Karma Bavaria Hotel

I’m going to start this review by saying that I haven’t stayed at this hotel recently so I cannot comment on the hotel and its facilities. My main issue was with the customer service I encountered when trying to book my stay.

My boyfriend and I found a Groupon deal for a 4 night stay with breakfast at this hotel. Having phoned the hotel’s number that was provided multiple times, I never received a response so decided to email them instead to book in our check in date.The response time on email wasn’t good and I was often waiting long amounts of time to hear back and when you’re waiting to book your flights, a few days delay can make a lot of difference to flight prices! It would’ve been much more ideal if I could’ve just spoken to someone over the phone to arrange my check in date ASAP, I’m not sure why they would provide a telephone number if no one has the intention of ever picking up.

Throughout the back and fourth emails it felt like they were trying to convince me not to use the voucher. I got told multiple times that the Groupon deal was recommended for couples in the age bracket of 35+ and that the hotel’s atmosphere may not cater to younger people. It felt like age discrimination, just because we are a couple in our 20’s doesn’t mean that we wouldn’t enjoy a quiet, relaxing stay at a hotel, so I’m not sure why this kept getting mentioned, since it was a recommendation and not a requirement to be over 35.

I told them that my family and I had stayed at this hotel previously so I knew what to expect. They replied saying that I cannot use my Groupon voucher at all anymore because I was a previous guest. My parents had booked this hotel 7 years ago, back when I was still a child so I don’t see why this should impact mine and my partner’s ability to book in this stay as adults. They kept saying that this promotion was only valid for new guests and since I’d been at the hotel before I couldn’t use it. There was nothing in the terms and conditions stating that previous guests (especially guests that were children last time they visited!) couldn’t use the voucher. I asked for some type of proof and they provided a screenshot of the terms saying ‘Please note that if you have already availed any Karma Properties promotions, you are not eligible to use this voucher.’ The key word being promotions - I’m not sure what this has to do with being a previous guest. Neither me or my partner have used any promotions in the past, even my parents who booked in 7 years ago booked directly through the hotel without using any type of voucher/promotion, although I still don’t see how this would invalidate my voucher. There were no clearly defined terms stating that a previous guest couldn’t use the voucher. At first I thought I wasn’t reading this correctly, but after asking multiple other people to read through the T&Cs no one can find anything that corresponds to what they’re claiming. After trying to deter me multiple times from using the voucher, to me it seems that they have made this up to stop us from saving money and getting a good deal. Based on their logic, even someone that was a baby when they last stayed at the hotel, wouldn’t be able to use the voucher 18 years later because they’ve already stepped foot inside the hotel, it’s absolutely ridiculous.

I am currently waiting for a refund from Groupon, which is a shame, as from what I can remember this was a nice hotel. This is extremely disappointing from the hotel as this is something that we were really looking forward to. I don’t understand why they would sign up to be involved in a Groupon deal if they have no intention of honouring the terms and conditions they set out. The wording of these need to be changed so that other people know not to waste their time and money in the future. Or if they don’t want anyone saving money on their booking, they should remove the offer entirely instead of inventing something to stop people from booking using the deal.