Hotel Review: "Four Points by Sheraton Panoramahaus Dornbirn"
Paul‘s 156th Hotel Review for the
Details:
Duration of stay: 2 nights / weekend getaway
Check-in / Check-out:
Check-in Process: 
Check-out Process:
Concierge Service: N/A, no concierge
Staff @ Front Desk: 
Bonvoy recognition:
At Check-in:
In General:
Posting of points & nights: 
Room / Bathroom:
Bed, quality of sleep:
Bathroom, Shower:
Room Atmosphere:
WiFi / Internet:
Housekeeping general:
Cleanliness:
Food & Beverage:
Breakfast:
Bar:
Restaurant:
Lounge: N/A, No Lounge
Staff:
Paul‘s Mix:
Pool, Spa:
Hotel Location:
Mojito Rating 
:
:
General Customer Care:
Staff attitude, interaction and responsiveness:
Social media interaction:
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= bad, a lot of work needs to be done
=not good, you will be busy with corrections
= good & normal, nothing special
= high level, but the icing on the cake is missing
= topnotch, leave me here!
= Half a Point/sheep
—-
Before we get to our review:
This property is our staycation / home away from home property and overall we have more than 50 nights at this hotel.
Unfortunately and it is very very sad to see the hotel is going in the wrong direction with big steps.
F&B has reached the bottom. It is a disgrace for a 4 star hotel to call something like that a menu.
Except Frontoffice all staff is terribly over worked, completely exhausted and at the end. Management and HR does nothing.
You can feel and see the pressure on every single staff member. This is not good at all and it hurts as some of them we know now for years.
Cost cutting and cost pressure from above and owners go to far. Guest can now feel it, they destroy their reputation themselves and guests will stay away.
Maybe the hotel should invest in its staff and pay good and reasonable wages to attract good staff. Happy staff = happy guest!
Covid times are over where there is no revenue or income. They are constantly full and prices are much higher than pre covid.
So the only ones trying to maximize are the owners instead to invest. They should learn that once the situation turns, they will be without guests and without guests there will be no money in
return.
It hurts and it is sad to see one of our most favorite hotels going down the drain like this!!!
General Info:
The hotel is located in Dornbirn, Austria close to the A14 Highway in the industrial district of Dornbirn.
A few steps from the hotel there is a shopping center and the trade fair hall. In front of the hotel there is a local bus stop which brings you to Dornbirn and Bregenz.
Otherwise there is not a lot in walking vicinity except some fast food restaurants and a very good Italian restaurant. Other than these, there are no restaurants and bars around and you have
to take the bus or your own car to go for dinner.
The Hotel has a total of 162 rooms and suites. 2 floors are completely renovated and new and the others should get a facelift soon.
The building is very modern from the outside and all public spaces such as the lobby, the bar/restaurant as well as the breakfast restaurant on the 11th floor are brand new and newly renovated.
In the public areas, the hotel is very modern, beautifully furnished and does not really compare with the Four Points standard. This hotel is on a top level for a Four Points by Sheraton
Hotel.
It is acutally on the level of a Sheraton or Marriott Hotel.
Check-in:
Check-in was like coming home. We were greeted personally by the front office manager and also the operations manager came by to say hello.
We chatted together whilst an agent checked us in. We were given the keys and the whole process (well this was no process anymore) was done in a breeze.
Unfortunately I and the agent didn't pay attention. I had a prepaid room (was deducted from my CC one week prior to arrival) but the agent still made two blocks on my CC again. One block was
for the room plus credentials and the second block was for credentials.
When I recognized it the next day, the rooms divison manager wanted to solve it at check out.
Check-out:
Check-out was okay. There were 3 youngsters behind the desk.
They were friendly and attentive, asked if everything was okay but had no clue and idea on how to solve the problem with the additional block on my CC.
Staff at Frontdesk:
The Staff at the front desk in general is simply amazing. All of our "regulars" were off this weekend or on vacation.
So only new staff and Trainees were there. The crew is very young but they do good job.
Some are top notch, other still need some training and a very very few have no idea what they do.
All of them are always friendly and show some passion in hospitality.
Marriott Bonvoy Titanium Recognition:
During check-in, the agent provided all the benefits which come along with our status.
We were asked, if we would like to have the points or the breakfast as welcome benefit an we were upgraded to one of the brand new executive rooms with balcony and mountain view.
There was a nice card in the room and as a very very small amenity with a Danish. In addition we were given two drinks vouchers for the bar.
Here you could definitely feel that the guest relation supervisor was on vacation.
Eligible nights and points:
The
eligible nights as well as the points and revenue were posted 24 hours after our stay and surprisingly they were posted correctly.
Concierge:
The property has no concierge but the front desk helps as best as they can.
Room / Suite:
The brand new Executive Room with balcony and mountain view is simply stunning and wow!
The new Executive rooms is only a little bit smaller than the "older" Junior suites but you can't feel the difference. Vice versa, the room itself seems to have the same size and with the
balcony it even feels much bigger.
The room has floor to ceiling windows with a nice view over the mountains.
The atmosphere in the new room is simply amazing. Wooden floor, brand new interior, amazing lamps and light concept and some colors which freshen up the whole room. It gives you immediately a
warm and cozy feeling.
The room has a king size bed with a modern headboard, a desk and desk chair, a cozy colorful wing chair with a reading light and a modern wardrobe.
The balcony is huge and offers a sofa and a wing chair with a table, cozy cussions as well as a floor lamp.
The bed itself is very comfortable.
Bedding such as pillows and the duvet are comfortable.
The mattress as well as the bedding slowly start to show first signs of wear and use.
Bathroom:
The new bathroom is also wow! Very modern with a huge and amazing rainforest shower. The water pressure is absolutely efficient.
It is very modern and also here an amazing light concept with modern lights and what I loved, finally a hotel in Europe who offers some night lights if you have to use the restroom. Very well
done.
Housekeeping:
Housekeeping was a pure disaster this time.
Every kid is more capable of making their bed better than this Housekeeping.
The sheets looked already terrible when we checked in, but what we got after the first night once Housekeeping was done is a simple disaster.
I know, we have just been in asia for a few days and we should not compare it, but this time it was a simple no go!
WiFi :
WiFi remains a problem at this property.
There is a very bad connection in the room and in some angles there is no connection at all.
When connected to the WiFi, the speed and service is very slow and sometimes you even can't stream a YouTube video.
F&B outlets/ Lounge:
Gastro Counter:
Gastro Counter is the hotel's sole bar and restaurant. There is no other F&B outlet available for dinner or drinks.
The Bar opens at 17:00 and the restaurant at 18:00.
The interior is super nice and modern. There is a lot of wood and very bright colors to give the restaurant and bar a welcoming atmosphere. The hotel has integrated some amazing new features
like wireless mobile charger in the bar.
Gastro Counter BAR:
Also this time the drinks at the bar were very good. Staff was always super friendly, attentive and they took the time to chat with the customers. They are super present and on the ball what
is going on.
Gastro Counter Restaurant :
What the hotel currently offers is a disgrace for such a property.
F&B was always the "problem child" of this property. But... They came a long way and ind May they had reached a great level of quality and Menu wise.
This time, well you should not call this menu anymore. The special little season menu which they implement was thmporarely suspended.
The normal menu was reduced by minum 1/3 of items only leaving fast food on the menu.
There is not a single healthy dish. Even the mixed salad was cut from the menu.
We would have had a reservation at the restaurant but we cancelled it when we saw the menu and went for dinner outside of the property.
Such a menu turns off customers and it destroies everything they have build up.
The old restaurant of this property used to be TripAdvisor's Nummer one restaurant in the area for years and the GM and the Owners managed to distroy everything.
Top View Breakfast restaurant:
The Top View breakfast restaurant is the breakfast venue of the property. It is located on the 11th floor and has a stunning panoramic 270° view.
Breakfast is very good and they have the most spectacular breakfast venue for a Four Points by Sheraton Hotel.
The restaurant up there feels more like on a cruise ship with the stunning view over the valley and the mountains.
The interior is simply stunning and wow.
The buffet they offer is great. There is a bread and pastry station, fresh fruits and juices, cereals, hot dishes, cold cuts and cheese and many more.
During the week, you can choose from any hot egg dish you like and it is freshly prepared except for the tetra pack scrambled eggs.
During weekends, only sunny side up eggs are prepared freshly, no omeletts are being offered.
I still don't understand why they can not offer omelettes on the weekends.
The hotel has 3!!!!!! Staff members in the Kitchen for breakfast.
The last two days we observed the chef. Sometimes he was standing there for 25 minutes without doing anything.
In addition he is super grumpy and unfriendly.
Why are you keeping a chef for decoration at breakfast when the shit is steaming in the restaurant for evening service???
All this chef does is being decoration, cooks 10 sunny side up eggs an refills the tetra pack scrambled eggs.
This guys can easily be cut away at breakfast and you have immediately an additional chef for dinner.
You will not even recognize that he is gone at breakfast.
Executive Lounge:
There is no lounge.
Pool / Spa / Gym:
Still the biggest advantage of this property.
I have never seen a Four Points by Sheraton with such a huge pool/wellness area. The hotel offers a huge indoor pool, a heated outdoor pool, lots of saunas and steambath, hammam as well as a
relaxation area free of charge for all hotel guests. It was simply stunning!
So far the Hotel still has a spa, which is now outsourced. Never the less the old team has taken over the spa and is now running it as their own business. The treatments aren't cheap but as
we had one of the best massages last time we did repeat it and we can highly highly recommend the spa. Also this time the massage treatment was simply heaven.
Even they reduced the size of the gym massively with the renovation (used to be an entire floor which is now new rooms) they still offer a great gym for a Four Points by Sheraton Hotel.
Social Media:
Social media does post and repost some things on Instagram and Facebook. The last post on Facebook for example is from last July!!!
No real interaction with on social media platforms with their followers.
Summary:
All in all a good stay but just because of the room, the staff we know and because of the spa.
Housekeeping a disaster.
F&B became sort of inexistent. The current menu offered at the restaurant is a disgrace for the property.
Cost cutting and pressure from Management and Owners are now going to far. You can feel it as a guest.
Except Frontoffice all staff is terribly over worked, completely exhausted and at the end.
We really loved this place as our home away from home / staycation property. We have more than 50 nights at this hotel but now they are going way to fast in the wrong direction.
We will give them another chance because of the staff we love but shouldn't there be significant changes back to the better we might have to look ourself for a new property for our
staycations.
Notes:
- Paul the Sheep does not get any benefits from the Hotels/Airlines etc.
- Paul will always pay for the services in order to be able to rate freely and truly about the experiences.
-If you are interested in more details, please send us a private message and I will be happy to share more information and pictures.