Romantik Hotel Santer

We stayed at the Hotel Santer, booking two double rooms from the 26th February for four nights. On a positive note, the hotel is very well appointed, furnished to a very good standard for a four star hotel and the staff team are all very welcoming, helpful and polite. The breakfast offering was exceptionally good, and the spa facilities and pools are very enjoyable.

Firstly, I would like to point out that I very rarely leave a negative review and from memory have never left a one-star review before. However, due to the things we experienced during our stay from the owner and management of the hotel I feel I must record the following.

On arrival at the hotel we were welcomed by the receptionist, checked in and taken to our rooms. We had driven from Venice a tiring three-hour drive and just wanted to relax in our rooms and have a cup of tea. However, we found there were no tea or coffee making facilities available. One of our party rang down to reception to query this and a member of staff told her that our category of room did not include this. After expressing her surprise and disappointment that a four-star hotel charging 250 euros a night wouldn’t include this standard facility the receptionist arranged for a kettle to be brought to the room but with no cups of tea or coffee.

A little while later when we went down for dinner the member of our party who had the previous telephone conversation with the receptionist spoke to a gentleman behind reception asking if he was the manager to which replied that he was, we then asked him again about why there are no tea or coffee making facilities in our rooms, he responded quite briskly that our category of room does not include this. I said how surprising this was and that has a seasoned traveller I had never stayed in a four-star hotel or for that matter the vast majority of hotels I have stayed in which didn’t offer this and that it was very surprising, he responded that its normal at this hotel.

Due to the brisk and very unprofessional why in which the manager had spoken to us one of our party immediately decided to leave a negative Google review, this may have been a little premature in light of what followed. Later that evening while walking back through reception the man who had introduced himself as a manager approched the member of our party who had posted the review and very aggressively confronted her saying that she needed to get her facts right, firstly he is the owner of the hotel not a manager! He then went on to say that it is clearly shown on their website that our category of room does not include tea or coffee making facilities. I have double checked the website and I can find no mention whatsoever of this, but please feel free to check this for yourself, the rooms we stayed in were standard doubles.

The other incident which I found astonishing was an Italian supplier to our own business back in the UK had contacted the hotel to very kindly arrange to pay for an evening meal for our party. However we had dinner on the first evening of our stay and were not overly impressed and so decided to eat at other local restaurants during our holiday.

When the hotel reception contacted me about this very kind gesture, I explained that unfortunately we had made other reservations for our evening meals and suggested that they used the offer of paying for our meal be used for the dinner we had eaten on the first night, the receptionist responded by saying this wouldn’t be possible and the “Voucher” must be used for a future meal.

Subsequently I have been informed that the supplier would have had no objection to their gesture being used for any meal we had taken during our stay.

Finally, on checking out the hotel had tried to charge us twice for the evening meal we had on the first night of our stay.

Regrettably these factors have led me to leave this negative review. Interestingly when you look at the at the other negative reviews on Google and TripAdvisor there is a trend that the owner has very poor customer care and interaction skills.

The OWNER of this hotel is dead rude. I have requested kettle to my room so I could make tea or coffee in the morning. I am staying in this hotel for €250/night for 4 nights in two rooms and I hear in response that I am not in the right category of room to have that included!! When I spoke to the manager he just bluntly said that “ this is normal here” and he had the nerve to also tell me that the sparkling water in the fridge is not for free either. I have never met manager of the hotel this rude and he might be sure that I won’t return here or recommend it to anyone! I wonder how the staff of this hotel is treated if the owner treats his guest in obnoxiously arrogant way!
We also looked on the website and it doesn’t mention that hot drinks are not included in your stay(doesn’t matter what room) which is a standard practice in 99% of the hotels.