Francis Palace

Excellent location not far from the town center, ideally clean. Very good wellness center and perfectly maintained facilities. Very decent restaurant serving a plenty of local cuisine specialties. The staff is really polite, friendly and helpful. The only drawback is lack of air conditioning, when the outdoor temperature rises above 30C it is strongly felt.

Very nice hotel with great wellness area. My special highlight: they had no plant milk there for breakfast, but quickly got a selection of milk alternatives and plant-based yogurts especially for me in a supermarket in the neighboring village. This is what I call customer orientation in perfection! ❤️

BIG MINUSES: 1. I received the room 109 which is right above the trash containers, which is noisy and they will not stop it until 8pm when the restaurant closes. I asked immediately after check-in to change the room and they did not want. They said the hotel is fully booked, although I heard they saying in czech that other customers did not arrive yet. When asked again about it, they said that those customers will stay only 2 nights and I have a 4-nights stay, so the receptionist manager can't do any change. (Because? they needed to clean and they did not want?) I have seen with my own eyes that customers did check-out each of the following days, so this was a non-sense for them to say there are no free rooms. I have kindly asked them if is possible to move the trash containers somewhere else. The answer was No. Luckily for me, I was with my sister - who had a different room for few days already - and she swapped the room with me. 2. Then, regarding the food: although I had a special diet (gluten-free and milk-free) for which I wrote them about 6 days in advance, and they agreed to provide it in return of a 150 czk/day which I agreed with. They did not announce me that they don't have something from my list: for eg almond milk. They automatically provided soy-milk without informing/asking me if I am ok with it. Also I could eat all type of meat except pork. They knew about it - since it was part of the same email about my diet. I asked at the breakfast which ham is the chicken one, and they said the lighter-colored one. One morning instead of the soy milk, they brought some disastrously looking drink: it looked like on top 90% water, and at the bottom some white content. When I asked them what is that, they said "homemade almond milk". I requested to have the milk I asked in my diet not some wo-wo drink. They brought in few minutes another drink, which they said is almond. I looked cheesy. After I sipped a little bit, I realized it was sour. I went to the receptionist to ask what is this behavior? this cannot be a 4* hotel while offering expired food/beverages. The receptionist answered the milk is like that because I asked it to be warmed up. I drink that almond milk hot at home as well, so I know it does not turn into sour taste. I asked them to provide the services they ask the money for, otherwise I will not pay the extra amount for the diet services (in the amount of 150 czk/ day for breakfast and dinner). They said they can bring back the soy milk. When I asked about the chicken ham, which one is it, because they had 4-5 types and none looked as chicken I had few days before, they said, they NEVER had chicken ham, they do not offer it. The only exception is for the dinner, where they offer chicken meat. So few days ago they lied then when they said they had it and I can eat it. Some people due to religious restrictions can't eat pork, but the hotel probably is 40 years behind all this. They don't treat dietary restrictions seriously and shall shall be banned to operate. After all this, both my sister and I talked to the director of the hotel, but in vain, he just listened without even apologizing, or providing some financial compensation, moreover he said: - nobody else complained about the room 109 before. (My note: the fact that nobody complained before does not mean is it not a problem. And who should complain? More than 90% of guests were elderly people. Some might not hear, see, smell well.... , or if they do ... they might not have the courage to question anything.) - the hotel buys food from 2 specific shops in larger quantity, and if those shops do not have what the clients asked for the hotel will not provide it, as the driver will not go to other shops to look for the required-dietary products. Seriously ?! but they ask extra money from clients for it. If the hotel does not comply with the requirements of the client, they should let know the client they did not find a specific food AHEAD, and not try to make up things by providing food which the client is not informed about and did not provide his/her consent. - the director cannot dictate to his employees where should they smoke. They have free will. My note: NO, they should not have free will if they smoke in a place which impede the customers to have fresh air while opening the window. As conclusion the director asked what exactly do we require for last breakfast in the hotel. We wrote him the list containing the chicken ham, which shall be milk-free and gluten-free etc. The next morning (the last one at the hotel), there were on the table already gluten-free musli, gluten-free bread, + sliced kiwis. Those kiwis did not look fresh, looked like the exact same ones we had the day before (and which we did not eat). I did not want to tell them anything anymore about it, their behavior went too far already..........; I took myself other really freshly sliced kiwis which were prepared for the rest of the clients. They brought the chicken ham, but I did not trust is chicken (based on the bad-looking kiwi slices + the day before - experience with the sour almond milk + all the other lies around chicken ham) so I asked them to see the package. They brought it, and it was ok, the ham was indeed chicken. I told them I am asking to see the package because the kiwis are not fresh. The waitress said she personally cut them in the morning. Sure..... The director came to see if everything was ok. If by ok he meant, chicken ham, yes, then that was ok. But the fruits were not. I took a comparison photo with both types of kiwis - the expired ones + the fresh ones. 3. Upon arrival we needed to choose what we want to eat for dinner - for the entire stay. At the dinner they served it between 18:00 and 20:00. They asked the customers to arrive around 18:15. They served as in communistic-times: everyone 1st dish, then when they finished, they brought second dish and so one. Canteen-style like, so we were not served like in a normal restaurant The majority was full of german-speaking elderly people. . 4. No TV channels in English (or French or Spanish...etc). They were either in German or Czech. My overall conclusion is that - the hotel shall be banned to operate - at least the restaurant.... due the fact that they provided expired food (the milk + fruits) and they lied about the chicken ham, therefore I ate pork ham without knowing. Except 2 waiters (both tall and black haired) who were really helpful, the rest of the staff from receptionist to director had not helpful, unacceptable behavior, No orientation to client. This is certainly not a 4*.