Hotel Kapellerput Heeze-Eindhoven — Hotel in Heeze-Leende

The Netherlands is filled with these wonderful little weekend getaway destinations. In this case, it is the area just SSE of Eindhoven. The marketing people haven't figured out how to market this area yet, so it doesn't really have a good name. ||||The landscape is mostly heath, but there are plenty of charming villages, farms, wooded areas and paths for walking and bicycling. We had a few interesting small animal & wildlife encounters. It's a rural area, but upscale people have discovered it and built homes there too. Surprisingly (for this country), there are not many water features, apart from a few streams and heath ponds. ||||This hotel is in an attractive natural setting a kilometer SE of Heeze. It's a large complex with an adjoining wooded estate of about 60 acres (that's around 500 metres x 500 metres). We enjoyed walking through this property and exploring the area around it. The Sterkseler Aa stream flows through it. They have a pond beside the hotel, but the level was low because of the drought. ||||Apparently the hotel used to be a Jesuit retreat called Regina Pacis. The buildings have all been renovated, so the hotel complex now is outfitted with a restaurant, bar, conference facilities and so on. The hotel gives you a nice upscale feeling when you are downstairs in the spacious lobby area. ||||The basic room we booked was, in itself, on the small and simple side. Very little flat space. Single glaze old-fashioned windows. Queen bed. Not much furniture. No fridge. No coffee making. So, if you stay here, I'd recommend booking one of the more expensive rooms if you can. But on the other hand, we enjoyed being able to stay here at the lower price, and the simple room didn't really bother us.||||But the bed was comfortable, and the shower worked well. Our windows overlooked the outdoor terrace but from the bed all we saw was pine boughs.||||The breakfast room was large, airy and light. Nice view from the windows. The breakfast was excellent without being super luxurious. It had all the things that Dutch people enjoy for breakfast. Excellent bacon, which you don't see everywhere. Eggs boiled or scrambled. It even had a fry-your-own-egg station, something we haven't seen before. I really can't fault the breakfast. We enjoyed it immensely. The ladies working there were super friendly. ||||I should add that the reception staff were also very professional, polite and helpful. ||||The parking is free.||||I feel this hotel is generally worth 3.5 out of five, but I'm hesitating because of the room, which is definitely 2/5. But when I think about the whole experience, especially the friendliness of the staff and the grounds, it has to be...

We booked at the hotel for 3 nights in August through the website. I spent 30 years working in the field (mostly in Germany), so I know pretty well what to expect from a hotel in this price range. It is well below average. Two things were unacceptable. First, you can only tilt the window in the room (without air conditioning). The reason given by the reception: for the safety of the guests. The room was on the 1st floor. Fortunately, the days were cool and the nights were cold. I can't imagine how to endure 30°C there. Secondly, the cooked breakfast egg was brown inside and stank. I don't think the hotel gives much thought to the guests in other ways either. When we arrived, the entire city was closed due to an event. We spent ¾ hour trying to get to the hotel, asking several police officers who gave us different and wrong directions. Finally I called the hotel and was told that only the road through Sterksel was clear. Well, that could have been told to the few guests arriving that day e.g. by email! The first night was bad because of the mosquitoes. On the second day we discovered an electric switch to put down a mosquito net in front of the window - why don't they leave information in the room for the guests, or say it at the reception? But even without these little things, the room and breakfast were very disappointing for the price. The only positive is the...

The rooms are ok, though unfortunately very noisy. Sounds from both the hallway and neighbors come through uncomfortably strong. The surroundings here are beautiful and parking is free.

The restaurant was a big disappointment, twice. Both days the starter was either bland or just on the verge of gross (half the people stopped eating after a few bites). The main courses looked like starters and consisted of a small piece of meat and a few small pieces of vegetables. You'd expect a plate like this to be part of a larger 5+ -course meal, but unfortunately this was all the food we got. The only option left was to fill up your appetite on potatoes (fries). Shrinkflation dealt a severe blow here and we felt like going to the McDonalds in Geldrop afterwards. It feels that their only priority is to make food seem fancy, while completely forgetting that people actually want to eat good food. (Oh and who came up with the idea that two tiny shot glasses with mayonaise is the right amount to serve a 10-person table?)

Hotel personnel is very friendly and helpful. Most people in the restaurant are as well.

After staying here a few years ago, especially the restaurant was a pretty big disappointment. It was not only poor value for money, but a bad and frustrating...