"Disappointing. Inconsistent service and rude staff. We had a much better experience at the Sofitel.
Beautiful hotel and great location. But we had issues and disappointingly, had several VERY RUDE encounters with staff. We came to Germany for medical treatment for my husband’s terminal cancer and spent our first 12 days at the Sofitel. The staff was beyond accommodating. Managers checked in on us, restaurant staff did the same—even the bellhop asked about him and wanted to know how he was feeling. Everyone was so kind and pleasant. Zero issues. Zero complaints. Everything was absolutely wonderful from the minute we checked in!
When we arrived at the Kempinski, the check-in process was easy and the front desk staff was very friendly. When we arrived to the room, there was a handwritten welcome note, candy, a small bottle of wine, and a snack of olives waiting on the table. After getting settled in the room, we went downstairs and had lunch in the cafe. The server was friendly, attentive, polite and we were served lunch in about 25 minutes. When we returned to the room, I called housekeeping to see if we could have a few more bed pillows. These were brought up to the room in just a few minutes but the man who brought them spoke NO English, stomped through the suite and then proceeded to throw the pillows on the floor and stepped all over them. He was then groaning and trying to place a pillowcase on the first pillow. I told him that I would do it and said thank you. He seemed relieved and then left. The next morning, we had the breakfast buffet. The food was good and so was the service. After breakfast, we tried calling the front desk before heading to the medical clinic and the operator flatly refused to put me through to the front desk. I was trying to see if we could get an early “to-go”breakfast for the end of the week because our return flight time was moved up to a very early time and we had already paid for the buffet. Ended up having to do that directly at the desk the next morning. We returned to the cafe for lunch and found it difficult to get anyone’s attention. It was at least 25 minutes before we were asked if we would like anything. Took 57 minutes to receive a chicken sandwich which had RAW bacon on it. My husband’s order was also incorrect but we ate what we were given— minus the bacon. Not great and the opposite of the previous day’s service.
Breakfast the next morning was okay. The waffles were cold and hard, some of the fruit (I had the cantaloupe) was obviously not fresh and had a slimy texture. We were directed by the host to sit at a table and so we sat down. A very rude woman then walked by and said, “Get up. Move! Reserve!” The table was not reserved and actually remained empty the entire time we were at breakfast. It wasn’t busy and there were many, many tables free. We don’t care where we are seated, but how about you don’t yell at us after we sit where someone tells us to sit! Unbelievably RUDE and it really soured the whole breakfast experience.
The location is really nice and obviously more convenient to Old Town than the Sofitel, but it’s baffling that we paid significantly more and had a much, much lower level of service here. Doubtful we would do it again."
