Olympia in Obergurgl

Lovely hotel let down by a huge problem of the awful sewage smell in our room which is the reason I have given a one star review.

We booked a suite as we stayed last year and liked it very much, this year was a huge disappointment due to the awful sewage smell in our room.

We booked a year in advance in order to book the suite.

When we entered the room on arrival, suite 206, there was a smell of drains/sewage, which wasn’t too bad, we thought we could put up with it, however that evening, when everyone started using the toilet facilities, the smell of drains/sewage in our room was intolerable.

We tried to prevent the smell by blocking off all the possible outlets by plugging all the plugs and outlets with wet toilet paper on any bath/sink and filled the sinks and bath with enough water to cover the plugs and closed the doors, but the smell was still really awful in the bedroom/lounge area, even with the windows open. Also the shower was blocked and took an age to drain, we did not complain about this but I did cover the drain with toilet paper, to try and block the smell, and removed when we had a shower.

After a days skiing we would have liked to take a nice relaxing bath; however we could not use the bath at all.

To be honest this was ruining our holiday experience, we had so looked forward to the holiday, with a lounge area in order to enjoy the evening in our room after dinner. Also it is not healthy to inhale sewage smells.

We reported this to management as early as possible, being the Sunday morning as the manageress was waitressing in the restaurant on Saturday evening and we did not want interrupt her, if we could be moved to another room, she said no as they were fully booked, she said they will get a plumber on Monday and that no one else has complained about the smell who were in our suite before us, which I find hard to believe as it was so awful!

There is an ongoing issue, as I have looked on previous Trip advisor reviews and a number of guests have complained about the drain/sewage smell of the 2nd floor suite. Also I have noticed that there is another review on Google, just posted, complaining about the sewage smell in the very same room we stayed in, room 206.

I did not think the time scale to solve the issue was acceptable and it was not resolved.

The plumber did come on the Monday; he unblocked the shower drain and put down an over powering lemon air freshener down the drains. Now the room smelt of lemons and sewage!

The manageress spoke to us on the Tuesday; she mentioned that the plumber mentioned there was toilet paper in the shower drain, for which we did not complain about and I explained that I put the toilet paper there to try and stop the smell coming up and removed when we had a shower, I said it was slightly better; we made a decision to just try and enjoy our holiday as best we could and it was made very evident that she was not willing to move us to another room.

The slightly better smell conditions were due to us blocking the drains and not the plumber, which was evident on the Wednesday evening when the small amount of water in the bath to block off the smell drained away and the smell was unbearable in the room; we had to spend the evening with all the windows open, not ideal when it was quite cold outside.

The experience was very disappointing; the smell was exceptionally unpleasant, unhygienic and we could not use the bathroom in the evening and not use the bath at all.

The hotel should not be letting out that suite at all until the issue has been resolved.

However if you can get a room that does not smell (like room 201 which we had the year before), then the hotel is lovely, with exceptional food and very friendly staff.

This is a lovely hotel and in a good location to ski school and lifts.
The service is outstanding, the family is very welcoming.
My decision to give 1 star for room is due to the extreme smell all week from the waste pipe in the bathroom.
I complained on day one, but nothing was done, next day the shower and bath would not drain, too find a plastic bag was found blocking the pipes, but the next day back to normal disgusting smell.
I over heard at breakfast that the steam room stank of sewer also, they did have an engineer out, but still the same old smell. My room was 206.