Holiday Club Vierumäki — Hotel in Lahti sub-region

We stayed for one night in a pet room (with two cats). The first impression of the hotel was nice, but then it started to go south. Here are the pluses and minuses: -minuses- the trash can in the room had stuff in it that looked like vomit, I cleaned it myself in the tub but now I feel like I should have just put it outside the room because I felt so disguisted..and the disgusted feeling was there all the time in the room. I told the receptionist and she gave us a 20€ worth ticket to their restaurant. No apologies from her.

*the room smelled strongly of menthol, reminded us of some kind of nicotine/snuff smell with menthol, awful.. we kept the window open and tried to clean the surfaces, I think we almost got rid of the smell by the time we left. The receptionist could not explain why this kind of smell in the room.

*the bathroom is very strangely planned, not much of counterspace and the soap is far away from the sink so the only counter space is soaked in water. The toilet paper is placed difficult and low by the toilet brush..eww.

*the rug had dog pee stains.

very small and old TV with no chrome cast and only a few channels.

*the spas locker room smelled strongly of baby puke both days, it was so awful.

*the spa was full of screaming kids wherever you turned.

*no shampoo or conditioner in the showers, not in the spa or in the room. The temperature was difficult to get right, either cold or burning hot.

not enough nobs for towels or bags in the shower area.

*the brakfast was a big disapointment. No orange juice, no fresh fruits, no karjalan piirakoita, the only warm food for vegetarians was some kind of ugly vegetable stew(ratatuille?). The coffee was bad finnish kulta katriina. The "pancakes" were storebought lettuja and no syrup. Overall a very budget breakfast and nothing compared to for example sokos or scandic hotels. Sticky tables and floors.

*some of the restaurant food was ok for example salmon salad but the grilled chicken was dry and did not taste grilled. The nachos and salsa were store bought and very cold.

*very short opening hours at the spa. 10 am til 9 pm (swimming time until 8:30 pm).

+pluses+

friendly staff.

nice spa area, a big plus for the unisex saunas, the outdoor smoke sauna and the cold pool outside, this saved the trip big time! I might see us driving here from helsinki just for the day sometime when kids are at school.

roberts coffee cafe at the spa (even though no one had told us when we checked in that we need to open an account to buy on the room..luckily my husband had money in the locker room) there could be a clearer pricelist, now we had to ask what they had and what flavours. But the girls at the cafe vere great, helpful and nice! I hope this feedback reaches them. And we enjoyed the peaceful cafe area.

quite new materials everywhere, did not feel dated.

small fridge in the room for your own drinks.

drying cabinet in the room.

*the spa was calm for a short while right after 10am when it opened.

R kioski open 24/7 with...

Parking facilities are inadequate: the spaces and lots are small and rather far from the entrance than close to it. The one bigger lot is a gravel field full of mud at this time of the year and even further away from the entrance. So parking is inconvenient. Check-in could not be arranged worse. There are 5 counters at the desk but only 3 persons working at the peak of the check-in time. At times all 3 persons where discussing together and working on one issue. In addition, they act as the cashier for the kiosk in the lobby also taking time from serving the customers checking-in. The hotel knows very well that there is a peak in the afternoon in the check-inn so there should be 5 counters open, staffed with people who can solve the issues without involving all staff in one issue and one person acting as the cashier. Lack of all these resulted in about 25 waiting time for me and I can tell people who arrived after me had to wait way longer as the line just got longer and longer. Play space for kids is like 3m2 with couple of mattresses on the floor and some toys thrown on them. Does not really create an image of a family resort and naturally is way too little for a hotel full of families. Breakfast was below average. Assortment was average but quality was not. Bacon was practically "medium" (which it of course should not have been) and the oatmeal was gruel. No shanks for bread. The spa was a disappointment as well. The resort mentions in their website that there is 7 pools in total. Technically that is probably true if you count the 2 hot tubs and 2 cold water tubs (for dipping in and out) as pools. The truth is that there is one big pool, one small pool for toddlers and one outdoor pool which makes 3 in total. Nothing special in those 3 pools what you could not find in an average modern indoor swimming...

Parking facilities are inadequate: the spaces and lots are small and rather far from the entrance than close to it. The one bigger lot is a gravel field full of mud at this time of the year and even further away from the entrance. So parking is inconvenient.|Check-in could not be arranged worse. There are 5 counters at the desk but only 3 persons working at the peak of the check-in time. At times all 3 persons where discussing together and working on one issue. In addition, they act as the cashier for the kiosk in the lobby also taking time from serving the customers checking-in. The hotel knows very well that there is a peak in the afternoon in the check-inn so there should be 5 counters open, staffed with people who can solve the issues without involving all staff in one issue and one person acting as the cashier. Lack of all these resulted in about 25 waiting time for me and I can tell people who arrived after me had to wait way longer as the line just got longer and longer.|Play space for kids is like 3m2 with couple of mattresses on the floor and some toys thrown on them. Does not really create an image of a family resort and naturally is way too little for a hotel full of families.|Breakfast was below average. Assortment was average but quality was not. Bacon was practically "medium" (which it of course should not have been) and the oatmeal was gruel. No shanks for bread.|The spa was a disappointment as well. The resort mentions in their website that there is 7 pools in total. Technically that is probably true if you count the 2 hot tubs and 2 cold water tubs (for dipping in and out) as pools. The truth is that there is one big pool, one small pool for toddlers and one outdoor pool which makes 3 in total. Nothing special in those 3 pools what you could not find in an average modern indoor swimming...