Hallstatt Hideaway — Hotel in Hallstatt

Worst travel experience I’ve ever encountered, & we are frequent travelers. First, poor communication & a disorganized arrival. You cannot park by the hotel, but at a designated lot with no Hallstatt Hideaway shuttle is available to you despite being told you are assigned a personal contact to assist with checkin. Despite Hallstatt Hideaway being the most expensive property in town, they don’t have their own shuttle, where the other hotels do. We waited at the designated lot for 1.5 hours, with random shuttles arriving that can only seat 6-8 people, but mind you there are 40+ ppl waiting & more arriving with no order. From 3p-7p we attempted to call the property for assistance but no answer. After waiting 1.5 hours we were advised to “walk it.” It’s about 2 miles through cobblestone streets & up countless steps to the location with no signage to indicate its location, direction to travel, or where the checkin is. We parked at 3pm, we didn’t arrive & check in to the hotel until after 7pm. Upon arrival to the property the owner & an employee were present. The owner was the rudest, most condescending individual I have ever met, and she works in hospitality. A couple of the things she said to us when we expressed our sincere confusion & frustration (mind you my my mother is 70 years old & had to hike this with our luggage, & we are all in good shape & was still a challenge) was, “this isn’t my problem that I don’t have staff to answer your calls,” “I don’t care, I’ve been paid,” “It was your choice to come stay here,” “you should have brought lighter luggage,” “I’m not in the hospitality business,” “this is MY house,” “You should be happy I’m opening MY home to you,” and, “This is why I don’t deal with guests.” We were unable to check in at our designated time, we were not provided transportation (despite advertising transportation), not water front — water view, no answer over the course of 4 hours, and Expedia attempted too, to no avail, all to be demeaned was quite disappointing. The owner claimed or will claim there’s communication in an email (which we received), however, none of what we needed or experienced was communicated, rather her failures were met with childish and condescending responses to our inquires & concerns. There was absolutely no accountability nor is she solution oriented only combative & filled with excuses — the most unprofessional interaction we’ve ever encountered. She asked if we rather not stay at the Hallstatt Hideaway, which at this point we communicated we didn’t but wanted a refund, however, she ultimately ended the conversation with “I’ve got my money, not my problem,” and removed herself from the conversation, walking away down the street. For $500+ a night this is not acceptable. This encounter made a visit to the DMV or a root canal a delightful experience. She informed us she was a “professor” & “doctor”, (unsure the relevance) however, our interaction & her attempt at communication left us wondering if we were corresponding with an unstable &/or cranky toddler as the emotional capacity for resolution or comprehension was nonexistent! She said she can’t get people to work for her & it’s pretty clear why. Advice for Dr. Silka, don’t open up “you’re home,” if your not welcoming, hospitable, and lack the ability to carry an adult conversation. Highly recommend staying elsewhere. As other reviews mentioned I wouldn’t pay attention to her response as it will be, rude, condescending, & lacking accountability.

UPDATE: as mentioned, her REPLY is not rooted in reality, nor do I have a son. Also found out her whole team quit on her and this is why she’s short staffed — shocker! I’d venture to say the 5 star reviews didn’t encounter Silka. Pay attention to the recurring theme of reviews of the owners rude, misleading, condescending communication tactics & childish behavior. In America we have a saying as well dear Silka, you are the epitome of a “Karen,” honestly even worse! We’re glad you’ve taken the time for self reflection…& hopefully some serious counseling and a...

We stayed 3 nights in the penthouse suite. To start - Hallstatt is very very cute and the views from this suite are gorgeous. The main floor of the suite (bathroom, kitchen, living room, and decks with hot tub) are very nice and the kitchen was perfect to cook anything you'd like to make (we made most of our meals when staying here ourselves). The bedroom for the penthouse is less ideal as it is up very small steep steps in an attic, and even for us in our mid 30s was difficult to get up/down (so if you have any mobility issues 1000% do not book this suite, get a suite on the 1st floor). If you run hot, I would also think twice about booking this suite in July/August as there is no air conditioning OR a good fan (my fault for not realizing no AC when I booked - and it seems this is true for all the accommodations in Hallstatt). The bedroom was very hot since it was an attic (thermometer read 26 degrees after having all windows and doors open all evening). I asked the person showing us the suite if there was a fan because of the heat, and she said no. For 530 euro a night I was pretty shocked when she said no fan, and she said a previous guest was also complaining about this so she needed to discuss with her boss. I asked if she could look into getting us one for the second night because I was worried we wouldn't sleep at all (again we had paid almost 1600 euro for these three nights...), and then we heard no update on this for the rest of the stay. I saw a weird looking dyson appliance in the living room and asked her if it was a fan and she said no its not a fan, its a light. Later on, I found the remote for this dyson thing and it turns out it WAS a fan lol. Although it was a very weak fan, but without this I don't think we would have slept. The other very disappointing thing was the last night when we had messaged our host at 4:45 pm and requested a 10 am shuttle pick up the next morning, and the host said sure. At 9:48 am we receive a message from her saying sorry the shuttle will come at 11 am. Like what???? 12 minutes before we are supposed to depart she tells us we have to wait an extra hour? We ended up walking ourselves back to the car with 2 backpacks and 2 pieces of large luggage each in the baking sun which took just over 15 min, and we were completely drenched in sweat for our road trip back to Vienna. ||TLDR: We were pretty appalled by the lack of communication and customer service level for the cost of this stay. Although the accommodation options in Hallstatt are quite limited, so I'm still not sure there are better overall options. I wouldn't recommend July/August (especially the penthouse suite) due to lack of sufficient fan...

We stayed 3 nights in the penthouse suite. To start - Hallstatt is very very cute and the views from this suite are gorgeous. The main floor of the suite (bathroom, kitchen, living room, and decks with hot tub) are very nice and the kitchen was perfect to cook anything you'd like to make (we made most of our meals when staying here ourselves). The bedroom for the penthouse is less ideal as it is up very small steep steps in an attic, and even for us in our mid 30s was difficult to get up/down (so if you have any mobility issues 1000% do not book this suite, get a suite on the 1st floor). If you run hot, I would also think twice about booking this suite in July/August as there is no air conditioning OR a good fan (my fault for not realizing no AC when I booked - and it seems this is true for all the accommodations in Hallstatt). The bedroom was very hot since it was an attic (thermometer read 26 degrees after having all windows and doors open all evening). I asked the person showing us the suite if there was a fan because of the heat, and she said no. For 530 euro a night I was pretty shocked when she said no fan, and she said a previous guest was also complaining about this so she needed to discuss with her boss. I asked if she could look into getting us one for the second night because I was worried we wouldn't sleep at all (again we had paid almost 1600 euro for these three nights...), and then we heard no update on this for the rest of the stay. I saw a weird looking dyson appliance in the living room and asked her if it was a fan and she said no its not a fan, its a light. Later on, I found the remote for this dyson thing and it turns out it WAS a fan lol. Although it was a very weak fan, but without this I don't think we would have slept. The other very disappointing thing was the last night when we had messaged our host at 4:45 pm and requested a 10 am shuttle pick up the next morning, and the host said sure. At 9:48 am we receive a message from her saying sorry the shuttle will come at 11 am. Like what???? 12 minutes before we are supposed to depart she tells us we have to wait an extra hour? We ended up walking ourselves back to the car with 2 backpacks and 2 pieces of large luggage each in the baking sun which took just over 15 min, and we were completely drenched in sweat for our road trip back to Vienna. ||TLDR: We were pretty appalled by the lack of communication and customer service level for the cost of this stay. Although the accommodation options in Hallstatt are quite limited, so I'm still not sure there are better overall options. I wouldn't recommend July/August (especially the penthouse suite) due to lack of sufficient fan...