Hotel Château Bela — Hotel in Belá

I had been looking forward to visiting this hotel for a long time, especially since we received a one-night stay as a gift. I was truly excited. As we often visit similar chateaux in Slovakia, I have to say that, unfortunately, this one was the biggest disappointment so far—especially when comparing the strong marketing and beautiful social media presence with the actual quality of services provided during our stay.||Check-in was smooth. As agreed with the manager, our room was upgraded. However, the room itself was a big letdown. The furnishings were outdated, including the bathroom. The cleanliness was lacking—there were coffee stains on the carpet and even dead bugs, which clearly indicates poor housekeeping. The air quality in the room would be significantly better without the old carpets—wooden floors would have been a much more suitable choice.||In a hotel that presents itself as 4-star, having a kettle or a small coffee machine with complimentary tea and coffee should be standard. It would have helped offset the fact that the minibar was fully chargeable.||We pre-booked the La Dolce Vita dinner for two online and were full of expectations, but sadly, we left very disappointed. The dinner was served buffet-style. We arrived around 8:00 p.m., not too late, yet many of the dishes looked dry and unappetizing—just seeing crusted mustard was enough to put us off. Still, we gave the food a chance. Despite everything being cold, the duck was so tough and dried out we couldn’t eat it, the rice was dry, and none of the dishes stood out. The only thing somewhat edible was the tempura. For soups, only a basic tomato option was available—at a themed dinner, at least two options should be offered.||The dinner included a glass of prosecco, and we ordered two Aperol Spritzes and two aperitifs. Just the two aperitifs alone cost €30, which I find quite overpriced—comparable to prices in Vienna’s 5-star Park Hyatt Hotel.||Breakfast was decent. I appreciated the dispensers for jams and nut cream, but some baked goods, such as the pound cake, were stale.||The staff was friendly and smiling, but that’s where it ended. We had to wave multiple times to get someone’s attention. In a 4-star hotel, I would expect the staff to be better groomed—no sneakers and at least clean fingernails.||Wellness was underwhelming. The ambiance could be improved with better sanitation or perhaps some essential oils. There were two saunas (steam and Finnish) and a hot tub, but nothing special overall.||On the positive side, I must highlight the beautiful and well-maintained garden and park, the peaceful surroundings, and a very kind waiter with glasses at the lobby bar.||However, we were unpleasantly surprised at checkout when we received a bill for around €180, which didn’t match our consumption. Upon review, we noticed that the La Dolce Vita dinner for two was included—even though we had already paid for it online in advance. We showed the payment confirmation immediately, and the receptionist had to verify it. What surprised me was that this wasn’t checked automatically before issuing the bill. Had we not noticed, we would have ended up paying €100 again for a dinner we had already paid for.||These “little” issues can completely spoil a getaway.|I would not return to this hotel, nor would I recommend it to my sister, who was also considering a visit. While we enjoy supporting Slovak tourism, this hotel still has a long way to go to truly meet 4-star standards—starting with room renovations and a complete overhaul of the dining experience and overall...

WEDDING WEEKEND WE WILL NEVER FORGET

We would like to take this opportunity to thank the entire staff of Chateau Bela, especially the event manager Katarina Dubecova, for an unforgettable wedding weekend in early July 2024.

After living abroad for over a decade, we wanted to find a place in Slovakia where we would feel comfortable welcoming a diverse international and Slovak group of friends and family, and we found this place in Chateau Bela. Many of our guests mentioned that it was one of the best weddings they've been to, and we have the staff at Chateau Bela to thank for this.

There are several things, which made this an outstanding wedding weekend:

Exceptional setting - while its history dates back centuries, the chateau has been recently completely rebuilt, and as such offers a truly aesthetic and authentic setting for semi-formal to formal events. The 'orangerie' hall has capacity of about 120 guests, which makes it perfect for mid-sized weddings. What we perhaps liked the most is that while it provides all advantages of an interior setting (esp. is not weather dependent), it feels very bright and spatious due to its large windows, and seamlessly blends the historical interior with exterior terraces and gardens. The acoustics were also great for both a live band and the DJ. In addition to the 'orangerie' hall, the entire chateau, incl. its rooms, courtyards, gardens, pool and other facilities were all spectacular.

Event management & service - while many venues offer some sort of event management, Chateau Bela went above and beyond mainly thanks to Katarina Dubecova, who coordinated most aspects of the wedding incl. food and beverage, accommodation, graphics, and several other components. Katarina is the most likeable, dedicated event manager, who always has the interest of the guest in mind, is truly responsive and absolutely strives to deliver the best event possible. During the wedding itself, Katarina was on site making sure everything ran smoothly, and whenever an issue arose, she took found the most creative solutions to resolve it. In addition to event management, the service (incl. everyone from waiters/bartenders, to receptionists and housekeeping) was consistently amazing; always welcoming, courteous and positive - not taken for granted in Central Europe.

Gastronomy, wine and drinks - having dined at over 50 Michelin restaurants, I would argue that while not of Michelin quality, the chateau offers one of top 10-15 dining experiences in Slovakia. The 4 course festive lunch and midnight buffet were delivered truly well even at a larger scale, and the kitchen was able to come up with proven but still inspired combination of traditional as well as innovative dishes. In addition to food, Chateau Bela's wine is some of the best if not the best in Slovakia, and perfectly complemented the local dining theme. Moreover, the hotel has a good selection of spirits and was able to offer a drinks bar, which was a big favorite of our guests (and thanks to the wonderful staff of Chateau Bela it was open several hours longer than promised). To provide a balanced view, we felt that some of the barbecue dishes and canapes were rather average, but still very good standard.

In a nutshell - it was a perfect wedding weekend and we are so happy in retrospect that we chose Chateau Bela. We will definitely keep returning in the years to come and relive these moments in Chateau Bela's beautiful facilities, or at one of their events that they...

We stayed at the hotel for 5 days, booking a "Castle holiday" offer on their website. First impression upon arrival was great - the whole area and park surrounding the Castle was amazing, as were the interior spaces. After entering the Castle itself though, we were quite surprised by a small, unrepresentative reception hidden behind the corner.||||The room was nice at first sight, although we noticed immediately that it was truly hot in there (30 degrees Celsius) and there was no AC (in a Deluxe room!!!). After the first night, we requested switching rooms for another one with an AC - we were lucky, as they had one available. ||||With the "Castle holiday" offer came buffet breakfast and 3-course dinner/buffet dinner. Breakfast was nice with a wide selection. Dinner however was a bit disappointing - we did expect more from a Chateau hotel, which offers also Gourmet packages and tastings. The food felt a bit dull and the portions were ridiculously big, given there were three courses served in a row. I have to highlight the desserts though - those were truly AMAZING every evening. ||||The pool area was nice looking too, although did provide only roughly 20 sunbeds (the capacity of the hotel is 44 rooms!!!). On top of that, many families with small children made it impossible to relax in the pool area as advertised by the hotel - there was NOTHING RELAXING about that.||||One thing I have to mention, as we did travel here during the Covid-19 pandemic times: everywhere in the hotel, there were signs requesting people to wear a face covering when inside, but we were the only ones (plus the stuff) wearing it. I didn't see once that someone from stuff would remind the guests of this, which is a huge failure on their side.||Another thing bothering us during the whole stay was smoking allowed on the terraces during dinner, everywhere in the park and around the doors, including pool area. This forced us to stay inside for each dinner, as there were always people smoking on the terrace. ||||Recommendation for the hotel:||- separating areas for families with children, so that people seeking relaxation and quiet can truly get it||- being more considerate to non-smoking population||- being more conscious about the rules set...