It was our 3rd time in FIS. Our feeling during previous visits were mixed, but still positive enough to come back.
Unfortunately this time it was not the case, due to poor service and unprofessional management...
Starting with positives:
1. Location is great -just next to the slopes, with nice view -perfect.
2. The design in common areas (reception, restaurant, ski-bar) is nice, modern and classy -with beautiful furniture and lights.
3. The size of the hotel -just right -not too small not too big.
4. Swimming pool -very small, but nice. The opening hours are surprisingly short (15.00-18.00 for families, 18.00-21.00 for adults), but it is manageable.
Negatives:
1. Management of the restaurant -people are nice and smiling, but they are not able to help and it does not seem they care about it -few examples:
-there are fixed menus at the dinner -choice of a starter or soup, choice between two main dishes and a dessert -you make your decision in the morning, so it seems to be easy to manage, as all the dishes are precooked… It is not. We were waiting almost an hour for the starter and soups! As children were really hungry, I have asked them after 30 min wait to bring at least the soups for them. The answer was: they could not because they were really busy… When I have asked them to call the Chief, they came back saying, they refuse to meet…
-the breakfast is buffet-style and is served until 10.00. We were usually coming around 9.30 and the choice was very limited and the “leftovers” looked really bad (you were not willing to taste fried eggs, ham or other meet as it all did not look fresh at all). In most of the cases they were bringing you the finished items after demand, but it was taking them long time and how many times you make ask…
-you may order some “fast” dishes in the ski-bar (burger, soup, French fries, salad) for lunch during the day, but they are often not fast at all.
2. Quality and variety of food for breakfast –very basic food, the same choice every day, poor quality coffee (you may order really good coffee at the bar) –far below four star standard they claim.
3. Quality of cleaning service –they “clean” every day, but the service is really poor, they just wipe the floor fast and change towels, in few occasions they washed the glasses, but made it the way, we had to wash them again –again not what you would expect from four star hotel.
4. Top management. The hotel is run by a couple (they probably owe the property, but I am not sure about it). During our previous stays in the hotel, I have hardly had occasion to meet them. This time, they were there all the time. You would expect that to have positive impact, but it is not in my opinion. It may be the case that they had some good management before and they try to manage the business on their own now. It does not work well and the result is poor service described above. In addition, the owner/ top manager is just rude when receiving negative feedback:
-when I have complained him about slow service described above (almost 60 minutes waiting time for just a soup), he has started to argue with me saying it is normal in busy time… He was really rude, what has really shocked me.
-I have called the reception asking for table reservation for two families. They took the reservation, but when we have arrived, the top manager/ owner stopped us saying, there was no place for us, we would need to wait for 30-40 minutes and they do not take reservation… What would you say?...
To sum up –Hotel FIS has a lot of potential to become a great place to spend winter holidays with its location and premises, but it needs proper management in all the areas. The owners will hopefully understand it and employ somebody to make a job.
Until it happens I do not recommend the place.
