the cōmodo — Hotel in Bad Gastein

This is an exceptionally good hotel.

We read a favourable review of the Comodo in the Financial Times, and so booked a two-week stay at the end of September ‘23, to give us plenty of time to explore the numerous hiking trails in (and around) the Gastein valley, and enjoy what the hotel has to offer. We were not disappointed.

The hotel styles itself as having an updated, “mid-century vibe”, and claims an “…unfussy approach to luxury…”. And I think both descriptions are pretty accurate. It’s a very comfortable, clean-lined, modern hotel. If you are looking for chintz or pastiche-alps (nothing wrong with either; I’m a fan of a bit of chintz and the odd antler) then look elsewhere.

The quality of the furnishing, fittings and fixtures is remarkably good. Oak wood and rugs everywhere; a warm and relaxing palette; beds and sofas that are generously sized and very comfortable.

We booked into the cheapest (ie smallest) bedroom they have - the Classic Mountain - and found it a decent size, with balcony giving spectacular views overlooking the valley. This room has a shower, but no bath. It had a desk and a couple of comfy chairs to read / relax in.

We had the opportunity to sample a Garden Suite (masses of space, but no valley view; instead you have a view of the hotel garden. If you have the money, this is the one to go for) and also a room two up from basic; the Comfy+ Mountain Deluxe (this is the one to go for if you can afford more than the basic but less than the suites). Strikingly, the quality of furnishing was the same in each room.

The hotel’s amenities are: Lounge / bar area with modern, very comfy sofas; swimming pool; gym; sauna; yoga studio; sun deck; cinema; room for teenagers (table football and similar distractions provided); room for smaller children; bike and ski storage rooms. There is fast, free wifi throughout. And a dedicated library / co-working space (personally, I just worked from the desk in our room).

They have a dining room that provides a Continental breakfast, snack lunch, evening meals. The food is really good - some Japanese fusion starters, but then unfussy and really tasty main courses and deserts. There is a good wine list - we stuck to local wines, which were lovely. We noted that locals were in for dinner every night of our stay; it really is good food.

Crucially, the staff are excellent: professional and friendly.

The hotel has two parking areas, one of which is a 5 minute walk away but is free. So after you have dropped your bags, ask the reception staff for details of how to get there.

The only negatives I have are pretty minor. There are no laundry facilities (a nuisance if you do not have enough clean clothes for a two week stay). The lighting in the bathrooms is subdued, which makes shaving awkward (there is an illuminated, magnifying mirror, but whilst it may be fine for make up, it doesn’t work for shaving). Some of the menu translations are a bit enigmatic, but we managed.

The hotel is supposed (per the FT) to cater for the Hip crowd. Well, I’m too old to be hip, as were many of the other guests, but we did see a number of the breed. Certainly there were plenty of people working from laptops, holding Zoom calls, that sort of thing. We noticed there were quite a few single folks, as well as dogs and babies (the latter two groups were mercifully quiet!).

We had never even heard of Bad Gastein before we came here. It is a lovely valley, and part of the Country’s National Park network. There are a lot of walking / hiking / mountain biking trails of all levels of ability, and snow sports in winter.

There are a number of thermal cure locations (I’m sceptical about the healing power of Radon, but the German and Austrian healthcare insurers both pay for treatments here), and a number of museum. The small town is an unusual mixture of recently renovated hotels, alongside buildings that are closed down. However, other than take a couple of strolls through the centre, we never went there, so it...

I'll caveat up front that I'm not sure who bears responsibility for the bulk of my rather negative review—Marriott or the property (likely Marriott)—but please beware if you book through Marriott/Bonvoy.

After arriving exhausted from New York, I was told upon checking in that they could not find any reservation under my name, even after providing my passport, reservation number, and showing the confirmation email and reservation in the Bonvoy app.

Fortunately, the room type I booked was still available and I was eventually able to check in.

Upon checking out, several additional mishaps: I was charged almost 200 euros over the rate I had booked at, and the receptionist had to do a manual calculation after I showed her my booking email with the correct rate. I also asked her to confirm my Bonvoy number was attached to my booking to ensure I'd receive points, and she read back the confirmation number to me instead. I still have not received points from Marriott, so it looks like I will be following up.

What was particularly frustrating is that there was nothing offered to my for the lost booking, though I was sitting at the bar one evening for dinner and watched another couple experience an issue with their room and be offered a "largest suite we have available." Perhaps they looked wealthier and more important than me? Hard to say, but arriving and being told your reservation cannot be found is not ideal, and I wish they would've offered me something for the inconvenience.

The property itself is beautiful, both the rooms and the common area, and of course the view from the valley side is stunning. I found the breakfast and dinner options to both be quite good. Although the location is a bit out of the main part of town (I view this as a positive), it is well connected to many trails for hiking and running, which I took advantage of. I found the staff to be generally friendly, though not overly eager to be helpful.

Some negatives: I don't think you can get coffee anywhere before breakfast begins at 7:30. I went to the lobby one morning around 6:30 hoping they'd have a coffee station, but no luck (seems weird for a hotel).

The walls/floors seem to be pretty thin. When other occupants were in adjacent rooms or above me, I could hear full conversations, stomping, etc. Fortunately no one stayed up too late, but I could see this being a problem otherwise.

A minor final comment, but the giant "the comodo" sign in fluorescent lighting on top of the building is absolutely terrible. It reminds me of a sign for grocery store, and it sticks out like a sore thumb in an otherwise beautiful setting. No idea whose idea this was, but it was a bad one.

Bottom line: beautiful property, but would avoid until the hotel and Marriott/Bonvoy can figure out...

I've never left a bad review before but after my experience this weekend I feel inclined to. The hotel is beautiful as are its surrounding areas. My boyfriend and I were here to celebrate our birthdays and we were very disappointed with many things, mostly the service we received. The people who work at reception were very unfriendly and unhelpful, in fact quite rude. In my experience hotel concierges and reception are usually quite friendly, wanting to go above and beyond to make their guests feel at home. With the exception of the people who work at the hotel breakfast cleaning tables and taking coffee orders who are quite nice, this was not our experience at all.

On our first night we arrived tired and didn't feel up to walking the 30 min into town to get something to eat, but w were told that we could not dine inside the hotel restaurant because it was fully booked and instead ordered the food from the restaurant to the bar. From the moment we sat down at the bar to the moment we paid the bill and left to go upstairs, the restaurant remained almost entirely empty. The food was overpriced and not very good. We had the worst schnitzel of our entire trip and a carelessly made butternut squash risotto with undercooked squash that was hard and still had the skin on. The replacement dish I ordered instead (mushroom ravioli) tasted like it was bought from a supermarket and heated up in a microwave. And then our bill was 100 euro. Such a waste of money.

There is no room service, no kettle or coffee machine in the room, and if you want a cup of tea or coffee you really have to hunt one down. There is also no phone in the room, so you can't get in touch with the front desk if you need to unless you do it through a QR code to a chat where they don't respond to you. Even budget hotels have these things.

The gym is nice but when I worked out in it, it was filled with little kids playing around with the weights despite being for ages 16+. The massage I received was OK and the man who performed it was nice enough, but it had nothing of a relaxing atmosphere and was not worth 108 euro. It was completely bright in the room and the music playing was fast paced electronic dance music.

The best part of the hotel is the sauna, which doesn't open until 3PM which makes no sense, it would really be lovely to be able to start the day with a sauna and would also help to avoid how crowded the sauna gets in the evening, where it can be hard to even find a place to sit inside the sauna.

I would recommend staying at a different hotel in...