Very poor service - utterly disappointed…read more
My husband booked this hotel as a short spa weekend break as a birthday treat for me. Booking itself is not the most customer friendly process, as there is no online booking system and you have to call the hotel to arrange your stay. This in itself could be seen as quirky old world charm, if staff would be similarly accommodating. Unfortunately they aren't. But more on that later...
When called to book a Treatment for me, he was told that there were no Spa appointments available on the Saturday and the Spa doesn't open on a Sunday (in a Spa hotel!). Given the purpose of the trip was to relax and get pampered, he still wasn't able to cancel the booking without being charged.
After about 5 phone calls, he was told that there was an appointment available on Saturday morning, and he told them he will try to get us on the island in time by plane (as there is only one ferry a day).
As I am not a keen flyer and even less so in a tiny propeller plane (and whilst pregnant), we then agreed to take the ferry after all and miss out on the spa element of the weekend. My husband tried to call to cancel the appointment the night before, but could not get through. He called again in the morning and explained the situation to a less than impressed Spa manager.
When handed the bill at checkout, without explanation and apology, we were still charged for the missed treatment, and after complaining, were 'only' charged for half of the treatment. The front desk lady explained that this is in line with their Terms & conditions, which I understand. However, after the many problems and efforts my husband had to go through beforehand and in a hotel of this caliber, we would have expected a more understanding, polite and accommodating service. Even if they would have given us a voucher to use another time, we would have appreciated the effort to come to an amicable agreement, but the manager never bothered to show his/her face and just let the front desk lady repeat her Terms & conditions excuses. A little empathy would have gone a long way...
On the return ferry journey, we got talking to a lovely bunch of long standing Juist enthusiasts, who also told us they feel the Kurhotel has lost their 'heart' & soul' during many rounds of staff changes.
Next time we will follow their recommendation and stay at the ''Juister Hof Hotel' instead.
This is such a shame, as the location is beautiful and the building very impressive.
