Berg & Bett Säntis Lodge

We have stayed at Berg&Bett Säntis Lodge in spring and liked the hotel very much! The hotel is great for family with kids. It has a very well designed relaxing room for adults and equipped entertainment room for children. There is a playground that belongs to the hotel and a bigger playground is just in a walking distance (10 min). Coop supermarket and a small bouldering center, pool and Unterwasser city center are also 10 min away. The area is great for hiking! The hotel offers guest cards with some benefits. Room are nice and clean, balcony, wardrobe, shower with bath tubs, hair drier, etc. Breakfast is very good. My impression about the hotel ruined just one dinner at their premises. We knew that their chef is good, since we stayed there a few months before, so we ordered half board. When we came to the restaurant we were very hungry, especially our toddler daughter. The fist dish was soup. It was not even needed to try it, since it looked like melted butter or fat. I tried it and it turned out to be the case! Very fatty substance that was not possible to eat. And the guy at the service tried to convince that it is natural and how this thing is cooked. Dispute all those explanations it was terrible. Just horrible. The second dish was somehow better but also not edible. My wife ordered the vegetarian option of Chili con carne and she got a plate of rise with very greasy vegetables. Their chef cannot cook at all. I did not even try their dessert. Since the dinner was awful, I had to go rush to a supermarket to buy something for me, my wife and the daughter, who was very-very hungry. I put 100 franks on the table and ran to the supermarket. The next morning I got the change for the dinner and they charged me for wine and water only. I thought they realized that they cannot charge their customers for the dinner, which they could not even eat. But no! They did it! When we were checking out, the lady at the reception said that I have to pay for that dinner and was genuinely surprised that we were not offered another food during the dinner. I think the hotel has financial issues and charge whatever they can and do not care about the feelings of their customers. Of course I cancelled our half board for the next day and had an amazing dinner in a close by hotel. Another point showing that the hotel has its issues is that their personnel is changed pretty frequently and no proper hand over is given to new staff members. Unfortunately, we left disappointed.

Even though it was cool outside, the room was not cooled down during the night as we couldn’t leave the balcony door open due to a lot of mosquitoes and bugs. Wish there were fans in the room! There were so MANY flies in the breakfast room and buzzing around bread and jam and such. And I’m not exaggerating at all. Wonder how clean everything is.

I had a very good time in there, the people were very nice and the bed was very comfortable :) I got Wonderful weather as well - Cold, dry and sunny The food in the region is very good - totally recommend it.

The place where we stayed is very comfortable quite massive and the bonus is that it has a functioning kitchen. It even has a big tub where my little one was able to enjoy. The view as well is quite amazing. Only thing is that theRe is no microwave, but not really a big problem for me. Also there is no where for you to the laundry, and for a big family like ours it was quite hard. Also the reception needs a bit more training as I have asked for some information but she just directed me to the Tourist info, which I think is a bit odd for a hotel to do that. There are also shops to do your grocery minutes away from the lodge. It is a good base families on holiday and would highly recommend it.

Average rooms with no extra accesory. Most of hotels we have been around the world at least have kettle to make coffee and tee. Shower in bath tub with no proprer holder for it so you have to hold your shower head in hands the whole time or you have to take a bath. Breakfasts just poor, boiled eggs you have to make yourself, 2 options of salami or ham, 2 options of cheese and two options of bread. No vegetables, no bread rolls or at least viennas. Everyday the same, it went wrom bad to worse. Supper selection basic but overprized compared to other restaurants around. 1dcl of wine for 8 CHF and bottle for 50. Location is not the best either if you want to entertain yourself at night, you have to take bus to the next vilage, at least the hotel provides tickets for free. I dont know if this is a standard for Swiss people, because they dont seem to be complaining.

A lovely lodge that is very accommodating for children. We thoroughly enjoyed the restaurant for dinner and breakfast too. Small play room inside that our children loved. The location is wonderful and within walking distance to a coop, cafe, bergbahn, swimming pool, restaurants and waterfall.

The lodge is a great base for hiking in the nearby mountains, either up to the Santis or the Chaserugg. The building itself is a bit older and run down but inside the rooms are spacious and Rituals cosmetics an unexpected treat. Many rooms have terraces with super relaxing mountain views. The staff are very lovely. The breakfast spread is superb with fantastic birchermüsli to power the guests up for their mountain adventures. Unfortunately the restaurant only serves pasta and pizza for dinner, a bit more options on the menu would definitely make more guests stay in the house for the evening.

Our family has visited this “lodge” for over 30 years. Recently, there has been a management/ownership change and our last visit was a monumental disaster. To begin with, the morning breakfast went from “the best”, to horrible. The only good thing was the employee taking care of breakfast guests. The room was clean, however, the management clumped several rooms together around us who were nonstop noisy, loud and boisterous 24/7. The rest of the floor, about 20 rooms were empty. Trying to find someone to change our room was fruitless. No room phones, management was hardly there. We did, however, complain to the breakfast staff (again, excellent people) who were greatly concerned. All in all we rarely got a good nights sleep. If the above wasn’t a nightmare already, upon checkout (and relating our nightmare stay), our bill came and it was not what was indicated on our online reservation form. It was far from it and our pointing out the discrepancy was met with nonsensical excuses from the head manager checking out our bill. Indeed, there was a major difference in their favor and it was way off. We paid nevertheless, but we will never visit this nightmare of a lodge/hotel ever again while this inadequate and totally inexperienced management runs it. The irony in all this is that we own a flat practically across the street our family has owned for 30 years as well. We loved to stay there when too many of our family gathered or we just wanted the hospitality served to and paid by us. Moreover, we are a family that travels much and some travel for business, so we have much exposure to hotels, lodges, BnB’s, etc. We are Swiss, Italian and American but mostly Swiss. Our recommendation to travelers is to find another place to stay. But beware! The owners own the Sun lodge and yet another in that valley. Best of luck and if you have to stay, maybe speak up louder to the staff than we did. Incidentally, I’m sure the management will answer with the same nonsensical and empty excuses as they did to our faces. Such a pity a greatly run business taken over by people that just want to fill their pockets. Moreover, it doesn’t even feel Swiss anymore. Such a shame!

Convenient hotel in Waldhaus Alt St. Johann with a nice terrace, even if a bit dated. Very friendly service. Ask for a room away from the main road for absolute silence at night ;-)