Spielbank Bad Steben

I was very happy to find this boutique hotel within shouting distance of the Messe. For many years I stayed at the Marriott but wanted a change. It is a charming, quiet and comfortable hotel. The staff are particularly good natured and helpful. I hope no one reads this review so the rates don’t go up too much for next year. Be aware though it’s not fancy or upscale so if that is what you are after it may not be the right fit for you.

Quaint German Hotel. Great restaurant. We had a fantastic dinner the night of check-in. Unfortunately, we did not stay as we encountered what looked like cockroaches in our room and when we approached the front desk were told "they are not cockroaches" "they are wood bugs from the garden". In this day and age with the internet giving identification capabilities instantly I read "cockroach" and was on the way out. The girl at the front desk then gave me a room in the front of the Hotel w/o a "Garden Room" window. This room had been smoked in and with my asthmatic condition I could not stay especially when I found the same bugs under my nightstand. Come to find out (when I got back stateside) these are Ectobius vittiventris. the Amber Wood Cockroach, Amber Forest Cockroach, or Garden Cockroach. Which are not a storage pest, and completely harmless to humans as they feed only on decomposing plant. Without window screens and no A/C they will be there. I went back the next morning (after finding a great clean bugless hotel at midnight a short drive away) asking for a refund and was summarily dismissed and denied. I did not stay in the Hotel nor eat the "great breakfast" I paid for. Had the management (very combatant) not been insistent the bugs were not cockroaches; and better informed me, I would have stayed and not lost close to a thousand dollars!