Hotel Panther'a

This is a well positioned hotel in the heart of Saalbach and only a couple of minutes walk to two of the three main ski lifts. It is a modern and clean hotel with generally friendly had helpful staff, although the housekeeping service could be a little grumpy at times. The sauna and outdoor pool area provides for a relaxing apres-ski experience. Ahead of our visit we were concerned about the quality of the food offering given earlier TripAdvisor reviews/comments and whilst i’ve experienced better half board dinners in 4 star hotels the dining experience was actually quite good (wasn’t so keen on one main dish, but hey, that happens). We spent a happy time at the hotels and thank the management and staff for helping us have an enjoyable stay.

Recently returned from two enjoyable weeks at this hotel which we booked, half board, through Tui. The hotel has good facilities and lovely rooms. The breakfast buffet was good too with lots of choice. The evening meal was disappointing. The portions were generous and the food well cooked but, to quote another reviewer, it just wasnt four star food. For example one main course was a portion of chicken in curry sauce on a mountain of boiled rice, another, thin chilli con carne in a bowl with nothing else. There were two choices of mains each night plus good pizza. The starter was a very basic salad bar and the soup mainly consome. The desserts were mostly cakes which I think were bought in, usually served dry with no sauces or cream ( strudel had vanilla sauce). And when we asked if we could have ice cream we were told that was dessert on another night. The menu was on a one week rotation so was the same both weeks. It was such a shame on an otherwise lovely stay.

The hotel is very clean and modern, rather lacking any traditional Austrian charm. I should add that this wasn’t our original choice but was provided at relatively short notice by Crystal/TUI as our chosen hotel became unavailable. Bedrooms were a good size with enough storage, very modern and with good bathrooms. Unfortunately there weren’t any tea/coffee making facilities in the room. The Wellness centre was a little disappointing, the outside pool (with access from inside) is a nice idea but is not as pleasant as an indoor pool after skiing. The Wellness centre was otherwise fine but rather strangely, you only had one sauna towel for the whole week (none provided in the Wellness area, just one supplied at the beginning of the week) while they changed the bathroom towels daily! The ski/boot room was rather inadequate for the number of guests, too many skis just left on top of others. The dining room seemed to be always busy, another symptom of what seemed like too many guests for the facilities. Breakfast was good, with plenty of hot options, bread, meats cheese, cereals and fruit but became very crowded from about 7.40am. We were always first in as soon as it opened, with snow conditions being less than perfect we wanted to hit the slopes early and would have liked breakfast to have started at 7 rather than 7.30am. The dinners were a little disappointing, the waitress took your dinner order at breakfast (from a choice of 3 mains, meat, fish or vegetarian) however further details were always available by scanning the menu card. Portions were quite small so we had to have plenty of the salads, meanwhile the broth was worth avoiding. The real problem was not being allowed tap water, and being charged €6 for a bottle of still water. This seemed extortionate. Many Austrian hotels allow you to have jugs of tap water, especially if you are having wine/beer with the meal. The staff in the restaurant were good humoured and friendly, however, we found that the reception staff were far less so, not being at all welcoming or particularly helpful. The location of the hotel is perfect, the three main base lifts are all within a very short walk ranging from 90 seconds to about 5 minutes which meant that it was possible to choose which area you wanted to ski even at short notice , and this is a good skiing area. The hotel is kept very warm, too much for us, we needed to have a window open at night but this meant that we were subjected to quite a lot of noise from people exiting a nightclub next door in the early hours!

we booked this hotel through Inghams as it was rated 4 star and had a spa/wellness area. One of our party wasn't planning to ski all day or everyday so having a spa was ideal to relax during the day. However the Spa didn't open until 4pm, and when we asked the hotel we were told it wasn't possible to open earlier, no where in Ingham's information did it say that it was only open between 4pm and 7pm. When we asked the rep, he said it was probably due to the high cost of energy that the spa was open for a shorter period! Robes or towels weren't available unless you left a €50 and €20 deposit, fortunately we had a sauna in our bathroom so we used that, but the hot tub outside had no water supply! Dinner; was build as a 4 course dinner. Course 1 was salad from the salad bar, little variation during the week. Course 2 was soap, broth every night and with a variant each night. Course 3: you were given a choice at breakfast to chose our main course based on a description by the staff, no printed information and a limited knowledge of what it was, so one morning when asked what fish, we got the reply fish. We later found out there was a QR code on the table we could look at but again descriptions where short with no detail Course 4 was desert, no choice, or the other choice was ice cream. This included cold apple strudel, something called sponge cake, which was actually panacotta with bit of sponge cake on top. No cheese. Wine selection was poor and expensive for bang average wines,€37 for a Pinot Grigio. Bar drinks were expensive with a single gin or bacardi with mixer for 13.90 Ski room was small with no lockers and no real security, seating for putting on ski boots was 5 garden chairs, situated in front of the ski boots, so better to grab your boots and put on in the corridor We had 2 males sharing a room and it took 2 days for the hotel to make 2 single beds, they said it was too difficult to do! Overall a nice room was let down by the things above. We were told by the rep that the hotel did want to speak with us but they could never find us! Considering we were eating in the hotel and often on the bar before and after dinner, and at breakfast I would say they didn't try, and that is the issue, they don't have to try. When we checked out and paid our £850 drinks bill we weren't even asked if we had a nice stay or even said thank you too!! We wont be going back and not booking through Inghams as their descriptions are both short and misleading. This hotel things having some room renovations and some flash decorations can hide it's inadequacies

Great hotel visited in January 2023 in the center of Saalbach rooms are comfortable with ample storage. Located close to lift system to get you out of the village. Breakfast self service and a good variety from cereal to bacon sausage beans,boiled eggs etc, selection of evening meals available which you choose at breakfast vegetarian option also catered for Staff are very friendly (thank you Elisabeth) and helpful, bar area with a good selection of drink’s available. Definitely recommend for your ski stay.

The hotel is modern and clean. Beautiful and tastefully decorated. Lovely rooms, comfortable beds and a lovely view. The spa and heated outdoor pool was fabulous and we really enjoyed this after a day out skiing. The majority of staff were really pleasant and helpful. We enjoyed a laugh with Stavros, who always had a smile on his face. The ladies who cleaned the rooms were really helpful too. The food was not good. Breakfast was fine and plentiful with choice, albeit always the same. Dinner was a disappointment. The food gradually got worse as the week progressed. Cheap fatty cuts of meat, I didn’t see a vegetable all week. There was no menu and at breakfast you were asked if you wanted a meat, fish or vegetarian option. No mention of accompaniments. Desert was a guess and not very tasteful. No cheese boards or choice of sweet. The last night we were looking forward to Cock au Vin, not a lot to get wrong there we thought! Wrong, it was basically a chicken leg in some powdered gravy on pasta. We were shocked and asked to speak to the manager, who was totally uninterested in our concerns. I had a knee injury and had to stay in the hotel one day and I asked at lunchtime if I could get a coffee and was told the bar was closed as guests do not stay in the hotel during the day. The following day the bar was open as it was a snowy day. So no consistency, it would not have been so hard to make a coffee for me. Overall the quality of the food was a disappointment for a 4 star hotel and in my opinion it does not deserve a 4 * rating.