Althoff Hotel Fürstenhof Celle

“Beautiful hotel but not 5-star service”

No one in reception on our arrival. Had to carry our suitcases ourselves up the stairs from the garage, no one to help and no lift!! The room was very pleasant as well as the spa part with a great swimmingpool and sauna. The communal areas were very beautiful with comfortable sofas etc. and a go… more

No one in reception on our arrival. Had to carry our suitcases ourselves up the stairs from the garage, no one to help and no lift!! The room was very pleasant as well as the spa part with a great swimmingpool and sauna. The communal areas were very beautiful with comfortable sofas etc. and a good bar. The breakfast room was fantastically beautiful and the breakfast one of the best we have ever had. The deception was the dinner restaurants Taverna & Trattoria Palio. One was more like a pub and the other one a modern charmless Italian restaurant with so so service and guests in jogging suits or very casual clothing. Not what we had expected for a "fine dining experience" in a 5-star hotel. However, the food was delicious and beautifully presented, but we would have expected to dine in the restaurant that was strangely enough only used for breakfasts so the overall dinner experience was blend.

less

“Not quite the 5 star experience”

This hotel is indeed 5 star, but only ‘in parts’ - it really does not merit more than a 4 star rating. We were allocated a double room in the ‘old part’ of the hotel - which certainly lived up to its description and led to rapid disappointment. Whilst the booking details online did mention that t… more

This hotel is indeed 5 star, but only ‘in parts’ - it really does not merit more than a 4 star rating. We were allocated a double room in the ‘old part’ of the hotel - which certainly lived up to its description and led to rapid disappointment. Whilst the booking details online did mention that there was no lift to the rooms there, and that the location was not suitable for the handicapped, we still felt that this was understated when we got to our room. We arrived just 30 minutes before ‘check-in’ and our room still wasn’t ready which was fair enough but the (polite and efficient) receptionist took our luggage and arranged for it to be delivered to our room, which was a nice touch. We were invited to take a seat and she would let us know when our room was ready, so we sat outside and ordered a drink which was promptly delivered with some thoughtful cushions for our deck chairs. So far so good. We made our way to our room shortly afterwards - up to join the gods in the attic - using the very steep, winding staircase, a climb that was a physical effort for both of us to make. We were just thankful that our bags had been delivered earlier or we would not have managed the daunting ascent of Mount Fürstenhof. The top floor landing had 4 rooms - 1 in each corner and this is where the words outdated and old fashioned really sprung to mind. Using thrvold fashioned mortice lock key and turning the old doorknob, gained us access to our very dark room. It was mid afternoon and very bright and sunny outside. The decor reminded me of a dated old English country Inn of the 80’s, with its beams, wall paper and equestrian prints hung on the walls. The room did have a modern (static) wall mounted flat screen TV however, with a mini bar underneath - but devoid of the fresh milk that I specifically requested a week or so before. There was a writing desk but no dressing table or mirror to sit in front of. The windows were so old and overpainted that we had to really force them to get them to even remotely function. A coffee machine and a kettle were provided as you might expect, with a couple of small mugs, glasses etc plus a complimentary bottle is still mineral water. The room also had a hideous portable aircon unit in the corner that had its extractor hose channelled up through the ceiling. It was an absolute eyesore and to cap it off - extremely noisy to boot. None of the power sockets had any USB Ports in them, so guests staying in the old part of the hotel will need to bring their own plug adaptors. The old door knobs into the room and bathroom proved occasionally to be awkward and were stiff to use. My wife even got stuck in the bathroom because she couldn’t turn the handle and had to call on me to let her out. The bathroom was very serviceable with lots of toiletries and a hair dryer - but once again, very out of date and disappointingly had cheap, worn, thin towels that were also a bit small for the larger frame. There was no handy information folder, but we eventually found the free wifi by searching for it on our phones. In the absence of the information folder, we did wonder if room service was available but after seeing their prices for food and drink, we probably wouldn’t have used it. We wisely chose ‘room only’ because breakfast was a whopping €32.00 per person - and excluded ‘extras’ like sausages, priced at €5.00 each! Underground parking was an additional extra €18.00 a day but we were lucky enough to nab one of the free parking spots at the front. We found the prices overall: Absolutely extortionate! We looked at their dinner menu too, but like everything else, it was overpriced so we enjoyed eating out in the town at half the price instead, especially given the hotel‘s close proximity and short walking distance to it. We used the pool, which was nice but is only one depth along its length. Something that concerned my (weak swimmer) wife who could not reach the bottom with her feet when standing. It also lacked any floats or buoyancy aids - and most concerning, lacked any alarm system, which is a must for unsupervised pool use. On a positive note; the Service standards and cleanliness overall were impeccable. To summarise, the 5 star classification is really not justified for the whole hotel and certain parts could even be considered as low as 3.5 stars in some areas. Would we go back? Probably not and definitely not to the old part of the hotel.

less