Note: TripAdvisor has this hotel also listed as "Top Feldberg Hof". It's exactly the same place. Same hotel. Same entrance. The official name of the hotel is "Familotel Feldberger Hof".
Considering how many people stay at the Feldberger Hof hotel, it's amazing how few reviews there are of it.
My family and I are back from a 3-day stay there, in mid-July, and it's actually quite difficult to sum up whether I'd recommend it or not. It's both very very good, and frustrating in equal measures.
Let's start with the best and the worst part: it's location. If you intend to go on the ski slopes during winter, this hotel is perfectly located. The cable cars are a 2-minute walk away, with a couple of ski-bars next to the entrance.
But, if, like us, you visit the hotel in mid-July, and it's slightly cloudy in nearby Schlussee or Titisee, then you'll have a big problem... because this hotel is so high up, it's actually in the clouds. The car park was right outside our bedroom, yet within 30 minutes, you could go from having a perfect view of it, to it completely disappearing - zero visibility - and back again.
During our mid-July stay, it was very cold (about 9'c) and barely stopped raining. It was only on the day we left that we discovered that at Schlussee (20 minutes drive away), the weather was slightly overcast, but perfectly dry, and double the temperature !
It was actually the coldness and wetness that caused us to leave a day early. We were looking forward to some relaxing time, and being able to walk in the forest, right next to the hotel. But we just didn't leave the hotel. With an 8-month-old baby and 2.5 year toddler, our double pram would've been soaked in no time.
This hotel certainly isn't cheap to stay at, but it does give you all the baby/child facilities you could ask for. And if you're missing something, they seemed to have anything you could possibly need to borrow (for free), you just needed to leave a deposit.
We paid extra to have a Junior Suite, it cost us 741 euros ($956 USD) for three nights all-inclusive for 2 adults, a child of 2 and a baby of 8-months. Ouch. It had two bedrooms, one with a double bed, one with a bunk-bed, and we requested a cot aswell. The kitchenette had a fridge and cooking rings, and there was a microwave elsewhere on our floor. There was also a changing table, a small table for eating, a kids bathtub and a flat screen TV.
There was no Wi-fi provided, but there was a network socket, so you can connect to the internet, for 5 euros for a 24-hour session. Again, given the cost of the hotel room, this could - and should - have been included in the price.
It's worth noting that this is an old, ugly looking hotel, with a large modern extension stuck onto it (which our Suite was in). Other reviewers have mentioned their rooms being outdated. Ours wasn't, but perhaps a regular sized room, in the older part of the hotel, might suffer from this.
Another bugbear: we paid for All-Inclusive, but it was very restrictive. It includes non-alcoholic drinks from the restaurant, but only with your meals. If you wanted a coffee on arrival, no problem, you can get one at the bar, but it'll cost you 3.30 euros.
Apparently, you get a "Welcome Drink" on arrival, but we certainly didn't get one. We did find a bottle of water in our room, but once again, it'll cost you about 2 euros if you choose to use it. Personally, i've never been in an All-Inclusive hotel, where you couldn't at least get a free coffee during the day.
Even our 8-month-old daughter was charged 10 euros for the All-Inclusive aspect, and she didn't use any facilities in the restaurant whatsoever. For a child-friendly hotel, seriously, you should be able to get some kind of snack/soft-drink inbetween meals. Kids are often hungry before the 6pm dinner opens.
Elsewhere, the hotel is brilliantly equipped for keeping the kids entertained. There is a nice swimming pool, with a slide, and a very-shallow pool for very young kids, indoor football, saunas, a large "soft-play" area, where kids can climb, slide and play pony riding (weather permitting !), etc etc.
The hotel also includes a babysitting service, included in the price of your stay. We tried this one morning for 2 hours. We came back to find our 8-month-old perfectly happy, sat on the carer's knee, but our 2-year-old was on a carousel, being spun around at high speed by the older kids and literally holding on for dear life and shaking with fear. None of the others carers were around to keep an eye on her. We didn't dare to use the baby-sitting services after that.
When I booked, the hotel said it could provide underground car-parking for 6.50 euros per night. Actually, they're quite happy for you to park in their outdoor car park, free of charge.
What else ? Well, for the price, it's a bit worrying to see that you can't check in before 4pm, and you must check out by 10am. With two young kids to look after, feed and change, this is quite restrictive. Having said that, when we got to the hotel, we were allowed to check in at 3pm.
There is a nice room for babies, with toys, changing table, tent and a bed, but it was always locked. It was only on the last day that we found out that we were able to request a key for this room. Previously, the staff had told us that only they could open it, if there were a sufficient number of babies wanting to use it.
We were also told (by reception) that the only way to reach this room was via the "play area" room (down a few steps) then up a steep, narrow spiral staircase. Again, it took us some time to find out that this also wasn't true. There was a lift to this "in-between floor", so we could actually take our pram there.
Overall, it was a mixed bag. With older kids, I'm sure it would've been a perfect hotel. And, if the weather had been better, and we'd had the opportunity to explore the nearby forest, it would've given us a completely different experience.
It really looks like an old, ugly, outdated hotel, which they've put a lot of work into updating, expanding, and targeting for families. And they've done a pretty good job. If nothing else, it's a relief to be in a hotel restaurant with screaming kids, and not feel guilty, as everyone else has the same issues !
Speaking of which, a special mention for the restaurant: the food is excellent, and there is always something for younger kids. But those "unbranded" all-inclusive fizzy drinks taste cheap and nasty. The coffee's pretty good though.
All in all, it felt like a premium-priced hotel, but with too many "niggles" to unreservedly recommend.
And, frankly, if you're not coming to the area with children, and aren't interested in the nearby cable car & facilities, then I'd strongly advise sticking to one of the (far cheaper and just as good) hotels in Titisee or Schlusee. It isn't cheap to stay in the Feldberghof, and if you don't have kids, it really isn't worth paying the extra.
Oh, and my best tip: 5km away is a Lidl store. Stock up on your baby food, water, coffee, milk and alcohol before getting to the hotel. You'll save a fortune. And the bakery next to it is fab ! There are a couple of shops attached to the hotel, but they charge the usual "touristy" prices.
This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC
