Hotel is placed on the slopes, which are more then appropriate for beginners, intermediates and children.

Accordingly the hotel is nicely orientated towards the families - playrooms, entertainment rooms (well, they should fix broken arcade games for the next season), special pool for kids (which will soon need some renovation, as is looked a bit neglected), babysitting service - all with attention to the details.

But the best part of the hotel is the attention to the 'separation' of families with kids and those without:
-in the restaurant they give special attention to the sitting order, so that little kids don't annoy DINKy (double income, no kids) guests,
-food in restaurant is suitable for finest of the tastes, but special buffet (and a quality one) is also available for kids
-separate pool for kids and another pool for adults, where kids have to leave by 18h.


If you are wondering which of the two Falkensteiner hotels in Katschberg to choose, I would suggest Cristalo if you are here with family, as its position is closer to ski schools and to the easier slopes.

And since more and more hotel managers are reading these reviews, here are two issues that should be corrected:
-the reception desk should be extended on Saturdays, as existing amount of receptionists cannot handle the traffic
-the back wall of the bar should be covered with matte cover, in order to obstruct the otherwise direct view to the sauna pool.

Originally we planned to stay 7 nights but we had such a great time we stayed one more night. We travelled with two little kids, 5 months-old and 2,5-years-old.

Hotel:
We had a family room: two bedrooms and one living room. Spacious bathroom. You can slide all doors so you can decide how many rooms you want to have and it was really useful with 2 small kids. Room clean, bathrobe for the kids, too. Big balcony.
Garage places quite small so be careful when parking. You can access the garage area from the hotel by lift.

Food:
We were on full board. Ate much during the holiday because food was really delicious and there were always a lot to choose from. Sometimes you have to order in advance for the following night and waiters serve the main course.

Children amenities:
There were lots of other children in the hotel. Children's pool with slide was perfect for us. There is a children's playground outside and an inside playroom called Falky-land. Animations available but for older children (3+) so we could not try these.
Buggy free of charge at the reception.

Wellness area:
Inside pool is OK, not too big but fine. Sauna area is great, 3 types of saunas. It would have been nice if the wellness area had been open until 10 pm. They close at 8 pm unfortunately so I had no chance to go downstairs to relax after putting our children into bed.

Staff:
Really nice and helpful.

Even though this hotel is intended for winter holiday makers it is just as fit for the summer. Rates are of course much cheaper during the summer, so the added bargain makes choosing this hotel more attractive.

Well this is the second time we've stayed at a Falkensteiner family hotel and herefore we knew we were expecting a stay with superior expectations. Of course we were not let down. The level of service, particularly to the restaurant staff is outstanding. Communicating in English language is somehow difficult or challenging but with a bit of 'ger-ital-glish' everything worked out fine.

The rooms we were given 'Royal Rooms' were ok eventhough furniture has passed its better days! Even the bathroom has lost its spark although impeccably clean. I think some rooms have or are being refurbished - so anyone considering Hotel Cristallo might want to take note.

Food was perfect and excellent everytime.

Some minor negative points that in my opinion the management should look into -

1. Beverage prices in the reastaurant are exhorbitant. I mean, come on paying EUR 35 for a bottle of cheap wine is too much. Not to mention the price for bottled mineral water!! Tip if you want water just ask for a jug of water its free and as good as the bottled one, practically everyone was doing that anyway!

2. The opening hours for the restaurant (18:30-20:00) are a bit awkward. At least they should be extended.

3. Evening entertainment is poor considering there's nothing to do or go nearby in the evening. It was only on one occasion that there was live entertainment in the bar by a local resident dj/ singer. By the way he was absolutely fantastic - pity I cannot remember the name. The pools close at 2000hrs, at least they should remain open till 22.00hrs.

Barr the above, all -in-all this hotel is an ideal family place, set in a wonderful surrounding and which comes with all the bells that one would expect from a 4 star hotel. Recommended.

Nice hotel, partly renewed. We took upgrade to better rooms and thanks to fact that we stayed there at low season we got upgrade for free. Altought i have to say that old, not so trendy room was bigger, new ones (i think cristallo rooms) have separeted "living" room. We stayed on forth flour so our babyphone had even signal in gym on fifht floor, good to know. Btw gym is quite ok and from running bell you can watch slope and skiing.
Food - a lot, really a lot. What is great that for dinner you have special kids corner. except of french fries you can always find there also something little bit more heatlhty.
Hotel is great mainly for kids - two playing rooms (including nany), special swimming pool, kids sauna, even you can rent troley, segway etc. And the best way is also the skiing all around the hotel you can find kids slopes with figurines and other funny stuff. Its hard to find any cons - maybe only that there is not much around and advanced skiers could be bored after one day. Also parking is paid, even there is no other chance where to park. No reasonable internet in hotel. But if you have kids there its hard to find better place.