Reviews of Fischerwirt Hotel, Zell am See, Austria

The hotel was clean and...

Overall Rating:

2/10

Board Basis:

Half Board

Date of Holiday:

Feb 2005

Tour Operator:

crystal

Submitted By:

Mr G Germaine

Comments:

The hotel was clean and functional but hardly worth the 4 star rating. The ordinary waiting staff were pleasant and helpful but as for the barman and the owner of the hotel they left something to be desired. The barman was always pushing the more costly wines upon us when we were only looking for a quiet drink not a wine tasting session!



The gala night was a disaster as we were left waiting for almost two hours to get the first course due the late arrival of the other guests. (the gala night understanding had to be explained to all parties as no one had a clue what this meant locally). Instead what they should have done was to set a time for all the guests to arrive by so we all could eat together but when we complained our food arrived which set off an explosion of complaints by the other guests and rightly so due to the amount of time we were left waiting to dine.



The food although varied was something else to behold. 3 of our party ate out rather the face the food the hotel served. On one occasion a meat dish arrived at the table which resembled sliced dogfood in every way possible.



Yes, the hotel is in the centre of the village and yes, it can be noisy with the late night revellers going home and the early garbage collection in the mornings.



The hotel itself is in dire need of updating and maybe a change of owner as she swaned around berating her staff in front of guests which lead to one quitting in front of the seated guests. The ski locker is at rear of the hotel is small and pokey and badly lit.

What more can I say about the experience? The resort is very good itself and the ski school is also very good, as is the nightlife but it is not cheap but the locals are friendly and cafe life is worth it.



A word of caution, the Crystal reps were bad at passing on the vital details of the trip e.g. where to pick up your pass etc, as well as the return pickup point - to the point of not caring. So if it’s your first time skiing, as it was ours, ask and ask again until they part with the info.



Would I go back to Zell? Yes. Would I go back to the above hotel? Hell no! Go to the Grand Hotel instead, check it out it’s a cool hotel if only for a drink after the skiing.

This was our first snow holiday...

Overall Rating:

8/10

Board Basis:

Half Board

Date of Holiday:

Mar 2007

Tour Operator:

Airtours

Submitted By:

Mrs N Cortes-Davies

Comments:

This was our first snow holiday as a family and I thought the hotel staff were really friendly and helpful.



The hotel offers a baby listening service which was basically just a baby monitor, but was great as our daughter was in bed by 7pm, so we could just sit in the restaurant and have some adult time.



The staff also arranged babysitting for us in the days so we could go snowboarding in the mornings together for a few hours.



They arranged all of this for us and we obviously met the babysitter beforehand (who was also a friend of the hotel owners) who was lovely and spoke fluent English and was also quite reasonable.



The food was different but very good it was typical Austrian cuisine which is what you would expect. The rooms were small but comfortable and very clean.



Over all we loved the whole ambiance of Fischerwirt hotel it was like home from home.



And you couldn’t ask for a better location as everything, shops and restaurants are on your doorstep. We will definitely book again for next year.

Overall, the food was good. But...

Overall Rating:

4/10

Board Basis:

Half Board

Date of Holiday:

Dec 2006

Tour Operator:

Crystal

Submitted By:

Miss S Beeby

Comments:

Overall, the food was good. But this is the only benefit that the hotel offered.



Our room was located right on the stair well outside the very tiny and uninviting hotel bar.



It was extremely noisy with people returning to their rooms at all hours throughout the night. It was also situated near to the main night life strip and therefore we were often woken in the early hours.



The room as a whole was very small and was definitely not a 4*. We arrived with the promise of having a balcony and were disappointed to find that there had been a misunderstanding between the tour operator and the hotel.



We did, after extensive chasing, receive a refund. However, after our complaint on the first day, the hotel staff were less than warm towards us!



Generally over priced and a letdown with minimal facilities. There are far better hotels in resort for similar money. Thank god for the bar man who at least cheer us up each day.

Having read some of the reviews...

Overall Rating:

10/10

Board Basis:

Half Board

Date of Holiday:

Mar 2007

Tour Operator:

Neilson

Submitted By:

Miss F Whyte

Comments:

Having read some of the reviews posted I was really worried! However I really couldn't have faulted our stay. The hotel was warm, clean and well appointed. The food was superb and plentiful and the staff especially Monica and Gabor could not have been friendlier.



Testament to this is the very large amount of repeat visits from guests who return year after year.



I would come back and I would also recommend this hotel to friends & family.

We have just returned from this...

Overall Rating:

9/10

Board Basis:

Half Board

Date of Holiday:

Dec 2006

Tour Operator:

Leger

Submitted By:

Mrs N Clifton

Comments:

We have just returned from this lovely hotel and it was just beautiful.



We were there for Christmas and it couldn't have been nicer.



Nice breakfast, good dinner, good service, huge balcony with twinkly views and cosy sweet bar. Just loved it.

Just come back from spending...

Overall Rating:

9/10

Board Basis:

Half Board

Date of Holiday:

Dec 2006

Tour Operator:

Inghams

Submitted By:

Mrs D Field

Comments:

Just come back from spending Christmas with my husband and 12 year old daughter. Have to say after reading other reviews we were worried. But we have had a wonderful time.



Breakfast was typically Austrian and the evening meal was just fantastic. Obviously different from England (No chips thank God) But it was just beautiful food.



Monica the lady who runs the place again is a typical Austrian lady, which can be seen by some as being abrasive or auster. She was also lovely, had a wicked sense of humour if you bothered to chat to her.



The hotel was lovely, typical Austria, which is what we wished for and why we go to Austria. I can understand the hotel being noisy as it is in the middle of the village. If you want quiet, don't choose a hotel in the middle of town.



However, we suffered no noise but it was Christmas and a time for family and quiet celebration. I don't think I would like to be there this week during New Year.



We have stayed in several Austrian resorts with typical Austrian landladies and found this hotel to be lovely. We plan to go back next year.



The hotel couldn't do enough for us, sorting out soya milk for my daughter, who is intolerant to dairy. They got us 3 litres of the stuff! All in all one of the best holidays I have had in Austria.



Met several people who have been spending Christmas at this hotel for the last few years that says it all to me!

We stayed at the hotel...

Overall Rating:

9/10

Board Basis:

Half Board

Date of Holiday:

Jul 2006

Tour Operator:

Thomson

Submitted By:

Mr P Simm

Comments:

We stayed at the hotel Fischerwirt in July for one week and the room we had was just on the first floor without a balcony and was a basic room with double bed and a separate toilet and shower.



It is situated at the centre of Zell Am See making it easy to walk around the lake and for any of the Festivals that are always going on. The food was different than we would have at home, but it was excellent and well presented.



The hotel was clean and the staff very friendly resulting in a week we will remember for a long time to come. Zell Am See is beautiful in its self and lots of walking, biking and mountain walking which we loved every minute of, a good holiday. The food and the staff make it a 4 star hotel for us.

On arrival we were shown to our...

Overall Rating:

9/10

Board Basis:

Half Board

Date of Holiday:

Jul 2005

Tour Operator:

Thomson

Submitted By:

Miss S Turner

Comments:

On arrival we were shown to our room and were very impressed with the standard of decor that we found. There was lots of beautiful white marble, and both our room and the communal areas of the hotel were spotlessly clean and stayed that way throughout or stay. The room was a good size, too.



The Fischerwirt is in an excellent, central location, so is very convenient for going out in the evening without worrying about taxis or buses home. It is also situated close to the lake, and we took many strolls round the lake during our stay. The mountain scenery round the resort is beautiful.



We had breakfast and evening meals included. The staff were happy to make us up a packed lunch from the breakfast leftovers, and this was practical on the days we went out on excursions, as well as saving us a fair few euros. Some of the main courses in the evening meal were not so much to our taste and catered more for Continental Europeans, eg veal, but when we asked if it was possible to have an alternative the waiter and the chef went out of their way to find an alternative to please us, and we were very impressed with the service. The desserts were usually delicious.



The Fischerwirt was usefully situated also from the point of pickups for excursions, as outside the hotel is one of the main pickup points, and also where welcome meetings are held. We went on a few trips that we booked through the rep (we found the reps to be very good and helpful) including to Innsbruck and Salzburg. Both were excellent and enabled us to see a lot of fantastic scenery from the coach- breathtaking but a bit scary on some of the winding mountain roads! Well worth going on, though, Austria is a beautiful country, and if you paid a little extra in the cities you could have an English speaking guide show you round which was the best way as we had limited time to spend in the cities.



We would definitely return as both the hotel and resort were great. We found the hotel staff to be very friendly, helpful and accommodating, and the resort was so clean and pretty- virtually every shop and hotel had a lovely window box of bright flowers on. In July the weather was about 20 degrees most days, which suited us just fine.

Definitely not 4 star as...

Overall Rating:

4/10

Board Basis:

Half Board

Date of Holiday:

Sep 2005

Tour Operator:

Inghams

Submitted By:

Mr R J Taylor

Comments:

Definitely not 4 star as advertised in brochure.


Restaurant carpet is very badly soiled. Food is unusual to say the least, not what I have been used to and enjoyed on many previous visits to Austria. Being centrally located, noise at night is very bad and there being no air conditioning, windows have to be left open making it very noisy with people leaving nightclubs and late night bars into the early hours of the morning. Then there are the early morning cleansing lorries to contend with.


Zell am See itself is ideally situated with excellent train and bus services thus making it unnecessary to book expensive tours through the holiday reps.


This is the first hotel in Austria I would not return to.

I have just returned from a...

Overall Rating:

8/10

Board Basis:

Full Board

Date of Holiday:

Jul 2005

Tour Operator:

Crystal

Submitted By:

Not Specified

Comments:

I have just returned from a weeklong holiday in Zell am See with my husband and our two teenage boys, and we had a fantastic time. After reading the only review I could find on the Internet for the Hotel Fischerwirt, on this web site just a week before going to Zell, I was beginning to worry after reading such negative comments. But I have to say that we were all very pleased with The Hotel and with Zell am see itself. The hotel was very nicely decorated, in what would be described as traditionally Austrian. The Dining area and bar had lovely wooden beamed ceilings and the bedrooms were well equipped and comfortable. It wasn’t a modern hotel by any means, but it was quaint and situated very close to the town centre and also the lake.



The food was excellent - really well presented and very tasty. A different flavour soup and different dessert every day and also a choice of two different main courses each day. The breakfasts consisted of about 3 choices of cereal, dried and fresh fruit, selection of meats and cheeses, fruit juices, variety of bread and preserves and also yoghurt. Everything a continental breakfast should be! There were also choices of bacon, fried or scrambled eggs, but you had to ask for these.



The staff were very friendly and as helpful as they could be considering it was a family run hotel and they were extremely busy. They did their best to make sure you had everything you needed.



Zell am see is a lovely place to stay. The town is full of little cafes and bars, and there are street entertainers all around. There is plenty to do if you like being active and outdoor - walking, cycling, boating and swimming in the lake. There is even water skiing, diving and windsurfing available. We had something different to do everyday and would have liked another couple of days there.



The only negative I have to say about the place is that it can be quite expensive, especially if you participate in any excursions laid on by the tour operator. We booked up for a few and it was quite costly for a family of four and I wish we’d made our own arrangements. Eating out and drinks were quite costly too.



Apart from that, we thoroughly enjoyed our holiday. The lake and mountains are beautiful and I would recommend anyone to go there if that’s the kind of holiday they would enjoy.

A centrally located hotel in the...

Overall Rating:

4/10

Board Basis:

Half Board

Date of Holiday:

Jun 2005

Tour Operator:

Inghams

Submitted By:

Miss L M Norton

Comments:

A centrally located hotel in the 'city' of zell am see. This hotel would struggle to achieve a three star rating in the UK but strangely gets a four star rating!?



The rooms are small and in need of redecoration. The hotel in general was clean but looks like it hasn't been modernised since the late 80's. The food was bland and without any imagination. Breakfast consisted of cold meat or cheese, some strange looking cereal or a bread roll. You could order a cooked breakfast which turned out to be one rasher of very small bacon and one fried egg (cold on many occasions).



Dinner was really no better. Although advertised as 'four course' it consisted of salad to start followed by soup (which was usually clear and tasted of an oxo stock cube). A main course, bland and uninviting, and a sweet, again bland.



The 'bar' was actually a walk way through to the tired and dated restaurant. Staff were always well mannered but you did get the feeling you were just in the way and just there to pay the bill.



Not somewhere I would ever go back to and never recommend.



Zell am See itself is a stunning place, but, there is only so much time you can spend looking at a mountain or a lake.

Good for a short stay, not for a main holiday.