Park Hotel Sonnenhof Superior

My daughter and I spent nine days driving through Switzerland staying at various hotels/inns along the way ranging from luxury in Gstaad to more rustic out of the way spots. None, none, were as impressive as the Park Hotel Sonnenhof Superior. From the minute we walked in, the staff made us feel like royalty. The hotel was spotless. The rooms were cozy and warm with exquisite marble bathroom counter tops (and I just re-did my house, I've had some experience looking). But even more wondrous was the restaurant Maree. The two best dinners we had the entire time were both at Maree. The food was the finest I've had in a long time. The menu I would call exciting. I was mouthwatering from reading it and it didn't disappoint. And the service top-notch. If I ever find myself within 100 miles of this lovely family place, I will make a point to stay for dinner and a night. It was that awesome.

Possibly the worst experience I've ever had with a hotel. We booked ahead via email as we were coming for a conference. After we arrived, the hotel demanded that we pay nearly double for the room (well above posted rates on the hotel's official website) because we are a couple instead of one person. We double-checked with the receptionist (who lied about the text in the email until we called her out on it, yet she *still* insisted that we pay the inflated extra fee) and in the booking emails a price was agreed to, and there was no mention of the number of people coming, and no mention of any limit on the number of people in the room. We are a husband and wife couple requiring one bed, which we let the hotel know after booking, but before we arrived. Given that, as I'm sure the hotel was aware, all accomodations in Liechtenstein were booked up due to the conference, this seemed to us to be tantamount to extortion. Perhaps the hotel's wealthy clients are quick to agree to this kind of extortion but, as we told the receptionist, we are both travel journalists for top publications, and we'd never in our decades of traveling had a hotel increase the price like this once we'd already arrived. We were very calm and asked the receptionist if we could speak with a manager to clear this up. She refused, stating that she didn't know where he was and would not go look for him. When we asked her name she refused to tell us. The receptionist, who was very hostile from the beginning (despite my calm tone), then proceeded to threaten to badmouth my husband (yes, she tried to blackmail us) to the conference organizers if we did not pay the inflated room rate. At this point my husband then responded by telling me to just pay the extra fees. Instead, I told her that if she made me pay these fees I would report her to her manager, to Relais & Chateaux, and do a chargeback on AMEX. When I said this, she admitted that the extra fees were unfounded and changed the bill to reflect the correct pricing. Never in my life have I dealt with such a situation. The experience left me literally shaking with stress. The hotel was otherwise passable but unexceptional, if you don't mind paying a small fortune for food (think 20 euros for a bowl of watery tomato soup).

We enjoyed our 4 night stay. We started out in a junior suite (#36) but preferred the offered superior room (which was on a higher floor with a better view of castle and mountains; it also had a very nice walk in shower). This room (#58) is less expensive and one we would suggest booking as it was quiet, a nice view with tasteful decor. We prefer walk-in showers which this one offers. The breakfast buffet had a wonderful selection, delicious fruit/pastries and included the best tasting omelets of our entire 2 week trip. We had originally considered the half board for our entire stay. We had lunch and dinner on day one and both meals were delicious, in a beautiful dining room and nice service. We found the half board process offering to be confusing (ask questions about menu offered as it’s customized for each night of stay from their regular menu. It’s 4 courses but not the same as the 4 course offered on restaurant menu.). Therefore, for the next 2 nights , we opted to eat elsewhere (to try different local restaurants). We highly recommend Torkel which is down the hill easily walkable from the Park Hotel Sonnenhof. The service, food and atmosphere was outstanding and I’m so glad we ate there. For our last night we ate back at hotel and ordered from their snack menu (as we had also snacked at Christmas markets) and food (truffle soup and seasonal salad) was very good. The homemade spring rolls were okay and for price - I’d select something else. I’ve given the location 4 stars but only because of the uphill location. Coming down by foot is easy and it’s very convenient for catching the bus (#11) into Sargans for train service. It’s a workout heading uphill which we did each day of our stay. The hotel did a nice job arranging for car service to/from Sargans for catching our train. A special shoutout to Maria who is excellent in her role for the hotel. She is helpful, has a high degree for attention to detail and excels at service by going above/beyond for guests of the hotel. We are taking back special holiday snowflake decorations because of Maria and something we will always treasure of our stay in Lichtenstein.