The Krone Hotel is recommended in the Rick Steves travel guide for Salzburg. We were very disappointed with our stay there. Our room was on the 2nd (1st in Europe) floor and right below us, patrons of the bar which is connected to the hotel were very loud and disrupted our sleep. Even worse was the cigarette smoke which rose and wafted directly into our room. The bathroom was extremely tiny. The wifi was out for at least half of our stay. We arrived by car and had trouble finding the place with GPS because it is on a pedestrian-only street. We tried calling to get directions, but no one answered the phone. There was no one at the desk when we arrived, and we had to go find the person who was doing double duty as the bartender in the bar. The worst thing was that, even though I explained that we had arranged for the Rick Steves discount and showed the guide book to the person who checked us in, he was not interested in collecting the cash payment at that time. When I went to pay upon checking out and asked for the discount, a very hostile employee refused to give it to me because I had not paid when we checked in 2 days before. In spite of the fact that the room was clean and it was in a good location for walking to attractions, I definitely would not recommend this hotel.
If I had to do it over, I would have stayed outside Salzburg and, since we had a rental car, driven in to a park and ride and used the bus. The music festival is in July and August and the room rates go up in the city hotels.
Posted by
Texas
158 posts
Thanks for the review, I had booked this place but already changed our plan to go through Innsbruck instead. Glad to know I'm not missing out on anything spectacular.
Posted by
Medford, OR, USA
5835 posts
Sorry to hear about your disappointing stay at the Krone. We stayed at the Hotel Mozart, about 0.5 km away from the Krone and outside of the pedestrian zone. Hotel Mozart was spacious and our 4th floor room above traffic noise and the street below was pretty tranquil during the evenings. The Hotel Mozart is a non-smoking hotel.
What did it cost for the privilege of storing your rental car in Salzburg? I've had to recently pay $24 to $30 USD for hotel valet parking per day in the States. The appeal of properties such as the Krone is their walkable location and not needing a car. In your case, the location was a definite disadvantage.
Posted by
Northamptonshire, England
32740 posts
why was the employee hostile?
Posted by
OP
3 posts
I can only surmise why the employee was hostile. Perhaps he thought I shouldn't have asked for a discount, which, in his mind, I wasn't eligible for. Perhaps he thought I was trying to take advantage of the hotel. It was an honest misunderstanding on my part, and I was polite about it, so my manner gave him no reason to be provoked. I did (politely) press the issue, because I had notified the receptionist (a different person--the bartender) at time of check-in that we were Rick Steves travelers and showed him the guide book, which was a prerequisite for the discount. He didn't ask for payment at that time. Since he was the bartender and (it appeared) only standing in for the receptionist, I can only assume that he did not understand the way the discount worked. I didn't think we should be penalized because he didn't ask for payment at the time. I should have insisted on paying him, but I didn't think a difference of 2 days in paying would matter. Obviously, it did.
Posted by
OP
3 posts
Reply to Edgar: My sister has the receipt for the Krone hotel, so I can't tell you exactly what we paid for parking, but it was 14 or 16 euros, as I recall, and I believe the hotel gave us a small discount on this. (We paid the hotel directly.) So no where near what you reported paying in the US.
The cigarette smoke that bothered us did not come from inside the hotel; rather, it came from the bar patrons who were sitting outside under our window. It wafted up and right into our room. I coughed all night!
The location was actually the best thing about the hotel. We could easily walk across the river and be in the heart of the Old Town.
Posted by
1 posts
I have stayed at Hotel-Pension Bloberger Hof many times. It is outside of the main old town but parking is free and a bus stop is right across the street and it drops you off right in front of the entrance to old town. To have a view of the mts from your room and the quiet of the area is worth a lot. It is a family run Pension and they are great. The food is outstanding and filling. I ate all my evening meals there. The rooms are big and very clean. I wish I could add a few of my pic from my last trip, I would never stay any place else in Salzburg.
Posted by
Northamptonshire, England
32740 posts
Agree about Bloberger Hof. Lovely people, large rooms, easy parking, easy bus, great breakfasts, fabulous dinners.
I've stayed there about a half dozen times and never been let down.