The reception is very good, we had to leave around 6:30am to catch our flight and they prepared some breakfast for us to take with(of course we told them we will leave quite early the night before). Both check in and check out are efficient. Parking is also convenient with SEK70 for 24 hours in garage, but you have to walk for few minutes as it is not in the same building. The square in front of the hotel is big enough and has some parking places(very often fully occupied) and you can easily park the car temperarily to load/unload. Jonkoping is a nice city also for tourists, and I would recommend this hotel to people visiting for the first time.

Grand building. Good location. Our room did overlook the lake, which was a plus. Good breakfast, included in the room tariff. The geneal decor and condition of the hotel was a bit old and run down. In fairness to the hotel, it seemed to be part way through building work and renovation, so maybe the condition of the rooms will improve in time. Would probably not stay there again.