Hotel Pension Grimus

If you value a good experience, Grimus will make you think that service doesn't exist. You'll feel like you own them and they make you a favour. The attituded there is so unwelcomed. Particularly the guy at reception was at his best showing the coolness and arrogance. No, they will not show willingness to accommodate requests, we just gave up. They will not greet you with a smile and make you feel like they are trying extra mile even if they can do nothing. They are very good in brushing off and walk the corridors with indifferent faces. One example, they missed room clean up, no apologies (I suspect they moved don't disturb sign (it's a weird sign outside), although we requested cleaning just before we left. They didn't bother to check if there was something wrong with that sign. Anyway, after long day, fist response was that cleanup would be tomorrow (and don't ask for anything else). Removing dirty towels by hotel person who is not in housekeeping? That was particularly difficult. And yes, after begging for clean plastic bags I had to change rubbish bins myself. Do not ask for help with luggage, they will refuse and there is no lift. Response is "no one is available" (and they will not give you a chance to think maybe someone will be available later). On a last day I had a minor injury and we asked about using hotel car to drive luggage to the bus stop. The attitude of reception guy was like how you even dared asking this. There is only one person who stands out, hotel housekeeping manager, lovely lady who does smile and makes you feel that she cares. Location is great, facilities are ok, food is good, building needs a good maintenance (rooms are tired, difficult to adjust hot water, leaking roof at the restaurant). Given a lack of decent accommodation options, this is the second time we decided to stay at Grimus. But this time, it is the attitude of hotel staff and lack of service, which stops us from coming back next year.

Lovely old traditional Austria-in-Australia hotel. The rooms and cleaning are a bit tired since expectations have improved and Hans is dead, plus the inevitable updates required of an old, but much loved property. The current manager Lotte (Han's wife) seems to run it on a bit of a tightrope: understandably they can't get decent staff (all the cleaning staff are 3rd world people who have different hygiene standards, and I think Lotte finds it impossible to find good 1st world ones on her lowest-cost-possible wages in Australia, or maybe won't employ enough of them - not sure). I hope her son the Olympian Anton realizes he needs a lot of capital to invest, fix the property and employ 1st world, cleanly conscious staff and pay them more. The location is beyond excellent if climate change doesn't kill the snow on the mountain. Their heyday was the 70s and 80s, I hope they can recreate it (Anton gets it I think via the fantastic coffee - expensive because it's on mountain but totally worth it for a coffee or hot chocolate!)

Pros: Reasonable stay; close to the snow and great coffee shop below as well as good breakfast! Had a lovely dinner here too! Drying rooms and associated ski hire was great and easy to use! Con: in our room the toilet wasn’t working and the entire hotel was full so had to use communal toilets for 2 nights before getting moved to an upgraded room for our last night. Would’ve expected some financial refund/voucher given our room wasn’t as described nor liveable despite paying. Gifted a $50 bottle of wine instead.

We were here for three nights in August 2022, paid $925 per night for a small hotel room. We paid in full at the end of Feb 2022. The owner insisted on full payment five and a half months in advance to secure our booking. $925 per night for a small room, with no mobile phone reception and a view in to the brick wall of a light well. There were four of us: two primary school aged children, two adults. When you are charged nearly $1000 per night it is fair to have high expectations. We expected A LOT for A LOT of money. The room disappointed. The decor is very old and marked and my feeling is the focus is on profit to the detriment to the traveller who is spending post tax income on a few days away. The price of the room is my main objection. The place seems to be staffed by young girls in their 20s who are lovely and at pains to be warm, helpful and supportive. The beds come with a bottom sheet and a doona - no top sheet perhaps to save money on laundry costs. This is a little icky to me but perhaps others don't care? Each to their own. The room was tight (small) with a view on to a brick wall. This meant there was very little natural light, creating a 'cave-like' atmosphere. Being adjacent to the restaurant meant it was noisy late at night. The breakfast was quite good. You can choose from a decent selection of cooked meals but the self serve selection left a bit to be desired. Again, rather low quality offerings with the cheapest fruit on offer; melons, oranges and watermelon, some bread and a few small pastries and yoghurt. At $900 plus per night perhaps there should be berries, nuts, decent quality granola & muesli, better quality pastries, etc. This was not the case. While we enjoyed our stay, we left feeling the value just isn't there for us, others may feel differently particularly if their room was better. Management offer 'discounted' ski passes for guests (The pension receives allocated ski passes I think.) but they are not really cheap as they are the same price as buying your ticket online the night before. There is a lovely lounge available for guests but it is locked at about 8pm. This is strange as most people go to Buller to ski. The only time you might use the lounge is in the evening after dinner but it is unavailable. Guests who check out at 10am can use this lounge after checking out which is no doubt fantastic for those that need it (we didn't) but there are no tea or coffee making facilities in there for these guests- guests who have paid top dollar.. . It was great that all rooms come with a small bar bridge and kettle but again, only the cheapest instant tea and coffee (from memory Tetley & Nescafe) are provided. Again, this is absolutely fine if you are charging $200 per night but when it's close to $1000 per night, you might disappointed. Essentially we felt we were misled by the photos and the price. For the price we expected so much more. Overall, I like the hotel, the staff, the feel, the fit

I've had the privilege of travelling extensively (both domestically and abroad) over the last 20+ years. During this time, I have stayed in budget through to 5-star accommodation, had good and bad experiences and come to realise a thing or two about hotels in general. For example, although I may describe a property as rundown, outdated and in need of refurbishment, others may describe the very same property as having character or old world charm. Who is right? It's a personal view and not worth debating. Hotel Pension Grimus is certainly not a modern or luxury property by any standard. You are paying $600-$1000 per night during peak season for a basic room with ski-in-ski-out convenience. It is at best a 3 star property. The use of the word 'pension' in the hotel's name is quite defining. We stayed in Room 19, which faces a brick wall. No alpine views at all. In fact, you could barely see the sky when trying to get a handle on the weather. If views are important to you, you might be disappointed. There are a number of things that I've found tend to influence whether I stay at a hotel again in future, regardless of whether it's budget or luxury accommodation. And it's not staff, because they come and go so they aren't a reliable measure of what you can expect on your next stay. On the topic of staff, however, I would say those we encountered at Grimus were lovely. For me though, it's cleanliness and functionality (meaning things like appliances, light globes, thermostats, etc. work properly). These two things rank above all else. If I have no option but to pay $99 per night to stay in a budget hotel yet I have a clean room and everything works, I find I get the same basic satisfaction as when I pay $500 per night for a room that's more upmarket, that's also clean and where everything works. Our room at Grimus was far from clean and there were quite a number of things that didn't function properly. The bathroom, in particular, was disgusting. We had a spa suite (yes, with a view of a brick wall). On the corner shelf of the spa bath, there was a used bar of soap and two 3/4 empty shampoo and conditioner tubes. And the outer perimeter of the spa bath was covered in a thick layer of dust and lint. It looked like it had not been cleaned since the 2019 ski season. In addition to this, long follicles of black hair could been seen everywhere - on the vanity, sink, spa and floor tiles. The toilet seat no longer sat firmly in place either, drifting to one side after a short while so that your skin would make contact with the ceramic bowl. Not a pleasant sensation. As another reviewer has correctly noted, the bar fridge (found inside a wall unit) is turned off. To save on electricity? After you've wiped aside the thick layer of dust on top of the fridge to get to the powerpoint behind it and turn it on, what you realise is that it's most likely been turned off because of the noise it makes. It looks like an appliance from the '80s and sounds like o