Plaza Premium Salzburg

I had booked three nights, and the first passed without trouble. On the second night, after returning to our room past 9pm, my wife showered first and found the water cold. Changing the taps made no difference, unlike the comfortably warm water on our first night. She had already shampooed, so had to finish showering in the cold. I waited about 30 minutes, then called reception twice, five minutes apart, with no answer. Downstairs, a bearded receptionist apologized and said the water heater was having problems and a technician was on the way, but he couldn't say when it would be fixed. When we passed reception, he and another receptionist greeted us, but no one had warned us the hot water was faulty. We could have adjusted our plans. My wife had to shower cold after a day outside in sub-zero temperatures, started coughing that night, and was still coughing four days after we checked out. The hot water was fixed on the morning of day three, but was cold again when we returned for our last night. A woman at reception answered my call and said they'd check and get back to me, but no one did, and after nearly 45 minutes the water was still cold. My wife called again, and the woman said there was no problem on their end. We asked someone to come up and check. A petite woman tested the shower and said, “Understandably it wouldn’t be possible to shower with this water, but there’s nothing we can do until next morning when technical staff are onsite”. She apologized and left. The next morning the taps were still freezing. At checkout, three women staying in the room next door confirmed their taps had no warm water either. This was by far my worst hotel stay, especially for a 4-star hotel. My Expedia and Google reviews have never given a hotel one star before. I deducted one star for the hot water problem, one because they didn't give us advance warning, one because the staff on the third night knowingly refused to acknowledge the issue, and one for the lack of amenities for a 4-star hotel.

The rooms were worth the money, but the service was bad. We stayed two nights and rated the rooms 4.5/5, service 2/5, and location 5/5. We arrived at noon, knowing check-in was at 3PM, and asked for an early room. The receptionist said none was ready, but that we could pay 20EUR if we wanted. We left our bags to go sightseeing and came back at 3PM for the keys. The room was still being prepared at 3:20, and after being asked to wait another 10 minutes, we finally got in around 3:30/3:35. Since we planned to check out very early, around 5AM on the third day, we asked at checkout about a breakfast package. The receptionist said they could provide one, and I was glad they acknowledged the request. I reminded them again on the second evening, but at checkout the next day a different receptionist simply said no, the cook wasn't there yet and it would take time. That was pathetic. I was happy with the rooms, definitely not the service.

Salzburg is beautiful, but this hotel ruined the experience for us. The rooms were unclean, and staff were rude, dismissive, and unwilling to take responsibility. They even took away water from the free containers. The bearded man at reception was especially rude and disrespectful. They also told us breakfast wasn't included, although it was in our booking, and we had to argue to get that recognized. Nobody at reception listened, and their body language was rude. I've traveled for years and never encountered this kind of hospitality in the hotel industry. We booked through an agency, but I would never stay here by choice. Staff were indifferent and unhelpful. Avoid this hotel.

We booked a twin room with separate beds back in October, but were given a room with one bed. At reception, before we could finish explaining, a woman who may have been the manager or front office manager cut in and told us to go back while housekeeping came to separate the bed. We tried to explain there was only one bed box, so it couldn't be separated, but her rather sarcastic tone made us return to the room and pass on the concern instead. We waited almost an hour, then went down again. They said housekeeping would come at 5pm. Since it was only 4pm, we repeated that the bed couldn't be separated, and were moved from room 310 to 122. Why weren't the reception staff, especially the manager, familiar with the room types, or at least checking with housekeeping? The room was large, but the toilet smelled of urine, a piece of toilet paper was missing, and the bath mat was a hand towel. Our room key was deactivated and had to be changed at reception, and nobody cleaned our room on the second day. The only good thing was the hotel's location, close to town.