Hotel Victoria Lauberhorn Wengen, a Faern Collection Hotel

The location of this hotel is gorgeous!! We had a beautiful room facing the mountains. The staff was very kind. Their card system was down when they arrived, so it made it a little more difficult for the staff because they had to take everyone to their rooms. Their were still very friendly and efficient. We received our room card about an hour later when their machine began working again. Their spa area was very nice with reasonably priced massage rooms and a workout room, although we did not have time to use it. The pool was set at 92°, which would be wonderful during ski season. Breakfast was pretty standard, go down early for more choices. We went down at about 9:30 and some items had depleated so people were getting a little frantic about getting food before it all ran out. The trains getting up can be a bit busy in the summer so plan your trip ahead. We felt pretty silly using seats for our extra backpacks when the trains were pretty packed with people.

Extremely overpriced. Bad service. Worst breakfast spread I’ve ever encountered. The outside of this hotel looks whimsical. The inside is an absolute dump. There are stains all over the hallway rug which could be easily removed with a carpet cleaner. But they’ve been there for years. Everything is absolutely dirty. It doesn’t appear this place has had an upgrade in 40 years minimum. It is right off the train station, but that is all it has going for it. As I mentioned the staff is rude and is completely untrained, to the point they should be embarrassed. But they not! I called down to the desk, and phone rang for 15 minutes. So I left the phone ringing, walked down and there was a person on their cell phone with no customers hiding in the office. Phone still ringing… it’s that bad. They claimed they were too busy… We stayed 3 nights, so it was a painful experience. To top it off the last night we saw that they had about 50 people in the dining room, so we thought we’ll get a night cap and desert. They refused to seat us. When I said we are staying here, the guy said it is impossible as his ordering system was shut down for the night. With a nearly full restaurant…He then went to another table and took their order! Stunned, I waited and re-approached he’d him, letting him know how offended I was, and he just yelled at me, then realized the entire dining room was aghast and ran like a child and hid in the kitchen. Other people eating dinner were visibly shaken by the incident. One couple just left mid dinner. We waited 10 minutes for the staff member to return, but he only reappeared after we exited the restaurant to go to our room. I waited in the outside square but 10 seconds and saw him reappear through the window. No other staff member came out the entire time. No management. Nothing. The next morning an older lady staying at the hotel went out of her way to apologize while we waited for the train. She said she was embarrassed that people acted in that way in her country. She mentioned her dinner was cold when it came out, and that they left the restaurant after talking to their server, and went to bar for dinner. Her husband mentioned they refused to pay for the cold food that had obviously sat sometime as the staff too embarrassed to serve customers hid in the kitchen. Arenas should be embarrassed by their staff and the upkeep of their hotel. Service is simply non-existent. They don’t even bother trying. I mentioned my experience to the front desk person on our way back to our room, but they were indifferent and just gave me an attitude. The free breakfast is a complete joke. They don’t put out more food when it runs out and the food they put out was very low quality. Old melon, cut in strange ways so it’s all rind. Processed lunch meats. Only hard boiled eggs. No coffee, both were out of service. Actually out of water, but staff could not be bothered to fix the issue. We just went to the grocery store and got our own breakfast the last two mornings. The place is a complete dump. The management should never work in hospitality and the staff thinks they are the ones in vacation. It truly does not get worse than this, especially at their price point. Probably the worst value hotel I’ve ever stayed at.