Vaya Sölden

I have never returned from a week’s holiday feeling as sleep deprived as I did after a week at Vaya, Solden. The only room available when we booked was a standard room, number 102. Other reviewers have commented on how small the standard rooms are and the observation that they are ‘Hong King businessman small’ is accurate. There are no hooks whatsoever in the room which is an oversight in a skiing hotel. The room was also very hot meaning that we had to keep the balcony door open to cool it down at all times, including at night. Unfortunately, this room is also above the night entrance meaning that every time late night revellers returned to the hotel we were woken up. There were many groups of men staying at the hotel (I don’t think it’s a coincidence that there are numerous table dancing bars in town) and they were not quiet when returning. This includes the person who banged incessantly on the door at 4:45am, presumably having lost both his key card and his phone and unable to wake his friends any other way. However, the bathroom was a decent size and the spa was very nice. The staff at the hotel work very hard and do a great job. In particular, the kitchen staff are outstanding as the evening meals were of a very high standard, imaginatively planned, perfectly cooked and beautifully presented. Unfortunately, the service in the restaurant is rather chaotic and it would appear that there are insufficient staff. It would help to have dedicated bar staff and dedicated waiting staff as we felt that the restaurant staff were overworked. On two occasions we were overcharged for wine. There is really no lounge or bar area in which to relax, with just a handful of chairs around the fire (6/8 people probably) and a couple of high bar tables. There appears to be a lack of managerial oversight and I would single out the collection of beer and schnapps bottles and glasses that remained outside the ski and night entrance for 3 days until we pointed it out, and also the broken wine glass outside the main entrance that remained there for the full week. We would certainly not book a standard room again and the only way that we would consider a return visit would be with guarantees of a room on a higher floor at the opposite end to the night entrance.