Hotel Birkenhof Therme

First the positive: The Poseidon Therme is a place to feel good, which is something that cannot be said of the Hotel Birkenhof. We had booked a comfort room for eight nights. The room was certainly renovated a few years ago and had a small but nice bathroom and in front of it a walk-in closet that took up so much space in the room that the cozy seating area advertised in the comfort room consisted of a greasy sofa bed that stood at the foot of the bed. The television was the size of a medium-sized computer screen and was attached to the foot of the bed on a swivel arm. A wobbly affair. Fortunately the floor was covered with laminate, because the carpets we saw in the hotel were a nightmare for any barefoot walker. The room cleaning, apart from making the beds, was a rush and over in a flash. The RESTAURANT does not deserve the name, which is not the fault of the service staff. If there is no basis, you cannot offer your guests anything. For breakfast, baked rolls from the discounter, carelessly filled plates with cheese and sausage from the bulk pack without any decoration such as parsley or similar, fruit salad from a tin and, if you were lucky, fresh apples. The coffee in the morning and in the afternoon was undrinkable from a bucket with a tap reminiscent of a youth hostel. The only alternative was tea. Dinner with main courses that changed daily. You can't really talk about culinary art. Example: "Our kitchen is serving you an Italian buffet today." Great anticipation! Spaghetti or spiral pasta with Bolognese sauce or cheese sauce. And a bowl of olives on the salad buffet. Any Italian would be ashamed. In one sentence: never again Birkenhof.

Excellent value for money. I absolutely cannot understand the negative reviews. The rooms are a bit dated but very spacious. We were in building 2. The food was impeccable. The in-house thermal baths are the highlight. Only the underground parking spaces are overpriced considering they are extremely narrow.

The hotel is in dire need of renovation. Our room in the attic had a strong musty smell. The carpeting is probably from the 1960s, the couch and armchair were comfortable but also quite musty. The single beds were in a niche with a gap of about 40 cm. The bathroom only had a bathtub in which you were supposed to shower, which is a problem for older people. Everything is out of date. The staff, especially reception, are very unfriendly. The evening meal was a total disaster. There was no salt or other spices and most of the meat was ready-made frozen food. The paid underground car park is too narrow for today's cars, so that you could sometimes only get out on one side. There are very few parking spaces for the hotel, but we were able to park in the reserved part of other hotels. All in all, the whole holiday was spoiled by the problems. We know better hotels in this category. Never again at Birkenhof and do not recommend it.

The hotel is very nice, a beautiful thermal bath, direct access from the room! Unfortunately, management has been poor for several years, telephone accessibility has been miserable for several years (band "All lines busy, please wait", then you are kicked out), pricing is dubious (on 15.1.23 double room half board pp 145.00 (SORRY "accidentally 2022 prices"), on 16.1. telephone message 160.00, after immediate reservation at this price and complaint of missing confirmation on 21.2.23 189.00 € (although on the website the previous day 178.00 (SORRY: "typo")

We booked through a tour operator. Unfortunately, this hotel did not quite match the description. OK, for the price, expectations have to be lowered. But not that much. I parked the car in the outdated underground car park. Unfortunately, the spaces had not yet been adapted to the new car park sizes. But that applies to all hotels. My wife waited for the key, supported by assistants. But it was not given to her. She was supposed to pay the amount for the visitor's tax and parking garage in cash immediately. She had no money and so had to wait until I arrived. Payment by credit card was then taken with grumbling. The rooms were clean, the furniture could do with replacing it. The room also had a tube TV. I had to complain 3 times during the week that the buffet had to be restocked. Breakfast consisted of the simplest types of sausage, 2 types of hard cheese and 3 x Brie/Camembert in one week. The composition and preparation of the evening buffet was like canteen food from the 70s/80s. On the first few evenings there was no pale wheat beer. Either the person buying the goods was incompetent or there were problems with the supplier. Anyone who thinks badly of asking for cash is a scoundrel. The WiFi in the lobby was a joke. It worked occasionally. Many emails had to be rewritten several times because the connection was lost during the sending process. The emails were neither in the sent folder nor in the draft folder and especially not with the recipient. The hotel's Internet PC was notable for its slowness and interrupted processes. My request to speak to the management was rejected because no one was available. Bath towels were also only exchanged with grumbling. The greatest impertinence was that I did not receive the bill for my drinks until I had paid by credit card. There was an item listed for which there was no receipt signed by me. The lady at reception was more than unfriendly when I complained about this. The service does not make booking errors and the signature had probably been forgotten. Neither the bill nor the credit card was cancelled. This made it impossible. Request from a management representative as above. The thermal baths could use some renovation. But for the purpose of our stay, they met our expectations.

We booked at short notice, with half board. When we arrived, we were asked to pay, the parking garage and tourist tax were due before we were even greeted. Are the parking spaces designed for Bobby Cars??? We had enormous problems parking without an accident with our normal-sized car. Others were not so lucky, all the support pillars have massive scratches... There are no other parking options. The rooms are sufficiently large with a seating area and wide beds. However, the furniture exudes the charm of the early 80s, and it urgently needs to be redesigned. Tube TVs are definitely out of date. The cleaning was rather careless, beds were made, but not much more, not even the bathroom was properly cleaned. I never walked on the carpet without shoes! A drinking glass provided was not replaced once in a week. Towels were only changed once. The thermal baths look pretty good at first glance, but on closer inspection, there is a huge backlog of renovation work here too. Calcified, cracked tiles, old shower curtains, defects simply covered up. In addition, the thermal spa area is much too small for the hotels connected to it, especially in bad weather. The absolute "highlight" was the food on offer. The breakfast selection was rather small, the same every day, only on Sundays there were additional pastries. Tough rolls, cheap sausage and cheese selection, jam, honey and nougat cream as well as muesli and yoghurt. Some vegetables, eggs and an indefinable (egg?) salad that could also be used to grout tiles. Well, you could fill yourself up with it. Dinner was beyond reproach, instant soup, two main courses that you can get better in any school cafeteria, dessert also from a practical packet. From the third evening onwards we ate out, luckily there are good restaurants on site. I wasn't expecting gourmet cuisine or meter-long buffets at all, just properly prepared dishes. Everything here is dirt cheap and mass-produced. The dining room is also much too small for the hotel. The staff (always the same people) have to run like weasels and are still friendly. A little praise here! The elevator was broken from Monday until we left, impossible for many disabled guests/seniors. I don't even want to talk about the internet (which internet?!?). Complaints in many areas, which I have heard a lot of, don't really bother anyone here. I'm not particularly picky, you can always find a fly in the ointment, but this... We made the best of the week and were even able to laugh at the end about the total disaster, but never again at this hotel!