Liebesbier Urban Art Hotel — Hotel in Bayreuth

This was our third trip to the Bayreuth Festspiel, and we finally found a wonderful if quirky art hotel. We arrived at 6:00 PM, and had a bit of trouble of finding the reception desk, which is in the restaurant across the parking lot. The desk was empty, but it had a phone number to call, which I did, and the reception guy showed up in 30 seconds. If I had paid attention to the on-line instructions I would have not tried to find a human - and QR information and on-line information are the hotel's preferences for interaction. I succeeded to check in, and it was easy to find the room and get in once I had the key card. You can, once you have your reservation, log in and put a key on your phone, another evidence of the hotel's human-free style. There were three steps to get to the room from the elevator, but some of the rooms do not require steps to reach them - specify when you make your reservation that you can't do steps if that is the case. The room was great with the single exception of not being well lit, both in the bedroom and the bathroom. There were several slightly crazy murals in the room, beautiful concrete flooring, and timbered beams. . It was designed with two separate areas - the bedroom, with a small desk, a huge flat screen, and a very comfortable king size bed with two featherbed comforters (this is Germany). There was a small desk, and when we got there a small bench for the desk, but no other chair in the room. I called the service line and a chair appeared two minutes later. The air-conditioning was excellent and easy to control. The bathroom and ample closet area (but with open-sided shelves rather than drawers) were in a separate area connected by a corridor. There was a walk-in shower, but no tub. The shower had a rain nozzle and a handheld nozzle which could be selected by a knob on the wall. The water pressure was great and the hot water very hot. The bath and hand towels were large and fluffy, but no washcloths. The toiletries were all made out of organic biologicals, no evil detergents here. The minibar is free, with alcoholic and non-alcoholic Maisels bier. The sauna was the most beautiful hotel sauna I have ever seen, and worth a visit even if you don't like saunas. There was no changing room, lockers, or place to hang clothes. You just wear a bathing suit on your way to the sauna and take it off in the public area outside the sauna itself The sauna area has bathrobes and large sauna towels, so if you want a bathrobe you have to get it from the sauna,There is no nudity required sign - it is assumed. The sauna itself has one glass wall that looks out over the parking lot and restaurant entrance. More evidence that it is not for the shy is the instruction that after the sauna you cool off on the outside balcony - but the parking lot visitors have already seen you, so no problem.. The sauna was only open from 15:00 to 23:00, so inaccessble if you were planning on a long opera that evening The cooling off room has wondrously comfortable beds. There is a free continental breakfast in the hotel lobby, but we elected to go across the parking lot to the excellent Liebesbier restaurant which had a superb German breakfast. The restaurant was open after the opera, so we ate several good...

Prior to our arrival, I emailed the hotel to explain we would. check-in after the first of our two operas at Bayreuth this year. We had reserved two rooms and arrived at around 11.30pm. There was no sign of life, except in the nearby bar / restaurant so we enquired there. I asked a waitress if she could help us and she replied "no" and directed us to the hotel. Rather than there being a check-in desk manned by a human being, there is a unstaffed computer system. Next to this is a plasma screen featuring a "virtual assistant" to help guests work out how to use the computer system. My friend entered his details and eventually secured his room key, after a lot of faffing around. I entered my reservation number and name but my reservation couldn't be found. The virtual assistant misunderstood each request we made and responded with rubbish, for example "I'm afraid I can't help you find your cheese sandwiches." My surname is hyphenated and the hyphen was not accepted by the computer in the name field (even though this key does work for the number field), so I imagined this might be the cause of the problem and kept re-entering my details in different variations. Completely panicked by this - late at night, without any assistance and with no-where else to stay - I found a contact number to telephone. This was answered quickly, but the attendant was also unable to located my reservation. After two phone-calls, the reason for this transpired to be the same reason the computer couldn't accept my details - I had already checked in online, following the hotel's email request (whereas my friend had not) !! Both the computer and the attendant should have been able to work this out quickly via my reservation number. The attendant eventually appeared to create my room key. I was obliged to carry my suitcase upstairs myself and at one point he event had the cheek to tell me "you will just have to wait!" The automatic check-in system - which doesn't recognise when a guest has already checked in online - and ridiculous virtual assistant - are time-wasting, frustration-causing, money-saving gimmick and are best avoided by anyone in search of a seamless check-in and good night's sleep. Furthermore this hotel is over a 30-minute walk from the Festspielhaus and there are more sane and user-friendly options nearer. If you expect to arrive late and want to check-in easily,...

A truly wonderful hotel, with excellent rooms and service on the accommodation side, in a perfect location. It is our residence of choice when enjoying the Bayreuth Festival, being both comfortable and beautifully presented.

The website doesn't really do the convenience of the location justice - a bus runs customarily from reception to the Festival House, the restaurant stays open late after each performance, and breakfast is provided free. A very short walk takes you into central Bayreuth, which has its fair share of decent food and drink.

Our only gripe, such as it is, would be that the staff at reception, which is shared by the Maisel & Friends Brewery, were not up to the same standard in terms of hospitality and service as those actually running the hotel itself. On more than one occasion we got the impression that we were something of an inconvenience for a couple of them - not a...