Harfenwirt Hotel

2 readers found this review helpful

We had previously stayed at the Sonnshein Hotel and really enjoyed the holiday. As this Hotel was fully booked we decided to stay at the sister hotel, Harfenwirt. We had read the reviews but decided to find out for ourselves!
On arrival we were told that Herbert was somewhere and would eventually turn up. After waiting for 1/2 hour we decided to go off and get some lunch, leaving our luggage in the bar area. On our return Herbert handed us a key card and got his daughter to take us through the dining room into the new wing to our room. To be fair the room was really nice, balcony with a view towards Neiderau, and a lovely heated floor in the bathroom!! We then discovered that there were no fire/emergency evacuation details in the room. In fact, there was nothing in the room to tell us anything about the hotel at all (ie. meal times, directions to the pool etc).
We booked the hotel as it stated it had a swimming pool. But the pool did not open until the Wednesday, and the sauna etc were never open.
On our first night we were told where to sit at meal times, and to sit there all week. The next morning was fine, but that evening Herbert had put someone else at our table. On asking a waitor what was happening and then him ignoring us for 20 mins we finally found Herbert and all he said was 'to go and sit down'. Eventually we managed to get him to understand that we had nowhere to sit, so he found us another table stating 'sit there all week'. The food was luke warm and not great. The service was ok, but the staff seemed very confused as to what they were supposed to be doing.
We were told by the reps that Herbert locked the front door of the hotel at 11pm. We asked him if this was the case, and he said no, the door was no longer locked at night. Christmas evening we spent in the Irish bar and returned to the hotel at 1am to find the front door locked. Luckily we were with another couple who were staying in the original part of the hotel and had a 'key' which we eventually found activated the front door. On entering the so called reception area (as there is rarely anyone on reception), we found that all inner doors were locked. As the only way we had been shown (by his daughter) to our room was through the dining area, we had no idea how to get back to our room. After searching around the hotel and trying all doors we eventually found a door that opened into the kitchen! We walked through the kitchen into the dining area to find that the door from that area to our corridor was also locked. Eventually we found that by going downstairs out of the dining area into a lift, where the doors open both sides, we could access our corridor.
Whilst on the note about the interior doors being locked, we were due to leave the hotel at 5am for the airport transfer, only to find yet again, even on that morning, all interior doors were locked.
On our last full day there, we were informed in the morning that in the evening we were being moved from the dining room (for our evening meal) as Herbert was putting on a private party there for his brother. That evening were were all squashed (or as Herbert put it 'cosy') into the bar area (where the bar was never open, although the hotel states 2 bars), where the waiters did not have a clue as to what they were doing, and the room was really cold and draughty. We were disgusted that as paying guests were were 'removed' from the dining area for Herbert to hold a private party.
We have been to Neiderau twice now and love the resort, skiing with red ski school, but would not consider returning to the Harfenwirt.

3 readers found this review helpful

Stayed at the harfenwirt jan 2008 it was through last minute.com £190 each cant complain at that, we stayed in the annex about 100 meters up the road and at first were a little dissapointed at not been in the hotel its self, but as it turned out it was a large clean room with onsuite and great views. There is the added bonus of been right next to the biklewirt herbert`s sisters b&b great little local bar in there a bit like someones living room, here we sampled the local brew,krautsinger(not sure about spelling) be warned!!!!
Yes herbert is a bit of a grumpy git but he is quite entertaining and welcomed us every morning for breakfast> Food is ok and different every night. The table seating is a bit of a lotery because you will probably share your table with other people we had a great time with the the people we sat with.
To sum up its ok its right oppersite the slopes dont expect top quality food and there is plenty of atmosphere in the bar, there is not a lot of choice for ski runs but the ski schools are excelent and very well run. take a kettle and some tea and coffee there ant no facilities in the room wich is one real gripe.
Anyway cant be that bad booked to go next feb same hotel

7 readers found this review helpful

I totally agree agree with all the positive reviews I have read. We are definitely going back there next year. No guests we stayed with moaned about the food, and there were full tables each night, so nobody was choosing to eat elsewhere. I have food allergies that were very well catered for (gluten-free). The staff were very good, and work very hard. Herbert seems to oversee everything. Admittedly if I had paid the full brochure price, I would have expected more from the accomodation and food, and could have been slightly disappointed (although not with the staff, or hospitality), but we paid £220 each through lastminute.com. What a bargain for August. It was very clean, and the hospitality was wonderful.
Inghams is a very good operator, and we will be travelling with them again. The flights and transfers from Manchester were very comfortable and timely both ways. For those who complain that the transfer takes a long time to Niederau (about 2.5 hours from Salzburg), I would say that to be transported into the middle of a beautiful valley away from the stresses of busy townlife does take time (not a motorway in sight), although it is the most scenic transfer I have ever taken. If you book through Inghams / lastminute and are travelling with children, request to fly to Innsbruck instead (only 75 mins or so transfer). That is what some people who were on their subsequent stays said they did.
The Inghams rep, Sarah was lovely, and could not do enough to help everyone. She is very knowledgeable of the area, having repped on and off in the region since 1988. Her welcoming presentation is also very informative and worth attending.
We will be going again, and other guests we spoke to also said the same. For some people staying at Harfenwirt, it was their return from a previous trip, so people do return to the region, and we are not surprised - stunning scenery and walking. We were also treated with a lovely week of weather, 26 - 32 degrees 27th August - 3rd September.
The one tip I will leave for people reading this, is that the drinks are expensive in the Harfenwirt, but the drinks at the hotel right next door to it with the children's farmyard and playground are cheaper, and the white beer is recommended. Most evenings, we went there after dinner - the landlord does not mind your children playing there, although he does expect the grown ups at least relax with a drink there from his bar. One evening, he was letting the children ride his pony, but the small animals are always there for them, and the baby llama is very soft. We let our daughter play there every evening, before retreating to our balcony on the annexe Herbert put us in. We were expecting two double beds and a shower/wc in the annexe. What we got was a room with a kitchenette, dining area and balcony, a bathroom, and a separate sideroom for our daughter,. The decoration was dated, but you do not go there to stay in your room, and it is all very traditional over in the annexes, very nice, and very spotless!

3 readers found this review helpful

We booked a late deal via lastminute.com for one week half board with Inghams. We paid £776 for 2 adults & 2 children, half board flying from our local airport, Southampton, which was an absolute bargain. Having read the mixed reviews on this website after booking, particularly regarding the apparently infamous Herbert, it was with some trepidation that we set off.
Firstly, the flight with Austrian airways was first class. Courteous staff served an qualitymeal and came round three times offering drinks, ranging from tea, coffee, apple juice and red and white wine! Having been victim to Ryanair's awful service earlier in the year, this flight was a breath of fresh air. Landing at Salzburg, we were quickly met by Inghams reps who showed us to modern air-conditioned coaches. One down-side was the 3 hour trip to Niederau, lengthened by the need to drop off visitors to other resorts along the way (note the hotel Austria at St Johann looked very good).
Arrriving at the Harfenwirt we were met by Herbert and made us stand in line whilst he alone carried out the formalities of booking us in. He asked us the age of our children and upon hearing 8 & 11 years said "I think vee vill put you on zee first floor as vee need zee control over children you know". This immediately made me think the stories about him were true. The rooms were basic en-suite, but perfectly adequate and clean. Upon going down for our first evening meal, true to the reports, Herbert was waiting to allocate us to the table at which we must sit at for the whole week. Most tables sit at around 8 people, so it is likely you will be sat with another family or couples. Fortunately, we were "paired" with a perfectly nice family.
Much discussion has been made about the meals. Yes they are a little basic, but perfectly adequate and filling. Each evening meal consists of home-made soup, followed by an all you can eat salad selection, main course and pudding. The main courses were a little basic, for example we once had frozen battered fish one evening and on a number of occasions had frozen croquet potatoes and carrots. Conversely, we also had a very nice venison stew and home-made lasagne. Each day you have a choice of two mains, plus vegetarian which you must chose at breakfast. Breakfast consists of bread/rolls/jam, ham, cheese, salami etc, basic cereals, natural yoghurt and tea/coffee/hot chocolate - breakfast does not vary at all throughout the week. Had I paid full price (about £1500) I would not have been happy, but for less than £800 I really could not complain. There are no tea-making facilites in rooms, so you are obliged to buy drinks whenever you want one, a round for 2 adults/ 2 childrem working out at around 11 Euros. The waitresses/waiters were perrfectly nice and friendly, provided you treated them with the respect they deserved, as they seemed to always be on duty from dawn till dusk. This may sound snobbish, but one good thing about Austria is that it attracts a decent standard of UK guest, ie it is CHAV-free.
I would single out Sarah, the English Inghams resort rep, for particular praise as she was particularly friendly and helpful and was at the hotel most mornings. Inghams offer a number of excursions and we were very happy with the four that we went on. All Inghams customers seem to have had 1 free excursion included in their package, a nice trip to Ratttenburg and then on to Lake Achensee - a lovely day out.
There was significant building work nearing completion at the time of our visit, providing new bedrooms and dining areas. I suspect that those people on late deals will not be put in the nice new rooms.
In summary, had I paid the full price I would not have been particularly happy, but the late deal made the slightly basic rooms and food very bearable: Just think about the money you've saved and go out and enjoy yourself by spending the saving on trips etc. Even Herbert was perfectly agreeable and made a point of asking guests if all was well.
Providing the weather is nice, there is a surprising amount to do in the area and if it is not, go on the excursions to places like Innsbruck.

1 reader found this review helpful

Having just come back from a weeks stay at this hotel I want to say if you get the chance to go here do so, we had read negative reports so went with an open mind, one person complaining they waited a long time to be checked into their room so when we arrived Herbert the manager told us our room was not ready so we sat outside the front of the hotel and bought drinks and apple strudel something not to be missed. Herbert then took us to the Annexe with our cases although it is only a short walk away and do not worry if you are in the Annexe as the rooms are very comfy although can be noisy if anyone is above you as all the floors are wooden and creak. Towels were changed every day and the cleaner actually gets down on her hands and knees to wash the bathroom floor. Meals are eaten in the main hotel and Herbert places you at your table with other people for your holiday, for us we have made good friends. Breakfast was a choice of cold meats, cheeses,bread rolls, jams, honey, yoghurt and 3 types of cereal, fruit juice, and a pot of coffee or tea per family. Evening meal was soup then as much salad you wanted then each morning you would have a choice of evening meal (2 choices) then dessert. One of the things Herbert does is play the harp in a neighbouring hotel, do not miss it as you all sing along. One very good trip to go on is the Bummelbahn train, nicknamed the Noddy train, it goes on the road and you can get off at certain villages, a great way to get around,We went to the Wood Museum in Auffach, well worth the 4 euro's to go into. Gondola was only a short walk away fron our hotel and the walks from the top of the mountain are well signposted, you can do easy or difficult. In Nierderau there are a couple of gift shops, a spar and a large super market, if you want more shops mainly gift shops the best place to go to is Rattenberg this trip was free to us being an Inghams customer and you also get a chance to see the glass blowers at work.One person I must praise is Sarah our rep. she knows what she is talking about and is at the hotel most days.This hotel is just about to open a new extension the work was just about completed, so you may be lucky enough to stay in the new part but where ever you are I'm sure you will enjoy it.

2 readers found this review helpful

We arrived at about 10 at night and were unable simply to go our room as we would have wished as we had to be driven there and therefore had to go to the dining room first, where a sorry collection of cold meat and cheese was offered - and whoever has the job of cutting gherkins in half should be told that their time is worth much more then half a gherkin - having experienced the meals during the week I do wonder if soup at least could not be kept warm for late-arriving guests.
After this we were driven to our accommodation by Herbert. It was a small guest house, and Herbert handed us a key and pointed upstairs, but failed utterly to inform us that we were 2 flights up, leaving us wandering around desperately looking for our room on the next floor. The room itself was so small it was impossible for two people to pass each other round the bed. As it was a cheap holiday we had not been expecting a balcony, but the window was so small and close under the eaves that the room was unbearably hot most of the time, a fact which I mentioned to Herbert the next morning and which he dismissed with little courtesy. Ironically, since it was a non-smoking room, the smoke from the chimney blew in almost constantly. There was no outside area reserved for hotel guests, so there were times when, going out for air, we were faced with drunken visitors. On the nights when there was the harp-playing (think gathering round the old piano for a drunken singalong but replace piano with harp) the noise even 2 flights up was tremendous - we certainly didn't need to be in the bar to hear it, tho Herbert saw fit to tell us off at breakfast for not having attended!
The food tasted fine, and there was enough of it, but it was very, very salty. As drinks were very expensive (a small cup of tea, served with condensed milk, was nearly £2 for instance) for me dehydration became an issue, and for that reason I stopped eating in the restaurant. I was quite happy providing for myself, and did not make a big deal of it, but it did not go unnoticed - Herbert literally stopped talking to me for a couple of days, and wouldn't so much as look at me when we met each other in passing. Toward the end of the week he decided to ask my partner and me about it, and I simply commented that it had been making me ill. After this he seemed to feel that heavy-handed flirting would be the best way of dealing with the problem!
The trips out were expensive (and yes, I know that the exchange rate isn't helping with prices) and it always took significantly more time to get where we were going than we were told it would - by about a quarter - and this included the transfers to and from the airport. We went on the trip to the glacier and felt that the tour guide was far more interested in his own skiing than in being informative. We had not wanted to go all the way to the top, but he persuaded us that it was wonderful and it wasn't - the final cable car trip was a nightmare for my partner who suffers from vertigo (and not pleasant even for me, and I have a good head for heights) and at the top it was so crowded that it was difficult to see the views (always people in the way) and there was then a half-hour queue to come down again, which ate into the limited time we had there far too much. We both wished that the tour guide had told us the facts, and let us make up our own minds rather than pushing us into a more expensive trip which we didn't really want to make. And if you have a problem with heights DON'T go right to the top!
The staff were, in the main, friendly and polite. The rooms were clean tho the beds were not changed at all in the week we were there - and with white sheets and duvet covers this was not ideal.
The walking is good, but don't trust the maps as they are not wholly reliable - we went a couple of hours out of our way because the map was inaccurate!
As a final point don't bother buying sandwiches from the local shop (meat and cheese, not cheap) but go on to the bigger supermarket (past the Spar) where there is a lovely range and very reasonable prices.

My husband and I have just returned from a weeks holiday at the Harfenwirt with our 8 year old daughter. Having read the reviews before we went we were rather worried about what we would be greated with. Once we got over the initial shock of the basic and dated rooms we had a great holiday. The rooms were clean and comfortable and serviced by the maids each day. We spent little time in the room as the weather was so good.
Herbert was very welcoming and keen to help where necessary. The breakfast was basic and there was a choice of two mains each night. We went expecting to eat out some nights but the need didn't arise. There was always something that we all liked.
We were sat on a table with another family who had a 9 year old son and he hit it off with our daughter from the beginning. Normally we keep ourselves to ourselves on holiday but the family we sat with were friendly and easy to get on with and helped to make our holiday. Although we rated the hotel 5/10 we had an excellent holiday and would definately consider going back again.

2 readers found this review helpful

we booked a last minute holiday to this hotel and went with an open mind having read mixed reports.we paid £250 each but that is not the point many we spoke to had paid almost £500 and had exactly the same holiday. the hotelis very dated and in need of decoration. our room was basic but very clean the maid srevice was good in fact it was the only posative thing i can say.there was no tea making facilities in room unless you paid for them.there was building work going on which we did know about but did not expect it to start at 6.45 every morning with cement mixeroutside our room.the sauna whirl pool were not working you do have use of the outdoor pool at the sister hotel but they omit to tell you in the brochure that you have to pay for it and you cannot use the indoor pool. meal times you have to share a table with whoever herbert sits you with and that is your table for the week. the food was awful i have travelled all over the world and am not a fusy eater but have had better in a youth hostel.out of the 7 nights we had pork on 5 and the second choice was often pork based,veg was frozen there were flies everywhere we had to purchase candles to keep them at bay.three nights the sweet was instant whip and the last night some inedible cake.
the salad is the same 6 things every day and is never covered.breakfast is watered down orange lukewarm coffee no choice of breads with chopped pork and cheese. no fruit on offer at any meal. there was atyrol evening on the monday where we were rushed out of the diningroom unless we paid 10 euros.this is by no stretch of the imagination a three star hotel.i would return to austria as it is a lovelyplace but not to this hotel

fantastic hotel. Superb location the village is so peaceful. Views fantastic will definately be going again.
Staff in the hotel very polite and proffessional and food great
Cant fault anything. Recommend it

This is an excelllent hotel. Herbert is very friendly. The food is very good with a wide choice.
The views are breathtaking. The village is very quiet and peaceful. A great place to get away from it all.
Are going back again this year. Definately recommend this hotel. Great hotel with a great location and is very popular
Had a brilliant holiday