Gasthof Engelhof

Friendly staff, good service, and great food.

The restaurant was fantastic. The kitchen and service staff were genuine, funny and accommodating, and the food at breakfast, lunch and dinner was the best. That care didn’t carry over to the rooms, though. The first night there were no towels in mine, and on the second day they took the towels away while I was sleeping in another room. My room smelled strongly of cigarette smoke and other unpleasant odors, and I couldn’t get a proper night’s sleep. The hotel was fully booked, so they said nothing could be done about it. They gave me Febreeze for the curtains; I bought an air freshener locally and left the door and windows open all day and night. None of it helped. I slept in short stretches as the smells drifted around, and mosquitoes got in. At one point I moved the mattress to another room and slept on the floor with a friend. The upside was an early bike ride at sunrise around Traunsee. Housekeeping would knock around 8 or 8:30 each morning and then unlock the door to check whether we’d left. We hadn’t, so it was startling. There was a lot of warmth and care in the restaurant, but I didn’t feel it in the guest rooms.

The rooms were clean, but ours faced the main road and the noise outside kept us awake all night. The vacuum cleaner had us up at 7 in the morning, then around 8:30 a housekeeper knocked, already trying to clean the room as soon as possible. Breakfast at 9:30 was down to a few slices of cheese and ham. Nobody asked if we wanted anything else, and the staff were busy setting up the restaurant for lunch. For a relaxing holiday, this really isn’t the place. Check-in is at 5:30 PM, and nobody responded when we emailed beforehand to ask about arriving earlier. Checkout is already at 10 AM, so it feels like you pay for half a day. We’d heard the restaurant was good, but the day was already spoiled, so we decided not to stay longer.

The staff were truly courteous and friendly, and the cooking was simply excellent.