Hotel berhampiran LD Modesgrund - nástupní stanice Modesgrund, Karlovy Vary District

This place is so bad it made me join trip advisor. I have absolutely no idea how they were granted 4*. I booked a double room for myself which was very basic it was clean however, so no complaints there. Well except for there was no tea and coffee in the room, just a note saying it was available to buy downstairs. I had come to Karlovy vary to work and we live in Prague so my wife dropped me down. We arrived later than expected and it was raining so I didn’t want my wife to drive home alone. Realising our position the hotel decided to charge her the same price for the night (in the room I had already paid for) as I had paid for 5 days. This felt very opportunistic and set off my stay to a poor start. Went down to breakfast in the morning to be greeted with a nostalgic smell of school dinners. Nothing like sweaty scrambled eggs and pale bacon to start your day. To the spa(?) the whole place is on its last legs nothing like the photos. The plunge pool was still filling when I arrived at 8 which pretty much rendered my visit pointless. The staff were all polite and helpful except the lady(?) on the night shift who was as helpful as dead dog.

The hotel is old and has a very warm charm about it. However, my room felt incredibly dated, almost as if I was living in 1980. One complaint I have is related to my bathroom. When I arrived there was a sanitary seal wrapped around the toilet bowl which said that the toilet had been cleaned and sanitized. When I went to remove it, I found piss already in the toilet. It didn't make for a good first impression after a long day of traveling. There's also no AC in the hotel and it was incredibly hot. There really should have been fans/small AC units in the rooms as the heat was quite brutal. The restaurant is OK, but it is on the highest floor and is certainly the warmest part of the hotel. Windows being open did nothing. Again, fans/small AC units really should have been here. I also had many many problems with the WiFi; sometimes it worked well, other times not at all. It was really frustrating. That being said, the location is absolutely perfect for wandering around Karlovy Vary, but getting to it and leaving from it with luggage is a total pain as the road is not accessible for cars.

The building is impressive, enthroned up on the east hillside of Karlovy Vary. Habsburgian vibes reminiscent of ancient days. Imperial is in good condition and nicely renovated. The scale of the building is huge and dimensioned for thousands of guests. Walking around takes quite a bit of time but with lesser amount of guests than the mentioned thousand, it feels quite lonely to stroll the corridors... The public areas are mostly beautiful, but the five official stars... no, unfortunately not. What is lacking? Well, the scale of the property demands to keep it running. To keep it running you have to have a lot of guests. Thus, you have to attract people who not usually are in the ”five star category”. And so they (try to) do. Many things turn to ”cantina” standard in respect of both the reception and ”handling” of the guests and the dining options. Very tired staff at check in. One example: in the main lobby there are only two elevators, whereof one at our visit was out of order. Another elevator in another part of the hotel did not serve all the floors. Nah.... Rooms are renovated and just fine. All amenities and a good night's sleep in comfy beds. Nice with a small balcony. For those having some sort of boarding agreement, dinner is served as a buffet dinner in the magnificent ”Prague restaurant” with lavish decoration. A buffet is hardly a concept in a real five star hotel and we consequently had dinner in the more intimate ”Restaurant Paris” - see my separate review. In ”Prague” breakfast is also served, which proved to be a great gathering of all the hotel guests at the same time. More like a school cantina than a five star hotel. Everything in place though, and most thing you would want is there to find. Queues to the coffee machines... Parking was ”doen the hill” and we ended up parking on a tennis court (!). OK - no problem, but not in the ballpark of attending staff helping you with the parking facilities. Staff correct and polite. But very stiff. And tired. Many steps behind service of a true 5-star. It's about price/performance. We had the opportunity to stay at three different hotels at Karlovy Vary during our stay. And one of those was the Grandhotel Pupp, which we considered to be much more lika a true five star. AND they are/were cheaper! So, you may well stay at Imperial, just for the sake of the building's eminent history and athmosphere. But be aware that days gone by since the turn of the century does not apply in the respecto of ”grand” anymore.