Hotel Continental — Hotel in Zermatt

We arrived on the 29th of october for a single night in Zermatt. We read about renovations that took place in the weeks prior according to other reviews, but figured these issues would have been resolved.

When arriving in the room there was a very strong- headache inducing- chemical (wood vernis?) smell. The linen, towels, everything in the room smelled very strongly of the chemical. We couldn't stand staying in the room long without opening all windows, which we don't normally mind but it was 3°C at night. When we asked about it, they said they knew about it and tried to look for another room but everything was fully booked.

We thought about looking for another hotel but they said they would find a compensating solution, albeit financially, so we thought to give it a chance. The receptionist at the night of our arrival was very helpful.

Due to the windows being open it was very cold in the room during the night, but the strong smell still persisted. The next morning the staff called management for a solution, stating to his manager that 'we were another case' where this occurred as well as downplaying our concerns. The proposed compensation was a mere 25 swiss francs, because the room was already at a 'low' price (165 swiss francs). We understand that swiss prices are higher in nature, but proportionally the compensation doesn't even cover 20% of the cost for a room (room 033 for those interested) they knew that wasn't ready to be used yet.

We therefore didn't accept it and thought the proposed compensation was quite misleading.

The breakfast was...

This review is not about infrastructure or location of this hotel but about attitude of the management towards its customers during natural calamity. Myself and my wife were booked in this hotel for two nights. 15th and 16th April 2025 night and supposed to have checked out on the 17th. We had a flight back home from Zurich on the morning of the 18th April 2025. We had made a payment of 47,416 INR i.e. around 470 CHF for two nights. However there was a massive avalanche due to which all transport system had collapsed. We missed our flight as we had to stay back for two more nights till the traffic started plying slowly. We were told by staff that our rooms will be charged 50% less than usual as we were stuck without electricity for almost 30 odd hours. We had to wait in queue for 3 hours to buy some bread and other food items. However on the day before checkout the staff informed us that we have to pay 436CHF for extra 2 nights that we were compelled to board.! Moreover when asked about 50% discount they informed me this is 50% discount because their tariff for those two nights are 800CHF…!!! This is ridiculous because I checked their website where average tariff ranged between 253-290CHF per night. I think is extortion of its kind…they told me I have right to complaint about it with their local govt…which as a foreigner would...

We spent 2 nights in this hotel. The entrance is very modern, the rooms are decades old. What is really disturbing is the ceiling. This is made of softboard and is very flammable and gives a high risk in case of fire. In the EU (and the Netherlands) the use of softboard is forbidden because of the high risk in case of fire. Switzerland is not the EU. They obviously are less interested in reducing the risk of fire. |Another problem is the electricity. One of our group was in room 49. The bedlamp didn't work any more when you switched off the lamp on the ceiling. After consulting the staff we found out that another entrance in the same socket did work when the ceiling light was switched off. Staff said that the electricity was very old and they often did not understand how the electricity was connected in the rooms.|Staff was very friendly and helpfull and they have a good breakfast.|Not...