This hotel has had excellent reviews in the past and there is not much more to add. The hotel has quite a grand feel about it and has everything - a very large dining room, plentiful food and so on. Swimming pool, masses of other sports activities that you can try for extra money - indeed, everything for a really great holiday.
Being ultra 'picky' there were a few things that we noticed and would have done differently.
We were initially a bit disappointed by our room - the holiday was an expensive one and the room didn't match up to the rest of the hotel. The room was a bit small with a very limited space to walk past the bed. Plenty of cuboards and a modern bathroom but no better a room than at a very much less expensive hotel. We had a balcony but with a view of the car park!
Austria has a 'hit and miss' system of non smoking rules. The bar area of the hotel has no smoking on one or two tables and then adjacent tables are smoking so in reality it is all a smoking area.Not sure what brand they smoke in Austria but you'll notice it!
The boot room and ski bus are very convenient for getting to the main planai lift station. If you were to miss the last morning bus at 9.55am it is not a difficult or particularly long walk to the lift station - having said that, of course, every step is awkward in ski boots and carrying skis and potentially dangerous if the pavements are icey. The latest return bus leaves the planai lift station at 4.30pm.
We enjoy wondering round the town after skiing having a nice cake and coffee (or drink) and soaking up the atmosphere. On another ocasion we would have paid for and used the ski depot at the planai lift station - then after skiing down we would have changed into our confortable shoes and been able to meander round. As it was by the time we had waited for the shuttle bus, (last one 4.30) got back to the hotel changed our shoes and walked out again it was a hour or so later and not the same at all. The ski bus was useful but in retrospect it would have been better to walk to the lift station and come and go at our own times and not wait for buses. Queues can be quite long at the lift station and by walking to it we could have chosen better times. So just a suggestion for others going there.
One thing that is quite fun is to print out your day's skiing from the machines just near the cash desk at the planai lift station.
We used the hotel internet - it cost 3 euros for every 24hour stint - wifi doesn't seem to be available or at least not for our room so the receptionist lent us an internet cable. Might be an idea to take your own cable in case there wasn't one available if you plan to use the internet.
We had a brilliant skiing week and were really lucky with the weather - sunny and clear. Our Crystal rep, Sarah, was bright and cheerful and we took advantage of the hosted skiing which did help with finding our way round the slopes. So all in all a great holiday. I would recomend the hotel and it would also be brilliant in the summer.
- Sporthotel Royer Schladming
- Sporthotel Royer Hotel Schladming
