Ferienhotel Alber

“winter holiday with a family”

We chose the Alber hotel from a travel agency offer and were really satisfied. Nice, friendly and helpful staff and excellent cuisine together with a lot of possibilities to spend free time made our holiday a pleasantly spent time. When we could go skiing because of bad weather, we went to the ther… more

We chose the Alber hotel from a travel agency offer and were really satisfied. Nice, friendly and helpful staff and excellent cuisine together with a lot of possibilities to spend free time made our holiday a pleasantly spent time. When we could go skiing because of bad weather, we went to the thermal spa in Bad Gastein (15 minutes by train) or we went hiking to the Hohe Tauern National Park. You cannot get bored there and Mallnitz is not so busy as Bad Gastein.

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“New ski experience”

First thing first. We went there for a ski vacation. And the ski area near Mallnitz is quiet, small, which is not bad. Ski area is with limited possibilities and if bad weather you can use only a segment of ~2,5 km of slopes. Of course you can choose to go to Molltaler Glacier, 25 km away, and find… more

First thing first. We went there for a ski vacation. And the ski area near Mallnitz is quiet, small, which is not bad. Ski area is with limited possibilities and if bad weather you can use only a segment of ~2,5 km of slopes. Of course you can choose to go to Molltaler Glacier, 25 km away, and find better ski conditions. About the accommodation, is obviously an old family business and the architecture at the entrance area looks cozy and warm. What was nice/great: the food - very diversified whether it was breakfast or dinner - and the chef come up with some interesting dishes for the dinner; SPA area - a nice one, not very crowded (depending on the time you visited), with all you need - a jacuzzi, two dry, one steamy and one infrared saunas, rest area, etc.; the playground - the children loved it, they had a lot of things to do/play there. Of course they were supervised by a lady during the evening; the Tavern - across the street, a very warm place with a fireplace build in the middle of one the saloons. Now what could/should do they do better/change in my opinion: some staff member attitude: and there are two examples: at the Tavern, during the coffee time they served also some cake. The bartender was more interested to make sure none of the children or us will have more than one piece. Even if in the end lots of cake last there, he prefer to take it back to kitchen (not that I be a fan cake). Another example was when one of our group member wanted to celebrate his birthday. He polite the waiter ask if is possible to get two of his bottles of wine to serve us. First he was ask to pay a cork tax (which I find it normally) of 5 euro/bottle. But then, somehow they change their minds and ask the cork tax of 5 euro for each adult participant... What else they should improve: rooms aspect and room furniture. The quality of WiFi, which is less than poor.

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“Could be nice, but wasn't!”

We were 5 families. We chose this hotel from many others, from a whole offer of a travel agency. We chose based on the internet page of the hotel and the presentations given by the travel agency. We stayed a whole week, being in a ski vacation. Seen from outside and the common areas, the hotel is g… more

We were 5 families. We chose this hotel from many others, from a whole offer of a travel agency. We chose based on the internet page of the hotel and the presentations given by the travel agency. We stayed a whole week, being in a ski vacation. Seen from outside and the common areas, the hotel is great. Nice look from outside, cosy reception area with a bar, nice dining areas. Actually the ground floor is a huge restaurant split in 2 parts that flank the reception/bar areas. There is a tavern of the hotel in the next building, with a nice ambience, a fireplace in the middle of the room... nice! The spa is a significant place, situated on the basement of the building: it has a jacuzzi, 2 dry saunas, 1 wet sauna, infrared sauna, tanning equipment, massage and relax area. A real spa! Though, that was a moment when i took the last available towel. Another problem: in order to reach the spa you have to pass the dining areas and/or reception/bar area. Imagine that all the people on the tables are looking at you passing by... Oh, they rented bath robes, but 30 euros/piece seemed too expensive to us. The food was good and the breakfast was generous and good. All 5 rooms we got were quite the same: not too big, but in extremely bad shape. The walls were repaired here and there and they got a paint only on those areas. The doors were creaking, the extra bed in our room had a piece of wood sustaining it, so the feet area was higher than the head area, my daughter had to sleep with her feet upper than her head... My bed was creaking so bad that i woke up every time i moved in my sleep. The bathrooms had all very old knobs and old furniture. The heaters in the rooms and bathrooms were making a permanent water flowing noise, giving us all the sensation that we needed to go use the bathroom. In the room we had a small TV, smoke sensor and a safe. In the bathroom there was a hair dryer. They cleaned up the room every day and changed the towels each time we needed. They say the internet (wi-fi) its free on the common areas, but in reality is working as it wishes and when it wishes... not too much and not well at all. But all the thing above wouldn't upset us too much. The problem was the general attitude, starting with the waiter which wasn't interested to take our orders till he didn't served us with the meal, in the order he wanted, not us, the receptionists who didn't bother too much to inform us about the slope areas and status or that ski bus schedule changed. The only one that really deserve to be mentioned is Peter, the bartender from the hotel taverna. A great guy and a real pro in his duties. Thank you, Peter! The ski room is large enough, with many boots driers, good ski stands and enough places to stay and put the boots on. Also, very close to the exit door. There are 2 ski areas in the neighbourhood: Ankogel area - closest to the hotel and Moltaller Glacier area - about 25 km away. The ski bus was connecting those points, stopping in the front of the hotel, twice a day. At first, because of the lack of snow, the only available area for skiing was the Glacier, the bus needed 45-60 minutes to reach from the hotel. First 4 days, all was good. But after the Ankogel area was partially available for skiing, the ski bus suddenly costed 7 euros per person to reach Moltaller. When we asked at the reception about this, the receptionist said that we should pay and the hotel would refund us those money. But they told us this only after we lost the bus and only because we asked. So, the last 2 days, we went to ski by our own cars. Which had a good part: shortened the time to get there to about 25 minutes. In the departure day, we had to pay our bar bill. And when we reached home, we had the surprise to see that we were billed an extra 48 (!) euros as a resort tax (we were 2 adults and a 15 years child). Being the one that arranged the vacation for the entire group, now I have to explain what is that to the rest of our friends... As a conclusion: things could really be better with a little more interest involved. Its clear that the hotel has a part of 4 stars and one of 3 stars. And they advertise the 4 stars hotel. But its not good to let people think they will get a thing and give them less, even for the right price. For this reason, I won't go back there.

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