Historisches Hotel Bären

Nice scenery

Absolutely horrified. There ware bugs in the bedding. Our beds had live crawling bugs . After discovering ,saff was notified. They came had a look but ware unapologetic about it . They put changed our room literally next to the same room which was infested. They offered an upgrade to be further from bugs but ware demanding payment. Surely if room allocated to a guest was infested with bugs ,the hotel should have at least upgraded the guests as a good gesture and not demand further payment.

Urrrrghhhhh, where to start? Well, to start, I could almost copy word for word the review just before mine because our experiences were very similar. When I booked, for 3 nights, the website had a rather bland sample menu, but a menu nonetheless. No mention of the restaurant not being open. However…. When I arrived in the late afternoon of my first night, it was evident the restaurant was not open. And I, unlike the reviewer before me, did not have a car. And the hotel restaurant is the only one in the valley. Literally. And the bus only runs every 2 hours. And then only up until 6pm ish. Luckily there’s a tiny shop across the road from the hotel (with limited opening hours) where one can buy cheese and bread, but much else (they would make an absolute killing if they stuck in a microwave!). The least the hotel could’ve done was emailed anyone who booked before the restaurant shut and let them know - there’s almost no way I would’ve stayed there had I known I’d be eating crisps and wine for 3 nights - not really my idea of a relaxing break! Being that Switzerland is very wet in September, a hot dinner at the end of the day would’ve made the experience SO much better. A slight plus: cold breakfast was offered: cereal, yogurt, bread and cheese etc. which was perfectly adequate. (The above is actually a polite summary of how angry, hungry and disappointed I was when I found out about the restaurant when I arrived!) Now for the room. It’s a charmingly old-school-ish style hotel, from the picturesque outside to the wood panelled bedrooms…. But the bedrooms were REALLY let down by a) the weird furniture that has been wedged in (massively over the top faux antique chairs where they used to have smaller, more in-keeping sofas) and b) the COMPLETE lack of care given when cleaning. I’m not sure if the carpet had been hoovered at all before I arrived because there were bits of dead fly everywhere but more worryingly, when I was plugging in the phone charger, there was a mystery pill on the floor behind the bedside table. Extremely dangerous and irresponsible given that a child could be crawling around in there. The room also wasn’t cleaned the entire time I was there, even after putting the ‘please make up the room’ sign on the door. In 3 nights this isn’t REALLY a problem but I would’ve appreciated not having to trek back down to reception after a long, cold, wet day to ask for toilet roll! On the topic of ‘reception’: there wasn’t one. Keys were left out in envelopes for guests checking in, and there wasn’t really a sign of anyone else working there the rest of the time. Now for the plus points: my room was upgraded and certainly better than what I’d booked: I had 2 balconies with beautiful views. The shower pressure is also very good which is always a plus. The bed was very comfy and cosy and I had a few nights of great sleep. The WiFi is also good. This is only the 2nd time I’ve stayed here and I fear it will be the last unless the (rumoured

We know this valley very well and the location was exactly as we expected for this village. Superb views from the balconies - ours was enormous. The outdoor furniture was not up to the standard of the interior, but adequate. The service from the young seasonal staff was very good indeed and the breakfasts were 'made' by the superb bread, rolls and croissants from the bakery opposite. Months ago we booked this hotel 'with restaurant' for a week's mountain walking. The website changed to an uninteresting fixed menu for residents two weeks before our arrival, which was disappointing but no reason to cancel. On our arrival there were NO EVENING MEALS AT ALL - the young seasonal staff gave the reason as "lack of demand"!!! There was no sign of the owner all week - it was left to the seasonal staff to explain. We didn't believe the explanation - there were 20 at breakfast at 8.00 on our first morning and still more there at about 9.30. There were at least as many on other days - so we were staying in an almost full hotel which claimed there was no demand for dinner..... This was a major problem for many of the guests, as the nearest restaurants are an hour's walk away. We felt it was unfair to challenge the young seasonal staff and drove back several times to the nearest Co-op to buy prepared salads for our evening meals. Our room was not equipped for eating but we were able to use our picnic set and the (tiny!) table on the balcony. The view certainly made that a pleasure but could not compensate for dinner in the beautiful dining room. We received an e-mail from the hotel on our last evening, stating that we needed to pay the local Kurtax (the tourist tax which applies to all holiday accommodation in Switzerland) to the hotel. In the past we have paid our Kurtax at the tourist office and therefore visited the local office on our departure. We discovered that payment of your tourist tax covers FREE BUS TRAVEL down the valley from Kiental throughout your stay. Without a car, this would have cost us about 100chf in travel up and down to the supermarket to buy the food we needed for dinner. We should have been issued with these cards on our arrival at the hotel. The tourist officer issued us with visitor's cards, even though they were of no use to us, as otherwise there would be no official record of our having stayed at the Bären. The Tourist Office and Gemeinde (Local Council) are dealing with the visitor card problem, which apparently would only be issued by the hotel if requested, rather than automatically, as should be the case. We have no idea how many earlier guests have paid Kurtax directly to the hotel without receiving a visitor's card in return but our advice is ASK FOR YOUR VISITOR'S CARD!! It comes as a printed sheet with a code which can be scanned by the bus driver if you are travelling down the valley, and will be valid for your whole stay. If there are no staff in reception on your arrival, ask at breakfast time the ne