Hotel Livia

We were a family of four with two small children, staying for a long weekend. The room’s amenities matched the €680 price, but the service and most of the staff’s behavior were extremely poor and arrogant. The exceptions were Red and Lisa in the spa area. Several times, we asked for the hotel entrance to be opened and then waited outside locked doors for over 10 minutes in below-zero temperatures. It only needed a button to be pressed, but the staff said they were working and seemed not to care about guests. We had to take a long flight of stairs instead, carrying a stroller with the children. I’ll leave the other problems aside. I usually don’t complain, and I often leave bad reviews unwritten, but I’m truly furious this time. I’m not recommending for or against the hotel; people can make up their own minds.

We spent a week at Villa Livia with our son, and the place was clean and very well maintained. We really liked the swimming pool. Breakfast, though, was only mediocre. Having to depend on the gatekeeper whenever we entered or left the grounds was inconvenient and took a lot of time.

The breakfast was the one real letdown, and on its own it would only earn two out of five stars. Guarded parking means parking somewhere within the hotel’s fenced grounds, at €15 per night. The underground passages between the hotels are a real maze, but once you find the elevator, getting down the hill into town is easy. We had first booked Gregory House Hotel, but a problem with the room led to an upgrade to Hotel Livia. The rooms were almost too much for two people: two bedrooms, two bathrooms, a living room, and an extra toilet. The pool is beautifully designed, and there was always room for us. We also had very good massages in the hotel complex. Our weekend in Karlovy Vary was lovely, with quick access to the city and very good restaurants nearby.

Getting to our hotel meant going in through the neighboring building, which was confusing at first. Leaving the grounds also involved a small detour. The rooms were luxurious, and the grounds beautiful. Most of the staff were friendly and helpful, though breakfast was rather mediocre.