We spent Christmas vacation in Budapest and spur of the moment, we decided to do a few days of snowboarding in Semmering. We were thrilled, on short notice, Panhans allowed us to arrive on 27th Dec. and leave on 31st whereas most hotels require Saturday to Saturday stay, especially in high season.
I would love to give Panhans a good rating because it can be quite a nice place but I cannot.
Upon entering the hotel, we were greeted by a blue haze of cigarette smoke from the people smoking in the lobby area. As we are non-smokers, this was not a pleasant surprise. Since Austria does not yet have the anti-smoking in public law, a simple upgrade to the ventilation would suffice for us non-smokers.
The receptionist was friendly and helpful and that was about all the good things we can say about Panhans.
We entered the elevator and it stank of sewer. Reached our floor, and the hallway stank of old dirty carpet, something we were unable to figure out. Maybe it was carpet cleaner?
Our family room was of nice size (45M2) but old. The pull out bed for our children was not acceptable to use. The bathroom was small and often reeked of sewer. We were fortunate the guests before us smoked out on the balcony but left ashes all over the place. We were told there was a new section with new rooms, but was not offered to us.
Internet is available for a fee, €5 first hour and €1 each additional hour with max of €15 per day. I guess it was okay as the connection speed was acceptable. Free internet would be more in line to the price we paid and the hotel's four star rating.
The ski equipment storage room was a tiny corner in the basement that really reeked of sewer, so we left all our equipment in the car. Not very nice when evening temperature drops below 0C. Later my friend told us Panhans, as with many old hotels, has sewage issues. For some reason, i find this unacceptable for a four star hotel.
We signed up for half board. To enter or leave the dining room, you must go through the bar.... so, before and after breakfast and dinner, we were greeted with the nice blue haze of cigarette smoke.
The food was average at best. The cook must have some kick back deal with the local salt mine or they are just trying real hard to push expensive drinks. One apfelschrole, €4.60.... you get the idea.
Aside from very average tasting food, (we care more about taste than portion size, which was very small....), the worst part was that many plates were not cleaned properly, as if the dish washer was turned off in mid cycle and went straight to dry cycle so the film of grease was baked on. Hoping this was a fluke, but we found the same problem for breakfast. As well, breakfast was on par to a 3 star hotel on the German Autobahn, except the dirty dishes used are a bit higher quality. We cancelled our half board and ate at some very nice little inns in near by villages, with better food, friendlier service and lower prices.
We enjoyed our snowboarding in Semmering but sad about the hotel stay. I guess we can't hope for much on short notice booking. We feel bad about the Panhans. The location is nice, good potentials for the hotel, pool, fitness, wellness, etc., but maybe just simply bad management.
- Panhans Grand Semmering
