Pension Ulrich

After nine years of spending five days each year at Pension Ulrich, this experience still bothers me. In the first few years, Mrs. Ulrich was lovely, the rooms were clean and comfortable, and breakfast was delicious. We recommended the guesthouse to a friend. His wife was ill, so he couldn't stay the first night. I left Mrs. Ulrich a note asking her not to make him breakfast, to avoid waste, while making clear that he would still pay for everything. After that, her attitude toward us changed. The next year, my colleague and I rented rooms there again. I'd had a stroke just three days earlier and felt awful. On Friday, my husband went alone to Kronenburg to help set up the Christmas market. I couldn't eat, so I only asked him to bring my boiled egg to the room. Mrs. Ulrich immediately made a rude remark about it. During all those years, she never once offered us bread or cake to take along, even though she knew we couldn't get lunch at the Christmas market on Fridays and Saturdays. We're French and always left a lot of breakfast behind. On our ninth and last visit, a Monday as we were getting ready to leave, Mrs. Ulrich came to our room, yanked the door from my husband's hand, and shouted that my colleague had left without paying. His wife was still in the room, and he was only out walking the dog, which had slept in the car. Then Mrs. Ulrich complained that the room smelled of tobacco. From our second visit onward, she'd rented us the apartment and specifically said smoking was allowed because she smoked too. We only ever smoked by the open kitchen window, since we don't like the smell ourselves. That's no way to treat regular guests. Be friendly until you're sure someone will stay, then you can be rude. We've since found a lovely holiday apartment in Stadtkyll, owned by a lovely family, where we feel very welcome.

The room was clean, with big windows looking out onto greenery, and it was right beside the stream. Mrs. Ulrich was so warm and welcoming, and everything was thoughtfully arranged with lovely attention to detail. The whole place felt tasteful, more like a four-star hotel than a guesthouse. We felt right at home and would happily return to Mrs. Ulrich's anytime :).

The room was clean and nicely furnished, and the bathroom was spotless. Still, I couldn't sleep well. I'd never encountered such argumentative, rude behavior before, and after what happened I felt so unwelcome that I cried and considered finding another place. We'd booked a room at Pension Ulrich months ahead by email with Ms. Ramona Ulrich. We were going to a wedding nearby and had agreed together that we could check in early, between 12:30 and 1 PM, instead of the regular 3 PM. We had several kilometers to drive, and holiday traffic on the highways held us up badly. While stuck, I wrote to let Ms. Ulrich know we'd be late, which seemed like the considerate thing to do. Her reply was upsetting: “That's not very nice” and “If you want to check in so early, you should stick to it. Then you could have contacted me earlier.” I was confused because we'd contacted her as soon as we were caught in traffic. I also wondered if perhaps she had a point, though there was nothing we could do about the delay. When we finally arrived, Ms. Ulrich opened the door and looked at the clock. She didn't return my greeting. I told her I was upset by the way she'd written to me, and she was visibly angry, saying we'd thrown her whole schedule off. My partner said there was no need to argue over the time now that we were there, and that she could have told us to arrive by 1 PM before leaving us outside a locked door. We could talk it through. Ms. Ulrich replied, “I don't even know you, this is a matter between Mrs. K. and me!” My partner said we belonged together. I asked if she could show us the room. She said, “Yes, sir...” and gave me a long, spiteful look. We kept arguing about the lost hour. Three times in all, she told us we could leave. She then said we'd have to pay in advance because she didn't know whether she'd see us the next day. My partner misunderstood and asked if she thought we'd leave without paying. We were speaking politely, since we depended on the guesthouse. Ms. Ulrich accused us of twisting her words and said we could go straight back, calling us cheeky. We apologized, but she continued to call us totally cheeky and rude. One night for two people, without breakfast, cost €67. My partner was flustered and first put down €60. I said, “Honey, I'm missing €10.” He replied, “Oh, yeah, right...” and added more. Ms. Ulrich then said, “Oh, I'm too stupid to count...” We were outraged and speechless. As we stood in the room, we heard Ms. Ulrich talking outside the open window above us: “They'll be gone tomorrow!” We gritted our teeth and went to the wedding.

This was our third time at Pension Ulrich, and everything was just as good again. The room was cozy and nicely put together, Mrs. Ulrich was friendly, and breakfast was delicious. Highly recommend it.