Art Hotel Binders, Innsbruck, Austria

Links

Homepage: http://www.binders.at/
Homepage: http://www.kalmanus.nl/2008/07/08/hotel-binders/
See Also: http://www.kalmanus.nl/2008/07/08/hotel-binders/

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Reviews (4)

Filled Star - Denotes One PointFilled Star - Denotes One PointFilled Star - Denotes One PointEmpty Star - Denotes No PointEmpty Star - Denotes No Point by tom on 11 Jun 2007

I think the name "Art Hotel" is stretching it a bit. "Furnished by IKEA" might be a bit more accurate. It's not a bad place, but I felt there was much more that needed to be done before I'd fall in love with the place, and a few things really niggled.

My room was small for the price: it was cosy and had a nice view, but it was still damn small. It had the feel of an upmarket student residence and could have done with a fresh paint job, which seemed ironic given I was supposed to be in an "Art Hotel".

I booked through Expedia, which seems to be absolutely the wrong thing to do, as the rates quoted are far in excess of what is quoted in the hotel's brochure in the room. Try booking through the hotel's own website (almost impossible to find on the Web) and you might get a better deal. Paying almost £70pn for a small room without breakfast starts to grate after a while. The woman who checked me in was really friendly, but the rest of the staff were pretty sullen. In particular the big guy who seems to run or own the operation was totally patronising.

You can buy breakfast separately if it's not included in your room, and at 7euros it's not a bad deal, but is pretty minimal in variety, and the floor in the dining room could have done with a good sweep.

The thing that got me the most was the location: the hotel's web site is pretty vague about this, but Expedia quotes 1km to the Congress (Convention Centre), and 2km to the Old Town. They've obviously got totally the wrong data here, as it's almost 1.5 miles to the Congress, through the old town. Sure, it's not far in a taxi, but at 8 euros a time the cost adds up quickly. Very annoying.

If you've got nowhere else to stay then you could do worse than Binders. It's generally clean and quiet, but in my experience it's unlikely to rock your world.

Empty Star - Denotes No PointEmpty Star - Denotes No PointEmpty Star - Denotes No PointEmpty Star - Denotes No PointEmpty Star - Denotes No Point by Nikita on 12 Jul 2008

This hotel looks very nice and lovely. It’s in the capitol of Tirol, surrounded by mountains. And my experience with people from Austria is that they are very friendly and helpful. But, there is one exception…

HOTEL BINDERS!


For me and my mountain loving boyfriend, I had arranged a visit to HOTEL BINDERS and stay a few days in Innsbruck. I had contacted the hotel if there was a free room, paid my deposit and never looked at some strange German word somewhere under all the information that mattered in my e-mail contact. I was really looking forward to it.

Unfortunately, when the journey came closer, something unexpected came by so I was wondering what happened if I canceled the trip and asked this question.

All I got were answers that due to the nature of the deposit they couldn’t return my money (c’mon…paying by internet isn’t that difficult!) and that I must have been informed about a cancel insurance (the strange German word had indicated this, because after my payment they suddenly translated it for me en pointed the word out for me, because it was somewhere between a whole lot of words) and they always recommended it to their guests. Yeah sure, after they had paid the money, like in my case?!

I told him about the misinformation etc. But to make a long story short, the man had cancelled my booking without any confirmation from my side, because I was just asking the question ‘what happens if…’. And that was that. I decided not to agree with all of this, because of my loss of money (€178,-), so I contacted the European consumer commission and explained everything.

They contacted the hotel, to negotiate about getting me (some of) my money back. But probably the employee was living in his own fantasy world, and told this commission that I had contacted

Empty Star - Denotes No PointEmpty Star - Denotes No PointEmpty Star - Denotes No PointEmpty Star - Denotes No PointEmpty Star - Denotes No Point by Nikita on 12 Jul 2008

This hotel looks very nice and lovely. It’s in the capitol of Tirol, surrounded by mountains. And my experience with people from Austria is that they are very friendly and helpful. But, there is one exception…

HOTEL BINDERS!


For me and my mountain loving boyfriend, I had arranged a visit to HOTEL BINDERS and stay a few days in Innsbruck. I had contacted the hotel if there was a free room, paid my deposit and never looked at some strange German word somewhere under all the information that mattered in my e-mail contact. I was really looking forward to it.

Unfortunately, when the journey came closer, something unexpected came by so I was wondering what happened if I canceled the trip and asked this question.

All I got were answers that due to the nature of the deposit they couldn’t return my money (c’mon…paying by internet isn’t that difficult!) and that I must have been informed about a cancel insurance (the strange German word had indicated this, because after my payment they suddenly translated it for me en pointed the word out for me, because it was somewhere between a whole lot of words) and they always recommended it to their guests. Yeah sure, after they had paid the money, like in my case?!

I told him about the misinformation etc. But to make a long story short, the man had cancelled my booking without any confirmation from my side, because I was just asking the question ‘what happens if…’. And that was that. I decided not to agree with all of this, because of my loss of money (€178,-), so I contacted the European consumer commission and explained everything.

They contacted the hotel, to negotiate about getting me (some of) my money back. But probably the employee was living in his own fantasy world, and told this commission that I had contacted

Filled Star - Denotes One PointEmpty Star - Denotes No PointEmpty Star - Denotes No PointEmpty Star - Denotes No PointEmpty Star - Denotes No Point by Nikita on 12 Jul 2008

But probably the employee was living in his own fantasy world, and told this commission that I had contacted the hotel by phone and I was speaking perfectly German and perfectly rude, so I must have understood the German information about cancellations. That’s why he wouldn’t give me (some) money back.
Pardon me?! I have never phoned the hotel!

And why should I e-mail them in English if my German was that good ! But first cancelling a booking without any permission and then making up this phone call.

So warned people. Don’t take any risks making a reservation at this hotel. I know a lot of friendly Austrian places, but this is definitely not one of them!
And who knows what kind of made up story HE has in mind for you….

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