Hotel Schneider in Winterberg

Short version: owner closed front desk before our arrival, refused to let us in and said we should have read the "small print".

Longer version: we prepaid through Booking and got a confirmation e-mail. We arrived at 23h at a dark hotel. No lights, nothing. I called the hotel owner who told me the reception was closed at 22h. He said he was no longer at the hotel and wouldn't let us in.

I told him my son was ill, to which his reaction was: "I'm sure there's another hotel open."
I said there was no clear warning about this strict front desk policy either on the hotel Booking property or in the confirmation e-mail. He replied he was sure it was in the "small print" that we should have contacted him if we wanted to check in later.

(I checked, nothing is mentioned about this front desk policy. It just says: reception 15-22h - so be aware this is *very strictly applied*, and showing up any later will result in the hotel pocketing your full fee as "no show", which I think is borderline scammy.)

Mind you this is a small hotel and my phone number and e-mail address were in my booking details. He could have called us around 21h or even 22h to ask whether we would turn up or not, as a self respecting hotelier would do.

Further, the owner said he would "settle this with Booking". By this he meant that he classified us as "no show" and pocketed our full 170 EUR for stranding us on a cold parking lot on a Friday night with a sick kid.

Avoid this place like the plague.

Worst service ever... don't go there...