Garni Hotel Savica

“A lovely room and great staff, let down by poor air con and breakfast”

The good: - Lovely room with a balcony looking onto Lake Bled. One of the nicest views I've had from a hotel, and I would highly recommend paying for a lake view room. The rooms at the back look onto a car park. - Very central location - Extremely helpful staff, in particular a young guy on the fr… more

The good: - Lovely room with a balcony looking onto Lake Bled. One of the nicest views I've had from a hotel, and I would highly recommend paying for a lake view room. The rooms at the back look onto a car park. - Very central location - Extremely helpful staff, in particular a young guy on the front desk who helped us with a few issues The less good: - The air con in our room could not cope with July heat and our room was boiling at night. We did go down and ask for a fan, which was provided and did help, but only marginally - I felt the breakfast quality was poor for the price we paid for the hotel (and the price we paid extra for breakfast).

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“€500 per night, extra for water at dinner”

Nice views, okay breakfast, lovely lovely staff and a good location. Let down badly by the almost intrusive insistence of penny-pinching attitudes towards monetising absolutely everything. This is a spa hotel, founded by the man who made Bled the health destination it is today. “Water is good, ai… more

Nice views, okay breakfast, lovely lovely staff and a good location. Let down badly by the almost intrusive insistence of penny-pinching attitudes towards monetising absolutely everything. This is a spa hotel, founded by the man who made Bled the health destination it is today. “Water is good, air is better but sunlight is best of all” he said. I’m sure the owners of the hotel would charge for the air if they could, and the sunshine, because they absolutely grab every cent for the water, and that’s my disappointment with this place. I took dinner in the restaurant. Rikli himself advised a vegetarian diet, but I was not surprised to learn that there was no specific vegetarian option, that’s okay. Would I like a drink with my dinner, I was asked, and offered the wine list. No thank you, just a sparkling water. “Would you like to pay for that now or charge it to the room?” Oh. Then I will just take ordinary water please. “Certainly sir, and would you like to charge to your room or pay for your water directly?” I felt something approaching disgust at this attitude. Water, the central source of the philosophy of the hotel’s founder. Water, the reason people come to Lake Bled, and the reason this hotel can charge almost €500 Per NIGHT. And still they damage their reputation like this, it has left such a poor taste in my memory of my stay that every time I wanted a drink of water I had to sign a receipt proving how badly I had judged my choice of hotel. This is absolutely the equivalent of hotels in the early 90s who insisted on charging for WiFi. Ridiculous and outrageous and outdated. I spoke with some members of staff who were embarrassed by this attitude. I mentioned how GREAT it would be for this Rikli hotel to offer free water in a fountain for guests, right in the lobby. And the next hotel I went to, in the heart of Ljubljana, had exactly that very thing. And the positive impact of such an inexpensive gesture, from a visitor’s perspective, is massive, unforgettable. It speaks to kindness, and understanding, and wellness : the very things that Rikli the hotel WANTS to be, but seems to have forgotten the way.

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