Valea Cu Pești — Hotel in Arefu

A place with a lot of potential, considering its extremely beautiful location and views. But other than that, I have to say it was under expectations. When you check into a 4 stars hotel you expect not to have problems regarding hot water in the room. We understand the pool and wellness zone are closed due to obvious Corona situation. So we were very happy to find a generous bath tub in our room. But then, the water wasn't getting hot enough and it ended in a cold shower. Ok, let's give them heads up. I tried to call the reception using the phone in the room. Though luck, somehow the phone was dead. Ok, let's just call on their mobile number. Great idea, if anyone would pick up. Ok, I'll take a walk downstairs, no problem. Here was I, around 22:30 pm, in a bathrobe, looking for some staff available in the reception/ in front of the hotel. After a few minutes I found her. She was like escaped from a grocery market, yet she gave me some empathy, but not the kind you would expect as a 4 star hotel customer. First she said agreed that nobody answered the phones (like it was business as usual), than she proposed to send someone in our room to check the water. At that point I snapped a bit, and firmly communicated that I don't think that is necessary and that the problem is probably at their hot water boiler. But she couldn't believe that, because I was the first and only one to complain about that (I'm sorry, but is that even an argument??). Anyway, in the end she called someone and said she will be back with news for me, on the phone. Never happened (actually I didn't needed that, but if you say you will, why don't you?). The water got hot enough that night, but in the next morning, again, no hot water. On my way to breakfast, I found the same person on duty. I told her again about the problem and now her answer was that probably is something about our room (how is this information helping me?!), because it's on the corner of the building and again, no one else complained about the water (seriously, are you for real??!!). So… what was I supposed to do? Luckily I found some floor neighbors in the restaurant and asked them about it. They agreed it was a problem (I don't understand why Romanians don't have a customer culture to communicate if there is a problem) but anyway, I had a confirmation it wasn't just us. Sorry, but is that acceptable when you are a customer in any type of accommodation? I don't think so. The only acceptable attitude when a customer reports an issue is to check the problem and find a solution. That's it and nothing else. On top of this experience, though as I said, the location is superb, I have to point out that of the 4 stars rank it has, at list 1 is a falling star, according to my standards. This is due to lack of customer care services, a poor breakfast offer (they had like the basics, when it comes to food - 2 types of eggs, some ham and cheese, salad, 2 types of cereals and a cake). But then I had to put aside 3 glasses until I found one that seemed clean as it should be. And I really wanted a fresh juice in the morning, but the only option was a lame room temperature Cappy or Prigat bottle. Seriously, just 1 bottle. I wasn't even sure if it was from their offer or if someone left it there. And other details, like the bathroom water faucet (in the picture), the cheapest they found I guess and it didn't matter it was shorter than necessary. And because of this small detail the whole room experience was ruined, because it got the floor flooded (usually I'm the type of person that keeps everything dry around me when I shower or take a bath). All in all, I'll give it a 3 star and an advice to improve some things if possible, as there is a lot of potential there. Have a look on what others are doing in your niche (like Balvanyos Resort which I love,...

Most of the food was not covered at breakfast, everyone was breathing, talking or coughing near the food trays, no social distance, some employees wore masks, many did not. Poor breakfast, around 9 am I asked for a yogurt (because I couldn't eat anything else when I saw what it looked like) and they told me they didn't have anymore (breakfast ended at 10:00), I asked the waiter if he thought it was okay for each person to get their hands directly on the slices of bread, to change their mind and choose another slice or to breathe directly on the food and he said yes, that's how everyone should be served.||Neither the food (breakfast and also dinner) nor the accommodation is close to 4 stars at all. ||The only thing that deserves appreciation is the attitude of some of the employees - they spoke nicely and smiled.||Totally disappointing, from the way the room look like (it smelled bad, the card didn't work to turn on the power and they had to come and fix it, the drain in the shower was clogged), the food, everything seems old, tired, communist.||It's too bad for the location because the view is gorgeous, the lake and the nature that surrounds it are spectacular, but I guess you can go for a trip there and definitely find another accomodation. This is not even close to a 4 stars hotel, so don't have high expectations if you decide to go there. I will...

The hotel isn't worth 4 stars (they say their hotel is a 4 star one). One the one hand the view is magnificent; you can see the huge forest and the big lake. The rooms aren't as clean as in the photos. The wardrobe is dirty as the floor. There aren't chairs on the terrace. In addition to that, there's no room-service and they don't change your dirty towels. I expected a big buffet, as it is normal at a 4 star hotel, but there were only 3 kinds of bacon, 2 kinds of cheese, 1 kind of bread and very few vegetables. The tables are not cleaned after the people leave it, so you'll be eating at a dirty table if you come a little bit late. I thought bowling would be included in the price but you have to pay 15 RON (3€) per person for one round (25min). But the biggest problem is, that the person who has to be at the reception is never there. You have to wait a long time or you have to go searching him/her. And what got on our nerves is, that because of one guest who was smoking or because of the smoke in the kitchen, the fire alarm went on and lasted around 2-3 hours. We wanted to call the reception but as no one is there, we didn't get an answer. I suggest you to look for another hotel in the area; the restaurant at the "conacul ursului" and the hotel's rooms are very nice. Another good option is the "posada vidraru". There you'll have a way better experience...