Historic Hotel Steinbock

The room was cute and traditional and the breakfast was lovely. Freshly baked bread. The tv remote didn’t work, but that wasn’t a big deal as we were on an adventure holiday. I think that charging a fee for replacing towels shouldn’t have been included. It was rather hot in the room too without air con, but we had a balcony. Nice views. We loved our holiday.

In more than 30 years of international travel, during which I have visited over 50 countries and stayed at luxury, chain, and boutique hotels, this was by far the poorest hospitality experience I have encountered. The most troubling aspect of my stay was the conduct of the owner/manager. On a single day, I received more than 13 messages criticizing me for leaving the breakfast room at 10:08 a.m on Sunday, despite arriving at 9:38 AM (sign posted showed breakfast ends at 10:00 AM on weekend and 9:30 AM on weekdays). The hotel's posted signage states only that "breakfast ends at 10:00 a.m." It does not state that guests must finish eating and vacate the dining room by that time. When I pointed this out, I was told that guests are not allowed to enter after 9:15 a.m on weekdays. This policy is not posted anywhere, was never communicated at check-in, and appears to have been created during our conversation. More concerning was the tone and repeated stream of messages over what amounted to eight additional minutes in the breakfast room. The communication did not stop until I informed the owner that I intended to preserve and publicly share the conversation. The property also suffered from several other significant shortcomings: Bugs and flies were consistently present throughout the hotel. Guests were greeted with prominent notices threatening additional charges for requesting extra towels, despite the room being stocked with only two extremely worn, thin towels.

The rooms were rather small, but the historic character, location and the breakfast were all wonderful. I loved hearing the rushing river next door all night. Of course, there is no air conditioning, so the down comforters were not at all appropriate for the weather.

Going in we knew it was a historic building but the room was dark and minimal compared to other similar facilities we have stayed at. No one was at the desk to check us in, we had to call on phone at desk to pay for parking before getting code to lock box for key to room. There was no mention of a code to get back in the building in the evening. Breakfast was the standard continental breakfast. Beautiful area with an old church and covered bridge.

It’s was truly a Switzerland experience, from the cute old hotel experience to the cover brige. Love everything about it