Liebesbier Urban Art & Smart Hotel

We stayed at this hotel for about a week and loved it. Terrific sleep quality. Great AC that kept the room cool even during 95-degree weather. Good blackout curtains. Excellent sound proofing. Nice, big bed. Everything is new and clean. Good daily room service. Free breakfast coffee in the nice shared space downstairs. An attractive but small courtyard. The room needs a bigger desk: the desk is truly tiny. Check in after hours is frustrating as you have to figure out how to use the electronic system to get your own keys. (Easy enough but the last thing you want to do at 11 pm at night with no one around.) Would have preferred if the bus to the Wagner festival didn't leave quite so early (it departs 1.5 hours before the performance.) Is too far to walk to the festival during hot weather.

Prior to our arrival, I emailed the hotel to explain we would. check-in after the first of our two operas at Bayreuth this year. We had reserved two rooms and arrived at around 11.30pm. There was no sign of life, except in the nearby bar / restaurant so we enquired there. I asked a waitress if she could help us and she replied "no" and directed us to the hotel. Rather than there being a check-in desk manned by a human being, there is a unstaffed computer system. Next to this is a plasma screen featuring a "virtual assistant" to help guests work out how to use the computer system. My friend entered his details and eventually secured his room key, after a lot of faffing around. I entered my reservation number and name but my reservation couldn't be found. The virtual assistant misunderstood each request we made and responded with rubbish, for example "I'm afraid I can't help you find your cheese sandwiches." My surname is hyphenated and the hyphen was not accepted by the computer in the name field (even though this key does work for the number field), so I imagined this might be the cause of the problem and kept re-entering my details in different variations. Completely panicked by this - late at night, without any assistance and with no-where else to stay - I found a contact number to telephone. This was answered quickly, but the attendant was also unable to located my reservation. After two phone-calls, the reason for this transpired to be the same reason the computer couldn't accept my details - I had already checked in online, following the hotel's email request (whereas my friend had not) !! Both the computer and the attendant should have been able to work this out quickly via my reservation number. The attendant eventually appeared to create my room key. I was obliged to carry my suitcase upstairs myself and at one point he event had the cheek to tell me "you will just have to wait!" The automatic check-in system - which doesn't recognise when a guest has already checked in online - and ridiculous virtual assistant - are time-wasting, frustration-causing, money-saving gimmick and are best avoided by anyone in search of a seamless check-in and good night's sleep. Furthermore this hotel is over a 30-minute walk from the Festspielhaus and there are more sane and user-friendly options nearer. If you expect to arrive late and want to check-in easily, don't stay here!