My son & I booked the Hotel Bergheim in the ski resort of Lech via Crystal Ski. Ordinarily we would book a 4*, but chose this one, because whilst it was a 3* Crystal added an extra star in their brochure stating it was of a higher standard than its rating suggested.
Having experienced Crystal before I should have really known this 'extra star' wouldn't be true but the price was good so we booked a week half board.
The rest of this review are based on 3* expectations as not to give a false negative on my review.
Beds were typically Austrian, once frame, two mattresses - nothing wrong with that except mattresses were rock hard and even after a busy days skiing it was difficult to get to sleep. Pillows were so soft and light they were almost none existent, manager did provide us with some extras though. In my opinion sleep quality is king when judging a hotel and first impressions they scored 1 out of 10 - not good. Other than that rooms were large enough, reasonable facilities with TV & WIFI, average bathroom and toilet but all in keeping with what was expected.
Evening meals were VERY Austrian, nothing wrong with that in Austria I hear you say - but traveling with a picky eater made the experience quite stressful. Kids menu was limited so very little option other than for my son to either eat elsewhere or repeat the same meal. I travel a lot and I know its great to experience new food, but when a hotel routinely has foreign guests there should be at least some coping mechanism for this - good job my son likes Wiener Schnitzel!
I think one of the main causes for this is that hotel has mostly been for German speaking tourists to date as Crystal have only just re-introduced it into their brochure. If you look for reviews on the Bergheim most recent are in the German language, and they are very happy hence the high marks. If my palate or my language was more Germanic I suspect my experience would have been very different. BTW I travel to Germany most months so I am very used to the culture / food so please don't put this comment down as being a 'green' British traveler expecting Egg & Chips wherever I go.
Staff where a little 'fawlty towers', always felt we were being monitored or judged - it could have been my paranoia but there was something just not right because whilst most people where pleasant to your face I did sense something, I just cant say what though. Mind you I probably got a reputation the first night when I suggested that a shared table wasn't what we had booked for dinner, perhaps they think British people are one big happy family and cant wait to break bread together!
The manager was certainly the most pleasant person and he did deliver some exemplary service during our time there, but the under-current wasn't nice. Add to this 'atmosphere' the fact that the hotel was not 4 minutes from the ski lift as described (unless by jet air plane), and was most certainly up a hill away from the centre of the resort and I think you can summarise that I was somewhat dis-pleased.
It may seem a little strong to give 2 out of 5, but my generosity here was the same as the perceived service I got. Some people seemed to love it and revel in it, not sure if they get out much or if Im just a miserable so and so, but I know what I like and I dont like the Bergheim...or Crystals description of it!