Eibsee Hotel

"Overall we had a very nice stay. We would stay here again. There were a few things that felt inconsistent with a high end hotel, so we just needed to adjust our expectations a bit. The pros: The location is beautiful on the lake surrounded by trees with the mountains in the background. It was a nice 5-mile walk around the lake. The food was all very good. Full buffet breakfast in dining room, light food at lunch (salad/light pasta and dessert), buffet dinner in dining room (or plated dinner at Taverne). Having access to stand up paddle boards, canoes, and kayaks free of charge was nice. Swimming in the lake was refreshing. There is a small pool but we didn’t use it. For the most part, the staff was nice. The cons: They tell you everything is free and included but just be aware you have to tip. We didn’t mind tipping but it’s not explained to you that you need to tip. We were confused when the waitress asked us to sign a bill at our first dinner (price was EUR 0), but then she mentioned a tip. We didn’t get any bill at breakfast but at lunch they sometimes give you a bill to tip. For cocktails we always got a bill. The tip policy was unclear (we asked had to ask at front desk about protocol) and inconsistent. There is no air conditioning in the hotel and there not even fans in the rooms, so just be aware. We visited during a week when it was extremely hot, and our room was really stuffy. We kept the our porch door open all night for one of our rooms which helped a little. Some of the meal protocols were weird. There was no butter for bread at lunch even when we asked about it. You get your own beverages at breakfast but they tell you to order drinks for lunch at your table (which isn’t always possible if you can’t track down a waitstaff member). Smoking is allowed outside so we had to close the windows to one of our rooms because it started smelling like smoke. And one might at dinner it smelled like smoke in our dining area. We had dinner in The Taverne one night and while the food was good, the service was lacking (the main dining room had more staff and service was fine). We were pretty surprised at how blatantly bad it was. The hotel felt like a good value overall for what we got, and we all agreed we would like to visit again someday. There were just a few things that we just had to roll with."