Grand Hotel Zell am See

Stayed for a 4 day ski break in Feb’19 and can’t fault the hotel at all. The food and service were excellent and the shuttle to and from the lifts was a very welcome touch. Although you are in walking distance of the lifts (5 to 10 mins), the shuttle made things easier.

My husband and I stayed in deluxe double room with a sauna. It was an amazing experience! We loved having our own sauna on demand. It only takes 30 min to warm up to 80C degrees . An absolute must during winter months. The views from the room were incredible- lake and mountains. The weather during our stay was mixed- we had snow, rain and one sunny day. The views from the room were incredible on all days. We were also on the end of the newer building ( hotel consists of two interconnected buildings) , so we had 2 balconies. We found the room very quiet comparing to all other hotels we stayed in. Usually we would wake up in the mornings from the noise next door or above us. This time the only noise we heard was ducks and coots in the lake. We were half board, and would definitely recommend it. The food was great, with plenty of choice. You could even have sparkling wine for breakfast! There is an egg/ omelet station and it was never too busy. We always had something cooked for us there. The only criticism would be Seebar service. It was such a lovely place with occasional live music and we just wanted to relax with a cup of tea and cake and with a cocktail before dinner. It took us a very long time to get served tea and cake and we actually gave up waiting for our cocktails after 30min and went to dinner one evening. I also must mention the cleanliness of the room . The cleaner did an amazing job- the room was always spotlessly clean. I would definitely stay here again.

This is a review of our stay in room 222. Others may have differing opinions. These are ours. TL/DR: badly needs renovation. Reality vs pictures are light years apart. Avoid. From the outside, the hotel looks quite lovely - an older style of course, but it fits the landscape nicely. That, unfortunately, is the only positive thing that can be said about the experience of staying here. Arrival - One word: Stairs. Everywhere. To get down to the lobby for checking in you basically either carry your suitcases down the stairs, or leave them standing in the vestibule and pray no-one steals them. Apparently there is some sort of side-entrance that can be used but we only discovered that by accident on our second day when a couple arrived with a baby in a pushchair. Also, the service is very patchy with one person in our party having to call and remind reception to deliver her suitcase (after having been told ‘just leave it there’ on arrival) and despite this ended up having to go down and get it herself anyway. Bars - there are two bar areas, neither of which are open until the afternoon meaning it’s not possible to enjoy a cup of tea or coffee et al in the morning whilst, say, reading a book (also because they actually turn the lights off and the bar area is plunged into a dark grey dusk where people literally stumble around trying to find a somewhat lit up place to sit). Restaurant - It’s the equivalent of a cruise ship main dining hall (fixed menus only and allocated tables). The main area of the restaurant is well lit, though it comes across as somewhat pretentious. The table we were allocated during our stay was in the darkest corner of the room furthest away from the restaurant entrance - I would describe it as akin to eating in a dark cellar. The dinner service is pleasant though the fixed menus make it very limited. Breakfast - good luck getting coffee... staffed by one person until after 8am when the rest of the crew finally rocks up. The Room - before I describe the room, I want to point out that the pictures on the website (and indeed on hotels.com) indicate a lovely room with an open fireplace and cozy looking setup. It does say that the rooms may vary from the photos. That’s fair. What isn’t fair is advertising a suite and providing a room that, at best, can only be described as a room in that it does have walls, a ceiling and a door (and a balcony). The room has three areas (entrance, main living area and upstairs) with, you guessed it, stairs to move from one area to another. There is one toilet, which is on the entrance level. It’s in a cubicle/room with no mirror, a ceiling light that occasionally turns itself off and on again and a sink with only cold water. The entrance hall stinks like raw sewage and when we complained, the only ‘solution’ was to spray something in the air (presumably an air freshener of some sort). It didn’t help. In the main living area there’s a bed for two adults, a sofa bed and a small square table. No chairs. The balcony is accessed through large double-doors but again there are no chairs or tables on the balcony so it’s somewhat unusable. There is also a small (maybe 28”) wall-mounted TV on one side of the living area. At a guess, it’s around 5 meters from the sofa bed so it’s a rather small picture. The TV is also crooked and when we tried to correct/straighten it we actually thought it would come off the wall and fall to the floor so we opted for not touching/using it instead. Upstairs there are bunk beds and shower/sinks. It’s also 5-10 degrees warmer upstairs than downstairs which is odd as the only radiator in the entire room is in the upstairs shower area. There isn’t enough light in the bathroom for makeup to be applied. Also, having a shower in the morning is a gamble as there isn’t enough water pressure to keep all rooms with flowing water... In total, there is perhaps sufficient storage for two adults with ski gear and normal clothes but certainly not for the 5 people you can fit in the room (bunk beds, main bed and sofa bed). Basically, the room and indeed the whole hotel is a good 30-40 years from its last renovation and it shows. The room is NOTHING like the pictures on either hotels.com or the hotel website itself. I strongly suspect that they have one room that looks semi-decent and that’s what is being used for sales purposes. The rest are garbage, at least insofar as our room was concerned. Considering that we paid the same amount for 4 nights here that a suite at the Ritz-Carlton in Hong Kong costs (actually, it’s currently less to have the Hong Kong suite) the value for money is a joke. I would almost go so far as to state that the hotel is clickbait personified.