Hotel Krone 1512 — Hotel in Salzburg

This hotel is well located in the old town. However, we had booked to stay over Christmas, visiting from Australia, and I tried very hard to book somewhere where we might experience a European Christmas. Sadly this was not the place. We had a last minute message giving us a code to check ourselves in so the staff could go home for Christmas, which meant we arrived to a deserted hotel, no Christmas spirit, it felt bleak and depressing. If I had known this was their policy and the hotel would be unstaffed I would have booked elsewhere. We had no information about where to go to eat on Christmas Eve, nothing in the room to help us, no map, no information about local restaurants or sights, it was very disappointing. In the morning there was a receptionist on, I asked to settle the bill (for both nights we had booked for) as we didn't think we would stay for the 2nd night, but I was happy to pay for it. We were overcharged (I think she charged us for parking but we had no car) and the girl who served us didn't seem to care that we wanted to leave early. We did end up staying on Christmas night, and when I mentioned we had been overcharged the receptionist (a different one) gave me back the amount I was overcharged but wasn't apologetic, and didn't ask us anything about our stay. The room was tired and overheated, the bed my daughter slept on was an uncomfortable couch, people were smoking outside, the bar was closed and it really wasn't a good choice for us for Christmas at all, which is disappointing as it is unlikely we will ever get another European Christmas. This was also the most expensive hotel we stayed in on our entire European trip which was also disappointing, given the lack of service...

Quite frankly, I do not understand why this hotel has such positive reviews.

The location is okay. It is across the river from most major sights, but close to Mozart’s family house and the Mirabell Gardens. There are similarly priced hotels on the other side of the river which probably are better located.

However, this hotel is uncomfortable. Despite the fact that they charge a fee for smoking within the rooms, the entire hotel smells like an ashtray. The lobby and first floor are especially offensive due to their proximity to the bar next door. Speaking of the bar – that’s where the hotel staff seemed to be located 99% of the time. There was almost never anyone manning the front desk or watching the luggage storage area – which was kept unlocked and in easy access to anyone walking in. When we needed to check in, we had to extract the front desk staff from the smoke-seeped bar. The staff we encountered were not very helpful or particularly friendly. The rooms were very uncomfortable – small, cramped bathroom and a stiff bed with soggy pillows. The bed was advertised as a king, but really was just two twins pushed together.

Worst of all was the noise. In the evening, it was impossible to sleep due to the bar below. In the morning, the bells began to ring at 6 AM.

This is not a hotel I would recommend. Quite a bit of work needs to be done to make it more...

We booked this hotel through Expedia, it was not a pleasant experience and unfortunately I cannot recommend this hotel.

Upon arrival to the hotel (if you can find it) you discover it is on a pedestrian area of the town. While this sounds like a great bonus, let me tell you... It is not. It was not mentioned anywhere on the hotel page, we had to park our car several blocks away and pay an additional parking fee for the night.

We reserved a room for three people, we got one bed and one sofa (not a pull out bed or anything, literally a sofa with a sheet on it). Because this was unacceptable (the sofa wasn't even comfortable) as we had paid for two beds we complained to management. Management was the one person on staff, he told us all rooms were full and there was nothing they could do. In the morning a different person was there and he did not want to hear anything of our unpleasant experience, there was absolutely no customer service at all.

Luckily Expedia was able to refund us for our night due to this horrific experience. I do not...