Name: Landhaus Lena
Address: Kandelstr. 8, 78141 Schönwald, Germany, Schoenwald, Schoenwald, Schoenwald, 78141, Germany
Rating: 7

Smoke-free property

Heating

Newspapers

Garden

Terrace

Outdoor furniture

No elevators

General

Non-smoking rooms

Cable TV

Hairdryer

Shower/Bathtub

Bathtub

Shower

Linens

Rooms

Free Wi-Fi

Internet

Hiking

Recreation

Free parking

Parking

Beach/pool towels

Pool and beach

Cycling

Sports

Ski storage

Skiing

Winter sports

Pets Not Allowed

Pets

Location

At the cottage

Room amenities

Black Forest

Stadtgarten Freiburg

Schlossberg

Muensterplatz

Freiburg Main Cathedral

New Town Hall

Martinstor Gate

Breisacher Gate

Freiburg Theater

University of Freiburg

Freiburg Concert Hall

Goethe Institute

Seepark

Lahr Airport

Place d'Austerlitz

Alsatian Museum

Historical Museum

Museum of Fine Arts

Rohan Palace

Strasbourg Cathedral

Gutenberg Square

Saint Thomas Church

L'Orangerie Garden

Strasbourg Opera

Strasbourg National Theater

Barrage Dam

Place Broglie

Republic Square

Kleber Square

Strasbourg Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art

Rhine Palace

Colmar Expo

Museum of Toys and Little Trains

Saint-Pierre-le-Jeune Church

St. Peter the Old Church

Saint-Matthews Protestant Church

Collegiale St-Martin

Bartholdi Museum

Train Station Square

The Dominican Church

Unterlinden Museum

House of the Heads

Theater Colmar

Parc du Champ de Mars

Landhaus Lena

Schoenwald

child-bed

child-bed-fee

external-private-bathroom

private-bathroom

shared-bathroom

10-beds

11-beds

12-beds

13-beds

14-beds

15-beds

16-beds

17-beds

18-beds

19-beds

2-beds

20-beds

21-beds

22-beds

23-beds

24-beds

25-beds

26-beds

27-beds

28-beds

29-beds

3-beds

30-beds

31-beds

32-beds

33-beds

34-beds

35-beds

36-beds

37-beds

38-beds

39-beds

4-beds

40-beds

5-beds

6-beds

7-beds

8-beds

9-beds

king-bed

queen-bed

limited-time

lounge

treatment

no-window

bay-view

bosphorus-view

canal-view

city-view

courtyard-view

garden-view

golf-view

harbour-view

inland-view

lake-view

land-view

mountain-view

ocean-front

ocean-view

oceanside

panoramic-view

park-view

partial-ocean-view

partial-sea-view

partial-view

pool-view

river-view

sea-front

sea-view

street-view

sunrise-view

sunset-view

water-view

with-view

annex

basement

main-building

1-bedroom

2-bedrooms

3-bedrooms

4-bedrooms

5-bedrooms

6-bedrooms

not-guaranteed

wired-internet-access

smoking

sauna

duplex

safe

mini-bar

breakfast-for-1

breakfast-for-2

pets-allowed

wi-fi

kitchen

The Hotel is slightly dated but clean. The bedroom we were in was on the first floor and due to being in the roof was very hot. Bathroom was clean but again dated and old fashioned. 

Hostess whilst not hugely welcoming was not rude. Breakfast which was included was good but we felt there could of been more variety from what was provided. 

The best thing about the hotel is its location. Set back off the main road means it is quiet but still within walking distance of the village and all the restaurants and shops the village has. 

Fine

First of all, we liked the place - it's in a very picturesque village, close to the woods with a nice view. The breakfast was also ok for the money, and even the room, with the interesting design decision (the shower opens into the bedroom), was also nice and cozy.
What we liked less was the service. We do live in Germany for almost a year now and are aware of customer values (zero), but every time something like this happens, it leaves a bitter taste. So here I'm writing to warn the future guests and be prepared to somewhat cold attitude from the hosts.

Anyway, when we arrived to the hotel and stood in front of the entrance for a while, puzzled about how this door opens, we discovered a bell on the left side.
After pressing the little button a few times, no one has come to open the door, so we decided to phone. As we are only studying German, we sound a bit like idiots when we speak, but we do believe it's showing more respect... 
The lady who answered, said that we're doing it wrong, came out, and without really welcoming us or saying anything pleasant, showed us how properly to ring that bell (apparently the whole construction was a button) and led us to our room. 
I asked her out of politeness if her name is Lena, she looked coldly at me, said "Nein" and left.

The breakfast is served from 8:30 to 9:30, somewhat restrictive, but OK, that's manageable.
Checkout time, however, is very strict. We kindly asked if we could check out at 10:30 instead of 10:00. The lady said "Nein" and gave us a bill immediately. 70.20€ and only cash is accepted. Reading the other review here, I do not understand what are those 20cents made for, rather than to annoy the visitors. 

Because of the rush, and that's of course my mistake, I've forgotten my phone charger in the room. Realized this only when arrived back to Munich. I called the hotel and asked, using my broken German, to send it to me. She said no problem and hung up.

Here comes the catch. In Germany, sending such a package costs ~2-3€. "Free" shipment, on the other hand, the one paid by the receiver, is much more expensive - 15€. And this was the method chosen by our host. We are now going to pay 15€ for a 3$ worth device, because they did not think one little step further - I could have simply wired those 2-3 euros to her! 

So for me, the lesson is learnt. This is not customer-oriented business. I will not go back there again, and will not recommend others to visit, unless you want to try that individualistic cold approach.

Customer service? Nein!

Let me start by saying that this review is something I feel very strongly about.  Not only is this a review of the hotel, but one of the personnel that run it. My wife and I booked a romantic getaway at the Haus Lena Hotel in Schönwald, Germany from January 18, 2013 through January 20, 2013. I am in the United States Army and have been stationed in Germany for over two and a half years.  This was supposed to be a well-deserved long day weekend for me, my wife and our dog, but it turned out being the most horrific professional experience of my life.

We checked into the hotel at about 1300 on Friday the 18th and immediately went out sightseeing.  We didn't even unpack our bags.  The room was nice and spacious by European hotel standards.  We had no issues with the amenities. At about 1700 I received word that my mother, who had been hospitalized in Tallahassee Florida for over two weeks, had taken a turn for the worse and probably wouldn't make it through the day.  We rushed back to the hotel room to see if we could make some phone calls back to the United States to get some information about my mother.  We have a Voice Over Internet Phone (VOIP) with a US phone number through Magic Jack and needed an Internet connection for it to work. We were told prior to checking in by the lady at the hotel (who never did tell us her name) that the hotel had Internet service. When we got back to the room at about 1900 we tried to connect to the Internet and did not find a router (either wired or wireless). I called the hotel phone number and asked the lady again if the hotel had Internet service.  She said that it did not.  I hung up and discussed with my wife whether we wanted to head home, over 3 hours away, or stay at the hotel until we had word about my mother's health.  Within 15 minutes we decided to go back home.  I called the hotel back and let them know we would need to leave the hotel.  This is where the situation turned into a terrible experience that still upsets me almost two weeks later.  The lady said that she would have to charge us 50% of both nights we had planned on staying. I was hoping she would understand that I had a family emergency and would make some other arrangement with the fee.  I told her my mother was dying and that I had to go back to America to see her.  She started to scream at me that I must pay what is due and I wasn't going to get out of the bill with a fake excuse about a dying mother.  I was shocked and didn't quite know what to say.  She said she would be at the hotel in 15 minutes, which was good that she was that far as I needed a few minutes to calm down from her insane accusation.  I waited for her in the lobby, and as promised she arrived in 15 minutes.  She did not exchange any pleasantries, no courteous hello, not even any sympathy for my dying mother.  She simply said “come with me” and directed me downstairs to a small front desk.  She immediately put the bill in front of me and asked me to pay it.  I then tried to ask her if there was anything we could do about the bill as I had to leave on a family emergency.  She again started yelling (literally yelling) at me that she spoke to booking.com (the company we booked the room with) and I must pay the bill.  She was very mean and would not let me speak at all.  I was dealing with the pain of a terminally sick mother and didn’t want to deal with this lady anymore.  I walked away in order to avoid saying something I would regret.  Well, in my anger and grief I went up the wrong flight of stairs into a private area of the hotel.  Having realized my mistake I immediately came back downstairs to the front desk only to find the lady screaming at us again that she was going to call the police; for what I didn’t know.  I then left by the correct staircase and my wife took over.  My wife paid the bill in cash.  The lady charged us 66 euro for one night’s stay (I still don’t know where that figure came from as the e-mail from her a few days prior stated that the charge would be 29 euro per person per night, for a total of 58 euro per night).  She said she was only charging us 50% of one night, but was extremely rude throughout the entire process.  The bill came to 80.20 euro.  My wife had the 80 euro, but needed to go out to the car in 10 degree Fahrenheit weather to get the 20 euro cent.  The lady actually made her go out in the cold to get it.  Yes, it was her right to do so, but really?  Was the hotel going to go broke over the US equivalent of a quarter? We hurriedly loaded our unpacked suitcases and our dog and headed for Schweinfurt in a snow and ice storm.  It was very important that we be around an internet connection so we could stay in touch with the States.  Before we got far, my wife noticed the unusual 66 euro charge and asked me to drive her back to the hotel so we could find out what the charge was for.  My wife got out of the car and spoke to the lady while I sat in the car very worried and upset about my mother and the horrible way we were treated by this hotel.  The lady got very confrontational with my wife and physically intimidated her while demanding she leave the hotel premises before she called the police.  Again, she made a reference to calling the police for unknown reasons.  The lady told my wife “you may get away with this in the Army, but this kind of stuff doesn’t work in small towns”.  She almost struck my wife and again was very confrontational.  We left the hotel and headed home.  Enroute we contacted booking.com to make a formal complaint.  They contacted Haus Lena Hotel and were told by the same lady, who I can only assume is the owner, that we were the problem and tried to get out of the bill with a fake excuse.  Well, we went back and forth with booking.com for a few hours before I received the most terrible phone call of my life.  My mother had died at about 2030 Germany time.  

This type of customer service cannot be allowed under any circumstances.  Not only is it a personal affront to me and my wife, but an attack on the memory of my mother.  At no time in my life as a professional Soldier of over 16 years would I ever consider making up a story about my mother dying to get out of paying a hotel bill.  The accusation was offensive and unfounded.  Obviously my review of this hotel is extremely poor.  I recommend that no one that reads this stay at this hotel.  I formally request that booking.com drop this hotel from its list of trusted businesses, and it is my wish that this lady understand the error of her ways.  I am not looking for an apology, and wouldn’t welcome one even if were offered.  Too much damage has been done.  I just want everyone to know about how bad this hotel is.

Landhaus Lena

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