Review: Best Western Seehotel Frankenhorst, Schwerin, Germany – atrocious service ruins my stay

I chose the Best Western Seehotel Frankenhorst near Schwerin as my final stop on a road trip along the Eastern Seaboard of Germany. The country-style rooms, lakeside setting and beautiful pool and wellness area look great online, but my stay was ruined by the lack of advertised air conditioning in a record-hot summer and atrocious service. The high price and lack of any Best Western elite benefits made it poor value. Find out why wouldn’t recommend a stay or stay myself again!

Location: The Best Western Seehotel Frankenhorst is situated on the shores of Lake Schwerin, outside the state capital Schwerin. It’s a beautiful, peaceful setting, with the different hotel buildings spread out around the property facing the lake and forest surrounding it.
The hotel is about 10-15 minutes drive from Schwerin and best suited for a road trip. There is no convenient public transportation nearby. The hotel has free parking on the grounds. This location works best if you are planning bike trips or hiking in the area, but is less ideal for a visit to Schwerin!

Service: The front desk at the Best Western Frankenhorst checked me in with the minimal amount of spoken words, handing me my room keys with directions to the room, and confirming my questions about breakfast with single-word responses.
Housekeeping had done a good job preparing my room – it was clean and all in good working order, with towels and amenities provided.
The staff at breakfast had set up the buffet and kept in stocked and tables cleared, but was otherwise invisible. There was no staff at the gym, pool, fitness area or marina.

At check-out I complained about the lack of air conditioning in my room, which was an advertised feature, and either false advertising or a  result of a downgrade of the assigned room. The staff acted surprise, as if the request for a/c was a ridiculous statement, and both staff and the manager just ignored the issue without an apology or offer of even a token compensation. My complaint to Best Western was forwarded to the hotel (after a few weeks!) but never answered.
Advertising features that a hotel doesn’t have is one of my pet peeves and downgrading a room without compensation is unacceptable – especially when it comes to a/c in a record-hot summer in Germany. The staff constantly made you feel like you were imposing on them, not bothering to address the issue at all, added to the problem. I have pretty low expectations of service in Germany compared to other countries, but this was a failing grade even by those low standards.

Room: I had reserved a double room (with a/c) and was assigned a double room without it in one of the several buildings that make up the hotel. The building was undergoing construction and I had to access it across an open ditch, but there was no work or noise at night.
The room was held in a country style, with dark blue carpets, light blue furniture and a yellow comforter. In the entry area was a large wardrobe and the door to the bathroom. You enter the bedroom through a short hallway. The double bed (German style with two separate matresses and comforters) took up most of the space in the room.

Near the window are a chair and coffee table and against the wall are a small desk and chair, so you can get some work done.

The bathroom is long and narrow and has its own window. The wall mounted sink is near the window. It’s small and has a narrow shelf behind it for your toiletries. On the other wall are the toilet and a narrow shower cabin, with limited space but fully glass enclosed. Basic soap and shampoo are provided in dispensers and the towels were equally basic.

The room has free WiFi internet and it was reliable and fast at an average speed of 7.5Mbps, enough to get work done or stream video.

Restaurant & Amenities: One of the highlights of the Best Western Frankenhorst is the spa and wellness area. There is an indoor pool, surrounded by glass walls, which felt bright and friendly.

There are loungers around the pool, as well as in a separate room, with views of the forest at any time of year for a nice atmosphere – a great place to read or relax.

There is a small fitness room with cardio equipment for a basic workout.

Next door you’ll find a punching bag and boxing gloves to work off excess energy. There is a big massage chair in case you exert yourself right next to it!

I was looking forward to using the dry sauna and jacuzzi tub, but unfortunately the tub was not operating and the wellness area closes very early, so I didn’t get a chance to use it at all.

The main restaurant serves the breakfast. It’s a typical German affair, with bread rolls, cold cuts and cheese, as well as cereal, fresh fruit and yogurt, as well as some boiled eggs. It’s my favorite kind of breakfast and the quality was good, but selection was limited.

Value & Rewards: I booked the Best Western Seehotel Frankenhorst at a rate of $98, including breakfast, and utilized a Best Western giftcard to reduce it by $20.While that seemed like a good deal online, the small room without a/c, the limited opening hours of the wellness area and the small breakfast selection as well as poor service made it overall poor value.
I am a Best Western Platinum member, but did not receive any benefits. Instead of a room upgrade, my room was downgraded without refund, there was no choice of points or gift as welcome amenity. The hotel did not post the points automatically and I had to retroactively claim them.

Bottomline: The Best Western Seehotel Frankenhorst has a nice lakeside setting and a beautiful wellness and pool area. The a/c less rooms and limited breakfast selection were below par for the category and offered poor value at the high-season price. Without any Best Western elite benefits delivered, the elite treatment was poor. The careless service and complete lack of responsiveness to the room downgrade without refund was appalling. With the current hotel management and staff, I would not return and can’t recommend you to stay either. You can do better for a visit to Schwerin and the area – check for hotel prices here!


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