Pension Hellerau

Top!

The owners were very friendly, and dogs are welcome if you ask. There's a refrigerator with drinks in the breakfast room, and breakfast is generous and good. The price is great too. Pension Hellerau is in a quiet spot a bit outside Dresden's Old Town, but public transport makes it easy to reach. We'd love to come back.

Room 10 isn't one I'd recommend. The location is excellent, in a beautiful, quiet area, and there's parking, though spaces are limited so it pays to arrive early. Lidl is within walking distance at 1.3 km. We found the beds comfortable, but the pillows were too soft for us, though that's personal preference. There was no fan in the attic room, no outlet or extension cord near the bed, and no bedroom wastebasket, just one in the bathroom. Four windows had no blinds or blackout curtains, so the first sunlight came straight in. At night, two motion-sensor lights from the neighbor's apartment repeatedly shone a cool white light into the room. I pointed this out to staff and said we'd slept badly, but they didn't seem to care. The Wi-Fi also stopped working from the second night. My wife, our baby, and I were invited to a big anniversary birthday party in Dresden. The host arranged the accommodation for the guests, and I hadn't made the booking myself. We reserved two nights for two adults and a child under one, and the description said there'd be a crib. I called the guesthouse the morning we arrived to check the check-in time and confirm the crib. They said they knew nothing about it and that the room was too small. They offered no solution, blamed me for not calling earlier, and said the woman had no time because she had to handle breakfast. I was about to drive 400 km to Dresden without a place for my baby to sleep and felt brushed off. I got irritated. The woman said they could do without guests like me; I said I agreed and hung up. I contacted the host and explained what happened, asking them to cancel properly so there'd be no extra costs. Shortly after, the host told me to go to the guesthouse, where we'd get a bigger room with a crib. The condition was to cancel through HRS and make a new booking directly with the guesthouse, supposedly saving its HRS fee and getting us a better deal. We actually paid €7 more, but I wasn't going to argue about it. The morning after the first night, I told a staff member we'd slept really badly and wanted to pay right away, so I could leave immediately on the second night if we slept badly again. Paying was no problem, but no one asked why we'd slept poorly. I then said, "No problem, I paid," and explained that the four windows had no curtains and the neighbor's light kept shining in. He said he'd never heard that before, but didn't seem to care. If the windows still can't be darkened, it seems nobody really cares. The attic room has no fan, so bring your own if it's moderately warm outside. Bring an extension cord too, since outlets are scarce.

The owners are very friendly, and dogs are welcome, which mattered most to me. The family-run guesthouse is in a quiet, green setting, with clean, comfortable rooms, a pleasantly heated pool, and a modern breakfast room.