Romantikhotel Almtalhof — Hotel in Grünau im Almtal

Other reviews have addressed the excellent location of this hotel and I agree: it's ideal for getting away from it all. However I did not think it was up to Austrian 4 star standards, nor the kitchen worthy of two Hauben. The management may believe their interpretation of Romantik fits the Almtalhof nicely, but I have stayed at 4 star hotels (also in Austria) and eaten at Hauben restaurants. In my opinion the owners of Almtalhof are relying too much on their customers’ willingness to accept their version of Romantik and are thereby willing to overlook what one should expect as high standard hospitality in such a four star hotel and two Hauben restaurant. Thanks to TripAdvisor, I am not so quick to give them such a pass and thereby my overall "poor" rating. If you want specifics, read on.||||In a 4 star hotel, in my opinion:||- Guests should not have to park on the street. A good number of the hotel parking slots are taken with the vehicles and container units of the owners.||- Guests should not have to turn on the lights and sauna in the wellness area more than an hour after the posted opening time.||- The reception personnel, while pleasant, should point out the elevator and cart to help with moving baggage. ||- Guests should not have burned out bulbs in their room upon check-in.||- In the rear of the property there is a nice garden but when relaxing there I had the impression I was intruding upon the owner’s personal area. If this is the case, fine: put up a “off limits” sign. Otherwise personnel should not view with suspicion guests relaxing in this quiet area.||||In a 2 Hauben restaurant, in my opinion:||- A four-course menu should not take 3.5 hours from seating to dessert.||- A four-course menu should not leave one wishing for a midnight snack.||- If the waitresses, who are full of excuses about why the courses are taking so long, say the chef (the son of the owner) will address complaints, he should do so at the earliest opportunity. Even the next morning he said nothing.||- Breakfast, while good, shouldn’t leave one waiting (at least 10 minutes) for rolls. Nor should the juice area ever be a collection of empty bottles.||||Booking.com (I didn’t book through it, so I can’t post my review there) notes that English as well as German is spoken at the Almtalhof. While I don’t have any problem communicating in German, nor did I address any of the personal in English, I note that I didn’t once hear English spoken during the busy/full-house weekend I spent relaxing at this century-old establishment. You might find they're able to communicate in English, but based on my experience, don't get...

We stayed at this charming hotel a number of years ago and couldn't wait to return. This is a lovely hotel located beside a crystal clear brook and is filled with beautiful antiques and special collections. The dining room is very pretty and the food at both dinner and breakfast was excellent. Our room was rather dark and poorly lit and the carpet was very worn and needed replacing, but the bedspread and drapes looked much fresher and the tiny bathroom was spotless.||I read the earlier reviews (some of them in German) regarding the unfriendliness of the owners/ staff. I thought for certain these reviews were written by a nasty competing hotel, so we decided to stay based on lovely visit we had a number of years ago. After a number of unanswered emails, I finally got a response going through Romantik hotel web site. Even though I do speak some (not so terrific but do so with a smile) German, we felt totally unwelcome at this hotel from the moment we checked in with the owners to the time we left. This hotel was quite empty so they certainly had the time and opportunity to appreciate our business. Just a smile or a simple danke would have been nice. Or even a "guten morgen" when you walked by the desk. Unfortunately, even though this is a lovely property, I would not stay here again due to the chilly reception we received and I sadly had to give it a...

The hotel is located at the end of a "long and winding road" (apologies to Lennon and McCartney) leading up from the valley, through woods, to alpine pastures with wonderful views. The hotel is at the end of the road, beyond which are many trails for walking and hiking, some of which go considerably higher than the hotel itself, and from which even better panoramas can be seen. I expect that one would have to stay many days to explore all the areas reachable on foot.||||At all times during our stay the staff were friendly, helpful and attentive (but not overly so). Having read earlier reviews I am sure that there have been changes in the management and personnel, as everyone we came into contact with was genuinely friendly and polite. It was a pleasure to be served by them. ||||The food was traditional, as you would expect, but good and very tasty. Our bedroom with modern en-suite bathroom was clean, comfortable and spacious. The TV in the bedroom provided the mainstream Austrian and German TV channels.||||Well done to all of those responsible for making our stay a...