The tacky neon Airporthotel sign should have warned us that the 4 * hotel we had booked via internet at Salzburg airport was not the Austria we hoped for.
Chosen for its location within walking distance of the airport , the hotel was indeed only 5 minutes walk from the terminal, but apart from this, the property completely failed to live up to its promises.
Arriving from Dublin at 8.45 p.m, our party of four had booked two ensuite rooms at a cost of €250. in the expectation of an excellent first dinner and accomodation.
The advertised 'restaurant in the hotel offering fine dining with Austrian specialities ' was already closed, as were the bar and the 'inviting south- facing terrace'.......if closed on a glorious June evening ,when were these facilities available? When questioned, the less than welcoming 'member of the Gappmayer team' offered us beverage room service and informed us that the nearest restaurant was a taxi ride away.No apologies were made for the lack of facilities available to us, nor for the obvious discrepancies in the services promised and those delivered.
As is the norm in Austria, the hotel was clean but with dull drab furnishings and the cheapest quality bathroom accessories, the hotel rooms were more typical of a mean two star pension than a four star hotel .Having arranged to meet in the 'indoor swimming pool with counter-current installation' before breakfast we were far from delighted to find the pool not only closed but drained. It was obvious that this facility had not been in use for some time.
The promised breakfast buffet was sparce, frugal and dull and at 7.30 remained unreplenished by disinterested staff who seemed keen to finish service and leave, as by that stage were we.
In thirty years of visiting Austria this hotel is,by far, the poorest in any class we have ever enountered. It is hard to see how the fastidious and usually so reliable Austrian Tourist board could have been so completely hoodwinked as to award this place with 3 let alone 4 stars.
The only claim on the hotels reservation web site that lived up to expectations was the propertys location and at the rates charged this is simply not good enough.
If you want to enjoy the true Austrian experience, give this place a wide bearth .