Hotel Elephant Weimar, Autograph Collection

The breakfast staff never mentioned or offered the egg dishes, so I only found out about those options later from a friend. I paid the same price as other guests but didn't get the same information or choices. At checkout, I was charged twice for the same breakfast. I contacted the hotel myself to ask for a refund and sent my EU bank details (RIB/IBAN). They replied once to ask for “another email address,” which confused me since I only have one. I asked what they meant, then followed up on January 1st. I never heard back after that. When I later contacted them through my booking agent, the hotel said they had “tried to reach me several times by email and phone” and that I “did not provide any bank details.” That's false and unfair. My email records show nothing from them after January 1st. I've been waiting for their reply the whole time. I understand that the New Year holiday period is busy and mistakes can happen. What I can't accept is that, after I raised the issue myself, no one followed up and the responsibility was pushed onto me. It seems the staff member handling my case didn't properly check what happened and blamed the customer instead. That's unnecessary and damages the hotel's reputation. A mistake can happen, but ignoring emails and then blaming the guest instead of fixing things is unacceptable.

The spa was short on towels, and when more were “sent up,” they turned out to be floor mats. That felt like a fitting sign of how little attention was paid to guest comfort. I'm a Bonvoy Platinum guest, but my status, like my complaints, seemed irrelevant. We paid €1,639 for dinner for eight and five deluxe rooms. The evening had started with promise, but the food and the service quickly fell apart. The duck liver was dry, the lamb was aggressively oversalted, and the veal arrived cold and tough, as though heat and management attention couldn't reach it. I raised it with the waiter while the chef was at the table, but they seemed serenely indifferent. My untouched plate was taken away without anyone asking about it. Then our waiter spent five minutes pitching future “gourmet events” and handed out flyers while everyone at the table felt uncomfortable. Reading the room doesn't seem to be part of the Autograph Collection training curriculum. Sharing a house's history is one thing. Flyers for upcoming events are advertising. Trying to report what happened became another mess. Reception said the GM would be told, but they weren't. There was no record the next morning, and still nothing at checkout. Three shifts, no communication. It felt as if the hotel expected problems to disappear if ignored long enough. My response to the owner's reply: Your clarification is factually incorrect. We had a wonderful evening because of the company, not because of your service. Hospitality was notably absent. No one offered me an alternative for the cold, tough veal. I had to go to reception three separate times looking for help, all in vain. If you had put half as much care into resolving the problem that night as you put into writing this public rebuttal, everyone might have left satisfied and impressed. Restaurant Anna at Hotel Elephant Weimar — Autograph Collection turned what should have been a memorable weekend into a case study in arrogance and incompetence. It's a grand hotel in name only, seemingly unaware of what service means. Dinner became a €1,639 lesson in how ignorance can masquerade as refinement. Never again.

I had a great two-day work stay, and the room was spacious and comfortable. The coffee maker was a nice touch, made good coffee, and was restocked during room cleaning. The hotel is handy for visiting Weimar's old town, but the parking lot is small. On my second night, it was full when I got back from dinner, so I had to use a public garage about a seven-minute walk away despite having paid for hotel parking. I didn't try the restaurant.

There was a Christmas fair right across the street, which was really fun, and lots of good food options were an easy walk away. Parking was super easy, too. The room was a little small, but that's understandable in an old building. Service was great, especially for someone who doesn't speak German.