Hotel Bad Winkel

The owner’s behavior made our stay at Hotel Bad Winkel extremely uncomfortable. It felt personal, hostile and intrusive from the start. At check-in, on New Year’s Eve, she took our passports, saying she needed them “to file.” She didn’t give them back until we asked, and then we found them left out in a cupboard where anyone could have taken them. That careless handling of our personal documents was alarming. We got back to the hotel around 2:00 a.m., which seemed reasonable on New Year’s Eve. We weren’t loud or bothering anyone, and had only walked a few feet from the parking spot to the entrance. Still, the owner was waiting for us and yelled before we’d even gone inside. After that, she stayed cold and hostile toward us. We were traveling with our dog and paid an €80 extra cleaning fee, even though our dog is a service dog. The owner kept monitoring us and came into our room unannounced several times, including twice while we were asleep. That felt like a serious invasion of privacy. One evening my brother, who was staying at another hotel, came up to our room for no more than five minutes. The owner followed him upstairs, waited outside until he left, then unlocked our door with her key and opened it without knocking. She said she was “waiting until he leaves.” It was shocking and completely inappropriate. Guests shouldn’t be treated like children or criminals, and a brief visit from family shouldn’t be a problem. Each morning she asked whether we wanted the room cleaned. We always said yes and told her we were about to head out, but it was never cleaned during our stay. It felt as if the questions were just a reason to check on the room because of our dog. We were so uneasy that we took all our valuables with us every day, not knowing when she might come in again. The glares, constant monitoring and lack of basic courtesy made the place tense and unwelcoming. Our dog caused no damage, and we left the room in perfect condition. This felt more like staying in the home of a grumpy person who clearly didn’t want us there than at a hotel. If you value privacy, professionalism or basic hospitality, I strongly recommend staying somewhere else.