The Faust Hotel — Hotel in New Braunfels

We stayed at the Faust while attending a wedding in New Braunfels. Our experience was mixed. This hotel has a lot going for it, but it should be better, especially for the price.

At check-in, the friendly clerk began every other sentence with "Remember, this is a really old hotel, so...." She handed me a metal key on a tag, and told me I could leave it at the reception desk when we went out, or keep it. She warned that the parking lot was probably full (it was), but I could park at the lawyer's office across the street.

Our room--a king on the top floor--was clean and reasonably comfortable, but "this is a really old hotel..." so the room had more than a few quirks. One of the strangest is that there is a high step up into the bathroom (apparently the floor was built up to accommodate an update of the plumbing), which the desk clerk had warned me about. The air conditioning is an old unit in the window--it did keep our room cool on a very hot weekend, and it wasn't too noisy (some of our friends reported their units were very noisy), but it wasn't easy to control (basically, on or off). Also, thoughtlessly, the blackout curtain completely blocks the AC unit if the curtain is closed--I managed to fold the curtain up so we could have both darkness and cool air. All the "updates" to the room seem to have been done long ago and felt pretty tired. The most noticeable is the electrical conduit on the walls and the shortage of outlets (at least by modern hotel standards). The bed was softer than I would like, but was reasonably comfortable.

After getting settled, we walked across the street to a wonderful little German restaurant - the Alpine House.

My wife had noticed that we didn't have a bar of soap in our bathroom, so we stopped at the reception desk. The clerk told us that they had run out of bar soap, but gave us what she said was the last bar (indeed, while sitting in the lobby the next morning I heard a couple of people ask for soap and the clerk offered extra body wash gel instead).

The next morning, I was pleased to find free coffee in the lobby. When my wife was ready, it was a short walk to a nice cafe on the town plaza and for lunch we met friends at a great beer garden just a block from the hotel.

Overall, we enjoyed our stay, but next time we're in New Braunfels, we'll probably choose a more modern hotel. Bottom line, if you're willing to pay a premium for location and historic charm, and can overlook some flaws, the Faust is your hotel. If you want modern conveniences, choose one of the chains on the interstate.

Pros: historic charm, location, friendly staff, free coffee in the lobby Cons: "its a really old hotel", the updates need updating, parking, they might...

We stayed in the European room, their smallest room; So small, that the restroom is smaller then most regular closest. The hotel had a weird odor in the hallways, and the whole hotel was extremely dusty to the point of getting a rash and hives. At first the front desk workers are very polite, but if you have any complaints they do not accept responsibility and make rude remarks to you when you are complaining. The maid service is the absolute worst that I have ever had to deal with. First of all they do not change your sheets; they just remake your bad, and they do not clean up any trash left in your room. In the bathroom, they will only replace the towels(hopefully) and the bar soap; they will not replenish the shampoo, conditioner, or body wash if any is left; they will in fact leave said items exactly where you leave them. They empty the only trash can in the room; also in the bathroom, yet they will not replace the bag, they will just leave an bag on top of the can. And worst of all, do not leave any precocious items in your room. Supposedly the maid will move items when cleaning; we however had two specific adult novelty items underneath our clothing; on top of our luggage, and both items were not only moved they appeared to have been used and then cleaned and placed into a plastic bag that was not appart of our luggage. The bag was then placed under our luggage to where when we returned we thought they had been stolen; our adult items total $260 which costs more than the room. When we went to the front desk to complain the head manager over the entire hotel acted as though there was no problem and that we were disgusting for having said items. The manager also did not specify her title when we spoke to her, and stated that if nothing was stolen that there was no problem. When we called the following Monday, we received the same treatment as that night. We were even called disgusting by the front desk manager for having adult novelty items with us in our things. If you expect to be treated with any respect from the hotel staff do not complain about anything to them, otherwise you will not enjoy your stay. Many other guests that same weekend had similar complaints in their rooms the police were even called for one guest. All guests checked out early. You can expect a 5 star rating for a Super Motel 8 compared to this establishment.

BTW, most reviews our written by the hotel staff bellow, if you noticed there our a ton of reviews written by "A Zagat User" but few actual written by...

I recently stayed at the Faust Hotel for 3 nights in a single room. Room 222 appreared to be ok. Tiny but ok. I unpacked all my belonging and settled in and went out for the evening. When I returned to my room for the night, I noticed no toliet seat cover. I used the bathroom sink, the water immediately backed up due to the sink being clogged. The handle to unclog the sink was broken. The ceiling fan above my bed was set too high and I could not lower the setting so I turned it off. The AC window unit would hum while it was on then for no reason make a loud noise every 20 minutes. The noise of the AC unit was so loud, it sounded like an alarm clock going off during the night. It was too stuffy with the AC off and the air from the ceiling fan was too much to so I had to keep it turned off. I was tired from travelling so I tried to sleep thru the night. I barely slept that night. I complained 1st thing in the morning and they swithed me to the room next door room 220. I had to quickly move all my belongs out of room 222 and into Room 220 so I would not be late for my conference that morning. I checked the sink, ceiling fan an AC and turned on the shower and all seemed fine. I discovered that Room 222 ended up having a backed up shower so while you shower you are in a puddle of water. I was too tired to complain and I did not want to move my belongings again so I stayed in Room 220 for 2 nights. When I checked out, I asked the front desk if they could allow a reduction in fee for the first night. I explained that I felt that since they put me in a room that was not ready for service and the inconvenience of having barely no sleep and having to resettle into a new room. She said that she would have the Office Manager call me. I never received a call. I had to call the Office Manager. Dana the office manager said that this is a historical hotel and that AC units make noise but that there is nothing she can do about the rate since they switched me to a new room and I did'nt say anything until I checked out. I will never stay at this hotel. I had bad dreams every night and the worse dream ever was the last night I was there. I felt like there was someone strangling me. If you decide to stay at this hotel, please check to see if everything is working properly and do...