Hotel Der Waldhof

Fantastic hotel for families, the photos don't do it justice. The staff were really friendly and helpful, especially Eva and Lenny who looked looked after us all week. We stayed in a Junior Suite, I'd definitely recommend the more modern rooms in the annex, lots of storage and a separate partition for the kids' room. The buffet was brilliant, lots of choice and the food was of a very high standard. The outdoor pool - wow! A great way to soothe the muscles after a day's skiing. And the soft play!!!! Four rooms of fun, the kids loved it. The entire hotel was spotlessly clean and good value compared to other hotels in the area.

A wonderful hotel for our family that met all our requirements. The staff were friendly and helpful. The facilities were excellent, in particular the kids play zone which included a soft play. The swimming pool and bar were also fab. It felt safe and the kids enjoyed it.

Austria was beautiful and we really enjoyed visiting many places. We travelled with TUI and stayed at the Waldof Hotel. We regarded hotel as 3 rather than 4 star. All inclusive not as good as our previous experiences. It was a family hotel which is not a problem to us but unfortunately some parents could not control their children. In the dining room some were badly behaved and noisy which was a very uncomfortable experience at dinner. Fortunately during the second week children were very well behaved. Being a family hotel the inside pool was not usable for us as it was full of children which we understood. There were facilities in the 18 plus area but you had to be nude. I would suggest making this an adult area with both clothing and nude guests. Some visitors who were regulars and new the ropes were reserving tables in the bar which seemed unfair to us. Hotel is a little tired in some places - hallway carpets worn and stained. TUI rep failed to appear on three occasions. Entertainment only one evening. They chose to put this on one of the evenings when there was the water, laser and light show on the lake. I would suggest to the hotel they choose another evening for their entertainment. There is a hike and swim card which gives you free use of all the cable cars and lidos. Although I mentioned this to the rep he did not pass this on to anyone. Two couples we met appreciated us telling them about the card and were appreciative as they purchased the card as we did. We would certainly recommend visiting Zell am See but if we came again we would choose another hotel.

Positives: All inclusive. A bit limited compared with big Med hotels but handy to have the meals and basic drinks included and probably something there for everyone. Traditional meat dishes, veg, fish, salads, fruit, bread. Breakfast can be made into picnic lunches to take in the paper takeaway bags, otherwise you need to register for lunch by 10am if you want lunch at the hotel. The 3-5pm cakes and coffee is a good feature.. nice selection of cakes and some savoury options. You can drink the tap water in the rooms. Location is handy for the town centre, lake, city Express cable car and 20min walk up to the main Smittenhohe cable car. Tourists get free bus & train public transport which was handy. Areas for improvement: Bedrooms & bathrooms are really basic, more basic than UK Premier Inns. We had 2 twin rooms with balconies in the main building and not renovated like those across the road. No Aircon. One room had a spacious bathroom with a bath with shower overhead. The other had a much smaller bathroom with shower cubicle. Beds has a wooden surround so whilst they are pushed together like doubles, there was a wooden dip between them and 2 single duvets. Lack of house keeping. Maybe every other day the bin was emptied & beds made but no fresh towels. On the final day we noticed the small sign on the bathroom mirror about putting towels on the floor if you wanted them replaced. Bathrooms had a combined shower gel/shampoo, so bring conditioner. Bath towels are tiny & poor quality, certainly not a bath sheet. One bin in the bathroom for the whole room. Fridge & safe in the room but no kettle. Lots of (mostly German & Austrian) guests smoke outside on the terrace area tables as no set smoking area like most UK venues. Similarly people smoked on their balconies which wafted to ours. Really strong smoke smells. We used the complimentary bikes. Found 4 that seemed ok, some had flat tyre and looked in need of repair. Cycled to Kaprun 5 miles away and one got a flat tyre, so had to walk it back! Dogs allowed in the restaurant, barking! We had a set table we had to use for breakfast and dinner.

We travelled as a family of 4, children age 9 and 12, in August with TUI. Overall we had a great time in Zell Am See. It's a great base with plenty of amenities. We didn't really get to see our TUI rep. He was around for one Sunday at 9.30am at a location about 10-15 minute walk from our hotel - so not overly convenient. But thankfully we didn't really need his assistance (which was good as we weren't given a way to contact him directly). Staff at the hotel answered all our questions with ease. Hotel Der Waldhof Review: We stayed in a Junior Suite in the building across the road. As it's recently been refurbished the room was of an excellent standard with a separate room for the children and plenty of space. The hotel is situated on a hill - getting back up was at a slow and steady pace in the 30 degree heat! The food was amazing! Plenty of choice and everything we tasted was delicious. You can make up a packed lunch for the day which we utilised and another nice touch is the serving of cakes each day between 3pm and 5pm. We enjoyed ours on the outdoor terrace. Dinner was served from 6.30pm - just a consideration with younger ones - not a problem for us. Breakfast was served from 7am. Basic drinks, such as wine, beer and fizzy pops, were included with our stay and were fine for our needs. There is a lovely bar area to sit and play games in which we did each evening along with plenty of other families. There are 2 pool areas, one indoor and one outdoor with towels are provided. They did of course get busy at times but this is only to be expected! The outdoor pool is quite chilly, the indoor pool is fine. The staff were all friendly and courteous and kept the indoor areas very tidy, clearing away plates as soon as they were finished with for example. (Plates and cups were left a little too long by the outdoor pool and did attract wasps - so just a little gripe there). The hotel provides a range of maps and guides that give some really helpful information on routes and cable cars. For the holiday itself, there is so much to do in the area with plenty of hikes for all ages. We recieved a guest mobility pass with our stay (which was printed out for us upon arrival) which gave us free public transport and discounts on cable cars. We used this to get buses to Kaprun and the train to Salzburg. We spent around £300 on cable cars getting to and from various points, we hired paddleboards too on the lake too. The glacier and alpine roller coaster were particular highlights. Here are a my (very minor) suggestions for improvement at the hotel: Hydration points: we were filling 4 water bottles each day, sometimes several times, so it would be handy if there was a water dispenser for this purpose as the ones in the restaurant are very slow. We did use the bar on occasion too, but it does take time. It would especially be nice if there was a place to do this in the building we were staying in so we didn't have to come to the main building every time we needed water. Larger bath towels in the rooms please! When you are sharing a bathroom with older children, it would be handy to have bigger towels to give us some modesty! The size of the ones you have by the swimming pools is ideal. More than one bin the Suite and a dedicated one that stays in the toilet. Lastly, we really would have appreciated tea and coffee making facilities in the room. Having a morning (or evening) drink without needing to come to main building (especially when you have children) is something we would expect from a "suite". I don't think we have stayed anywhere that doesn't have these facilities. Overall we had an amazing stay in Zell am See at Hotel Der Waldhof and would not hesitate to recommend them, or to hopefully stay again!