While of absolutely no consequence, I’m curious if anyone can make sense of this…
In this post:
The X Hotel Oslo sure looks like a Moxy to me!
I’m considering a trip to Oslo (long story, but Icelandair has good fares out of there, and I’ve been wanting to review the airline again), and I was looking at hotel options.
I visited Marriott’s site, and saw the one option in the brand’s portfolio is the X Hotel. The small image next to the hotel’s name sure looked to me like the typical room you’d expect at a Moxy, which is one of Marriott’s limited service and extremely consistent brands.
Then I looked at the pictures of the hotel, and, ummm, I’m pretty sure that’s a Moxy? I mean, there’s a sign outside that says “Moxy.”
And the lobby looks like a Moxy.
And the rooms look like a Moxy.
Yet on the website, you’ll only find mention of the X Hotel, and you won’t find any mention of this property being associated with Moxy. It’s a little odd, because this doesn’t seem to be associated with any other Marriott brand either, but instead, just has its own name with no associated branding.
What’s going on with the X Hotel Oslo?
Suffice it to say that I’m intrigued. Looking online, this property did in fact open as a Moxy back in late 2016. It would appear that this property changed branding from a Moxy to X Hotel at some point in the spring of 2024, so it happened around 18 months ago.
However, I haven’t actually been able to find an explanation for why. Collectively OMAAT readers know just about everything, so I’m curious, does anyone have a clue what’s going on here? I’m trying to figure out who benefits by this not being a Moxy?
Is there some very specific Moxy brand standard that the hotel isn’t following, which requires it to brand otherwise? It doesn’t appear that this comes down to some contract dispute between the two parties otherwise, or else you’d think the hotel would cut ties with Marriott (or vice versa).
It kind of reminds of the 2018 situation, where the W Hotel Al Habtoor City Dubai left Marriott, and joined Hilton. When it rebranded, they changed the name from W Hotel to V Hotel. Funny as that was, I could make more sense of it, in terms of actually needing to rebrand due to a change in management company.
Bottom line
The X Hotel Oslo belongs to Marriott, but apparently isn’t a Moxy, even though the sign out front says that’s what it is. Of Marriott’s many thousands of hotels around the globe, this is easily the quirkiest hotel branding situation I’ve seen.
Does anyone know what’s going on with the non-Moxy Oslo?
The X hotel is in the middle of nowhere. If you’re looking for a points hotel with a silly location, that’s great, but even the Radisson Alna is better, with a short ride to the city centre and also within the city limits.
Ref the comment on food: there are plenty of great places to eat in Oslo, but nobody in their right mind would eat at a regular chain hotel restaurant. Not only...
The X hotel is in the middle of nowhere. If you’re looking for a points hotel with a silly location, that’s great, but even the Radisson Alna is better, with a short ride to the city centre and also within the city limits.
Ref the comment on food: there are plenty of great places to eat in Oslo, but nobody in their right mind would eat at a regular chain hotel restaurant. Not only is it bland, but it’s expensive and a complete waste of stomach space. Buy some cottage cheese and eat in your room if you’re not leaving the hotel.
Best regards,
An Oslo resident.
Same as the old Hotel G in Gothenburg, now a Hyatt Place. Kept the name and brand as Hotel G for over a year while being a Hyatt property before switching.
I’d say in a year the Hotel X Oslo will be fully a Moxy in brand and name. Most likely a branding or naming issue…
When I stayed there in 2018, it was just Moxy, but in the middle of nowhere. It was a stay for points, and I didn't enjoy it at all, even so, I love the "Moxy" concept and stayed there in many places, such as Tokyo, London and Denver. The hotel had a strong chemical smell, which I'm sure was just an unhappy coincidence. The food was standard for Norway, expensive and bland. It was surrounded...
When I stayed there in 2018, it was just Moxy, but in the middle of nowhere. It was a stay for points, and I didn't enjoy it at all, even so, I love the "Moxy" concept and stayed there in many places, such as Tokyo, London and Denver. The hotel had a strong chemical smell, which I'm sure was just an unhappy coincidence. The food was standard for Norway, expensive and bland. It was surrounded by a forest, but not the beautiful “marka”, but something more resembling the boring and industrial outskirts of the forest. Also, I remember that these points in question were hard to get to my account, and it took me multiple emails to do so. Would not recommend.
Oslo's a good opportunity to see what you can get with Choice points if reward nights are available. The Thief, Amerikalinjen, Christiana Teater. You'll want to maximize the Norwegian Hotel Breakfast.
I think an interesting article would be why Oslo is such a peculiar hotel market. Choice and Radisson have a great footprint, but Hilton, Marriott, and Hyatt have basically nothing.
Peculiar market?? It’s just small and grown through the development of 2 chains by local companies across the Nordics.
Choice has a lot of hotels because a chain called Nordic Choice developed in the 1990s with permission from Choice to use Clarion, Quality and Comfort brands. Recently rebranded to Strawberry.
Radisson has a lot of hotels because SAS (yes, the airline) develeopped hotels then in the 1990s joined forces with Radisson to create...
Peculiar market?? It’s just small and grown through the development of 2 chains by local companies across the Nordics.
Choice has a lot of hotels because a chain called Nordic Choice developed in the 1990s with permission from Choice to use Clarion, Quality and Comfort brands. Recently rebranded to Strawberry.
Radisson has a lot of hotels because SAS (yes, the airline) develeopped hotels then in the 1990s joined forces with Radisson to create Radisson SAS. The venture dissolved in the 2000s and the hotels were rebranded to Radisson Blu.
I've stayed there before. I had the same question and the staff replied that they want to match the name of the convention centre. (but I don't know if that is the true story) Otherwise the hotel was OK, nothing to write home about. They did offer breakfast for all guests which was nice. I don't recommend if you're going to be renting a car. Way too remote.
It's a Moxy. We had a global work event at the Meeting Point X, which is the only reason there is a hotel out there anyway. Inside it's branded as a Moxy, from carpets and key-sleeves to their trade mark ironing rooms.
Unless you are dead set on a Marriott property for this trip, I would avoid it though. Not because it's bad, just because its neither close to down town, nor OSL
I'm guessing a trademark issue is in play here.
Of course, this is a Wise, Astute Guess... Marriott could just be adding yet another brand to it's portfolio to confuse everyone.
It's Moxy, but less!
Stayed there last year, branded as Moxy. I was surprised breakfast was included (Titanium) and we were upgraded to a family room.
You could call them and ask why.
so could you..
Maybe Elon Musk bought the hotel
The X name appears to come from the conference centre next door which is called X Meeting Point. Although that doesn’t explain why the hotel isn’t called, say, Moxy Oslo X.
Lots of Radisson in Oslo, just saying. Does it have to be a Marriott?
I dread Moxy based on my experience in staying Moxy Lisboa. Lousy amenities, poor or non-existent service. Not cheap either.
I stayed there in April 2025. I never noticed the “X” hotel branding until I read your posting today. Then, I checked my “Trip It” record for that stay. Sure enough Trip It lists it as a “X Hotel”.. All the signage I saw was “Moxy”. I checked the photos I took during that stay. Any photo that included branding/signs shows Moxy
Go figure!
Stayed there this summer on points. Breakfast was even included. It is indeed far out of the city and nothing around but the direct bus connection to the city center works fine.
Well, it isn't really in Oslo, but in a rather remote and peculiar area. Why is there even a hotel in that location?
Because of the enormous event location it's a part of.
Moxy or no Moxy, you really don't want to stay there unless you are attending some event at the location, it is literally in the middle of a whole lot of nothing.
If you want a decent hotel in Oslo, stay at Sommerro.
Back in March I stayed at the Amerikalinjen and was very pleased. It is in a super convenient location just across from the train station.
Almost certainly it is being rebranded. Either within the Marriott family or to another chain once renovations are done. This happens all the time. It can make elite benefits a little tricky but Marriott is on record saying you’re supposed to get the benefits based on the property’s intended brand. There’s an awful ex-Renaissance on St. Croix in the United States Virgin Islands that has been without a brand for years because the bankrupt owner...
Almost certainly it is being rebranded. Either within the Marriott family or to another chain once renovations are done. This happens all the time. It can make elite benefits a little tricky but Marriott is on record saying you’re supposed to get the benefits based on the property’s intended brand. There’s an awful ex-Renaissance on St. Croix in the United States Virgin Islands that has been without a brand for years because the bankrupt owner can’t afford a renovation, Marriott doesn’t want to lose the money and nobody will buy it. You get Renaissance benefits at that property, although you probably don’t want to stay there. It’s probably the worst hotel anywhere in the Marriott system.
yeah dude no way
the worst Marriott most certainly cannot be described without the words "meth," "semen," or "crack pipe"
This is correct. When new properties join, they don't get branded immediately. They'll list them as "independent" until they pass inspections.