Falkensteiner Hotel Park Punat — Hotel in Općina Punat

2 Stars, 0 Spoons, 100% Greed

We've spent 3 days in the Falkenstiner Punat, and it has been one of the worst hoteling experience we've had in a long time. The only cheap thing about this hotel is the attitude. The hotel is quite expensive (we paid 420EUR/Night for 2 adults and 2 kids), and every extra is expensive too, but the attitude is cheap and greedy. Maybe the best example, as the title suggests, are the teaspoons. There are none available. In our 3 days there, there were no teaspoons for coffee, desserts, or anything else. After some time I got to a point where I would go to the pool bar (where the coffee is paid - so they had a few teaspoons), and had to beg for a spoon so my kids can eat icecream or I can mix the sugar in my coffee. This is, of course, a small thing, but it demonstrates the attitude of this hotel (in the photos you can see the empty spoons drawer. After complaining about it, they simply removed the drawer…)

But of course this attitude manifests throughout the entire experience. Maybe the most critical is kids club. While my kids had fun, we were more worries. The kids club has a backdoor labeled "staff only, keep closed" - which leads straight to the swimming pool. It was fixed open the entire time there, as they are using power from the kids club for the speaker outside. It means that a kid can wander off to the pool from the supposedly supervised kids club, without any supervision. There was usually only one person to supervise the entire kids club during the supervised hours, so this is a likely scenario, and kept us worried.

What else? Smoking smell in our shower. TINY showers, those that fit a 2 stars lodge, not a 4 stars hotel. All the furniture makes IKEA furniture look luxurious. Single (small) elevator for the entire hotel, constantly making you wait for long for the elevator. Half the rooms have views to a parking lot, with zero privacy. And of course the maintenance of the hotel is terrible - AC was only partially functioning - it was leaking in the main lobby, and barely working in the room (we put at 16 degrees all stay). 1 out of 3 coffee machines was broken the entire stay, making lines for coffee very long (add to that that every morning one of the machines ran out of milk and noone bothered to fill it… reducing effective coffee machine to one). Mediocre food. And of course the cheapness…. You feel it everywhere. The liquid hand soap in our room was filled with water instead of soap. The "welcome drink" they give you is limited to 4 very limited drinks, you can't even have a soft drink instead. And once people are already at the bar, they pay for the drink they want (very expensive. A cocktail was 8.40EUR - more than in other much nicer hotels). That is, of course, if you manage to survive the wait at the bar, which is normally staffed with only one person. Btw - when we did take the welcome drink, every "instance" of it was different. Zero consistency.

And the pinnacle of the greedy approach was the "Voluntary Tip" added in checkout. I've stayed in hundreds of hotels in my life, and I have never seen tip being proactively added to a bill this way (see image below). We were told it's 5 euro per room per night, and we can ask it to be removed, or increase it. Of course you can ask to remove it, but it puts you in an uncomfortable position. And I'm betting this money doesn't even go to the team.

Bottom line...

We've spent 3 days in the Falkensteiner Punat, and it has been one of the worst hoteling experience we've had in a long time. The only cheap thing about this hotel is the attitude. The hotel is quite expensive (we paid 420EUR/Night for 2 adults and 2 kids), and every extra is expensive too, but the attitude is cheap and greedy. Maybe the best example, as the title suggests, are the teaspoons. There are none available. In our 3 days there, there were no teaspoons for coffee, desserts, or anything else. After some time I got to a point where I would go to the pool bar (where the coffee is paid - so they had a few teaspoons), and had to beg for a spoon so my kids can eat icecream or I can mix the sugar in my coffee. This is, of course, a small thing, but it demonstrates the attitude of this hotel (in the photos you can see the empty spoons drawer. After complaining about it, they simply removed the drawer…) ||But of course this attitude manifests throughout the entire experience. Maybe the most critical is kids club. While my kids had fun, we were more worries. The kids club has a backdoor labeled "staff only, keep closed" - which leads straight to the swimming pool. It was fixed open the entire time there, as they are using power from the kids club for the speaker outside. It means that a kid can wander off to the pool from the supposedly supervised kids club, without any supervision. There was usually only one person to supervise the entire kids club during the supervised hours, so this is a likely scenario, and kept us worried. ||What else? Smoking smell in our shower. TINY showers, those that fit a 2 stars lodge, not a 4 stars hotel. All the furniture makes IKEA furniture look luxurious. Single (small) elevator for the entire hotel, constantly making you wait for long for the elevator. Half the rooms have views to a parking lot, with zero privacy. And of course the maintenance of the hotel is terrible - AC was only partially functioning - it was leaking in the main lobby, and barely working in the room (we put at 16 degrees all stay). 1 out of 3 coffee machines was broken the entire stay, making lines for coffee very long (add to that that every morning one of the machines ran out of milk and noone bothered to fill it… reducing effective coffee machine to one). Mediocre food. And of course the cheapness…. You feel it everywhere. The liquid hand soap in our room was filled with water instead of soap. The "welcome drink" they give you is limited to 4 very limited drinks, you can't even have a soft drink instead. And once people are already at the bar, they pay for the drink they want (very expensive. A cocktail was 8.40EUR - more than in other much nicer hotels). That is, of course, if you manage to survive the wait at the bar, which is normally staffed with only one person. Btw - when we did take the welcome drink, every "instance" of it was different. Zero consistency. ||And the pinnacle of the greedy approach was the "Voluntary Tip" added in checkout. I've stayed in hundreds of hotels in my life, and I have never seen tip being proactively added to a bill this way (see image below). We were told it's 5 euro per room per night, and we can ask it to be removed, or increase it. Of course you can ask to remove it, but it puts you in an uncomfortable position. And I'm betting this money doesn't even go to the team. ||Bottom line -...

The hotel is OK if you don't expect any fancy room and luxury. |I would never suggest my friends to come here for a "romantic escape": this is a Family Hotel - period. |If you want to take your kids to a place where they can have fun and you need some time to relax: then you found your place.|The highlight of this hotel is definitely THE KIDS CLUB: The team is great and the entertainment is very well thought. My kids totally loved it!|Antun is an asset.||The pool is also very big and nice (and crowded with jumping kids). The slide was a great plus.||The rooms are basics - below standard. I'm a tour director and have been working in touri6for about 20 years and for a 4 stars hotel you would expect a minibar in the room... but drop any hope. You won't find it here. Which I find a bit awkward since we are at the seaside and a cold drink would be nice... I personally would have needed it to keep some medicines in a cool storage. In the room you find a coffee machine but you need to ask every day if you need to refill the coffee otherwise they won't do it.|Another downside was the bathroom. I'm going to attach a photo because it is hard to believe: the bathroom door was literally touching the toilet seat making it impossible to sit straight. I'm a small Italian lady, what about the bigger sizes? Ah... the positive note is that while you're doing your business on the toilet, you can wash your feet and brush your teeth at the same time. Time sparing... ||The worse thing of all is the IKEA style dining area... the food is mainly poor quality: many choices but quality very bad. Only the salads are nice. Also the timing is very unconvinient: Breakfast from 7.30 to 10 Dinner from 6 to 9 pm... I mean, this gives you an idea that those of us tourists, who enjoy watching the sunset and then go to dinner are not considered... and if you are late, they shut you out. No mercy. Fortunately though there are some nice restaurants outside the hotel where we went to enjoy some real Croatian Flavor. |OVERALL:|I enjoyed myself and my 5 amd 8 years old girls had a blast: they totally loved this experience and did not want to leave.|I might come back with the kids but this time, I will definitely avoid half board.|And, by the way, if you are like like me and love to sleep with the windows open, avoid the rooms looking at the parking lot coz the Flags of the hotel are rusty and really loud! ||Good points:|Friendly receptionists|Friendly kids club team|Friendly excursion team|Nice pool and garden in front of the sea.|Fun water slide |Free parking ||Bad points|Food quality and restaurant in general. The tables are so poorly set... like a cafeteria. Like IKEA, really. Pity because the big windows and the olive trees make it so beautiful 😍 |The gym... is Outdoor... under the sun. No shade whatsoever. Good luck by training under a summer sun! |No fridge...