The stay in this hotel was surprise present from my partner on our anniversary weekend. It was off for a rocky start: at 8pm on the night before we were supposed to arrive, the hotel called us to advise that we will not be getting the room my partner booked and no, they will not be returning the money, but they can simply placed us into a smaller room and bring all extras from the nice room he booked... needless to say, this was disappointing.
On the arrival we were placed into one of the rooms in the newer wing which was nice but not what we wanted and even a card from the management did not impress us. The room, however, was clean and very well set-up with all necessary amenities. Perfect room for a conference week, but not a romantic weekend together.
In the evening we went for dinner at the restaurant: dinner was pre-booked and was a set menu affair. Service was rather bad: waiters were changing and nobody seemed to be responsible for a single table so you never knew who to ask for help. Although rather friendly and talkative, they seem to have been disappearing at the moment when you needed them to bring you wine, get more water or more bread. The food is a different story: the main course was lamb that tasted horrible: it had a horrible after taste of a lamb that has never been castrated.
My partner used to be a cook and i am also a foodie myself so we asked the waiter to sent this food back to which she replied that everybody else in the room seems to be eating it without any issues. Frankly, this is not a response i would expect from a waiter of a restaurant that claims to be high class.
In all fairness, the chef listened to our complain and sent us different main, but we were in for a big surprise when second main was billed to us as well. Although, at the end it was taken off after a complain to "our" waiter.
The same bad service continued at the breakfast. The hotel seems to pride themselves in service a la carte breakfast when all food is brought to your table after you order. It started beautifully with good coffee, lovely smoothy and a glass of processo. But then 20 mins later we were still waiting for our scrambled eggs. The waitress who was serving us did disappearing act and when i finally managed to catch somebody and ask for our eggs, we were brought under-cooked ones almost immediately.
I decided not to complain officially: we just mentioned at the check out that service was average and we were disappointed not to get what we booked.
However, i decided to write this review to ensure that if somebody else decides on this place for a romantic weekend is warned...
The price tag is not worth the service (or lack of it) you get.

Hotel offers a chateau environment with newly furbished rooms of good standing. Located in a park and a real moat it is peaceful and quiet. Dinner in the orangerie to be preffered to the "castle dungeon". Chef offers a good selection of quality dishes. The wine selection is dissapointing and not giving quality for money. The staff is very friendly and professional with personal touch.

The Château Holtmühle is located in Tegelen close to the German border, 2km south of Venlo and 1km from the exit Belfeld of the A73 Autobahn. The main building is a mediaeval castle from the 13th century.

The entrance to the chateau is lined with tall trees, a cobblestones road leading to a fountain in front of the hotel entrance. The elegant and stylish interior of the hotel is clean, and tastefully furnished. Staffs are competent and friendly. We had a room in the castle’s attic. The room was very spacious, had a good bed, a satisfactory bathroom and was impeccably clean. No coffee making facility and no air-co in the room.

The buffet style breakfast was good. The restaurant is OK, the wine arrangement was balanced and the meal very good, service was friendly. The hotel has a complimentary Spa with a sauna.

The town of Venlo is unimpressive, the bicycle paths in the area however are perfect for an excursion by bike. Remnants of the Westwall and Fliegerhorst Venloerheide, the largest Luftwaffe night fighter airbase in WW2, are at cycling distance.

From the outside, this hotel looks absolutely fabulous. Inside is nice as well but just a little disappointing because the outside is beautiful. The front desk staff was very pleasant and graciously went out of their way to turn on and heat up the sauna. The wait staff at dinner was extremely slow.

The greater Venlo area is nothing to write home about, but this portion of the city is very nice. The bicycle paths are perfect for an early evening run.

Rooms were clean, efficient but not luxurious. A very pleasant three day stay.