Hotel Monopoly

Clean but old room. Not so wide breakfast menu, exacly the same each and every day.
Friendly stuff.
Nice terrace and garden (with table tennis), very good outdoor atmosphete. Indoor pool also quite nice and clean.

Trotz Nähe einer Eisenbahnlinie ruhige Nacht. Klimaanlage wegen warmen Wetters angenehm. Abendessen im Hotel ausreichend und schmackhaft.

I will start with the positive points: I had to reschedule the date because of my surgery, there was no problem, I also changed the room for an apartman. The chef was waiting for us in the evening (we arrived at 20.30 and you can have dinner till 19.30) and he prepapred quickly something warm for us, thanks again. The staff was very kind, we got any time hot water for our little baby girl - even at 10 pm.
But: the bathroom is very small (1 for 2 rooms in the apartman) and would need some renovation. It was very cold in the room (AC was on- but on cold not on the heating), it was a rainy and cold Mai week-end with 16 degrees and we wanted to heat. They did not checked the apartman obviously, but luckily in 2 hours it was already ok, after I asked for help on the reception. The noise from the stokehole I could hear it also during the night. I assume ell the rooms on ground floor are more noisy than upstairs, as the most of them are near to the wellness section.
Finally the most unexpected surprise was the fact that the owner tried to charge me for 3 nights instead of 2, on the receipt I saw only the price, but it was more expensive then on Booking.com, so I tasked for explanation etc etc. (I reserved directly, will not do it next time), then we agreed, he apologized and I paid the normal fee.

In all fairness just about Everything at this this place is bad. Be warned.

Next to the lake and the cyclepath about 10 minutes walk from the centre of Balatonalmardi across the railway track. Seemingly ideal it would appear from the advertising. However .........!

From the arrogant bully of a manager to the head bruisingly low ceilings, broken aircon, bathroom toilet dispensers that are locked and wont dispense when needed, uncontrollable showers without hotwater, no hairdryers or shampoo, laundry service which doesnt do laundry, fire safety equipment missing, potentially murderous lack of alternative means of escape where you cant even exit from first floor windows, broken jacuzzi, so called gym comprising five or so scruffy 5 kgm dumbbells, out of order sauna, dead fish and watersnakes in the lakeside inlet. I could go on.....!

And this was at the beginning of the holiday season when any well run establishment would be anticipated to be fresh and sparkling. Far from...!

One positive. The staff clearly tried their very best ...... but were nervous and uncomfortable and intimidated and told us as much.

So night two I was given a room change to get away from the noisy and invasive disco at 2.30 am but only after this was sanctioned after arguement with the manager hiding somewhere an only willing to speak from the other end of a telephone

After two nights we moved out cancelling remaining time at Hotel Monopoly.

Speaking afterwards with another local hotel owner manager sharing our experience at Monopoly he told me it is well known amoungst his collegues that this place and management is a disgrace to the town.

I shall be writing to the local mayor with my observations I feel that strongly.

Shame Tripadviser cant give negative ratings because I cant think of another place deserving of a worse score.

You might enjoy a short visit to meet Hungary's answer to Basil Faulty but unfortunately this one isnt in the least funny so take my advice and try another Balatonalmardi hotel.

The town is lovely hope they shut this place down

Alternatively is there a tv programme 'Worst hotel disasters.'?

It was almost one year ago that I stayed in Hotel Monpoly. Something positive was the location right at the lake. I tried to forget the unacceptable service and disgusting food but today something remembers me - they tried to overcharge my credit card by charging the full bill again - 11 month after I stayed there. Beware!

We stayed 6 nights in early July 2014. We chose it for it was right on the lake, had a nice garden, an indoor play-pool, sauna, in case the weather is not so great, had suites for traveling with our kids, a restaurant to make meals easy with the kids. All were as expected, except: the rooms are more basic than the pictures would suggest and for the price. Also, smokers use the rooms, so even the closets had a slight odor of cigarettes for my sensitive nose. The windows have mosquito nets - a must if you want to enjoy the evening breeze. We loved the chef, who tired to accommodate our meal-wishes and became like a friend. Almost all the staff was wonderful, but there were exceptions.
The one sore spot, that really put a dent into our overall feeling of the place was the "boss" TIBI. We got to know him a little better than most guests would.
When I first encountered him, he was giving one of the staff a hard time over accommodating the guests' wish for a particular table, because it was not set, like some others near it.. The hotel was not at all crowded so I was quite taken aback by this. What should be more natural than to seat your guests at the table of their choice (for all the hard-earned money they are spending here to have a nice time)?
One of our children fell on the lawn chair and split her forehead open. There was a ton of blood gushing from what looked like a very deep cut. The child was so pale and weak we thought she was about to pass out. Several of the staff members offered to take us with their own vehicle to the emergency room, but when they called to let their boss Tibi know, HE FORBID IT AND TOLD US TO TAKE A CAB! The cab took forever to get there, about half an hour. Since there were hardly any other guests in the hotel and none were eating at the restaurant, one of the 3 staff members of the restaurant who were not at all busy could have easily managed to get us to the ER. They were all feeling bad looking on AS WE WERE WAITING FOR THE CAB WITH OUR PALE, BLEEDING CHILD.
What kind of person is this guy Tibi as a person, and what boss would refuse to extend help, when a child gets injured on his premises!? Just to mention, the lawnchairs were extremely unstable, because they would flip up if you sat too far to the end, but you could not sit on the middle, because of the armrest, so you had to position yourself just exactly right to be able to sit down and not flip.
Tibi would come to his hotel and enjoy swimming and tennis and a drink, but would walk past the overflowing trashcan or the trash by his feet.
Most outrageously, the staff is required to hand him whatever tip they get. He pockets them and hands it out ( - or rather - knowing him - does not hand it out fully) according to his preference. In essence whatever tips I gave, it went into his pocket! The last person I would want to reward for his despicable behavior! If I want to give someone a tip I want that particular person rewarded not someone else! (e.g. the person who washed all the blood off the chairs). I have asked the staff if they got any of the money I gave them and they said not yet.
Recommendations for the hotel:
Have this Tibi go through some training in customer service and how to be a good manager. (Although there is little hope for him since he is quite a rotten person.)
Scrub the stairs and railing going into the water to make it less slippery from the algae and put a sign about slipperiness.
Change the lawnchairs to better quality and more stable ones.
Assign a staff member to monitoring twice a day the beach and garden for any trash accidentally dropped. (there wasn't that much, but even a few pieces is a sore sight, the trashcan by the beach is tiny and mostly full)
Clear some of the algae and water plants near the entrance to the lake, most people do not like to step on these plants as they enter the water.
Clean up the back of the yard from heaps of yardwaste and some trash there.
Have more fresh bread ready at breakfast and add fresh fruit to the breakfast spread (otherwise a good selection and fresh)

Recommendations for guests:
Be careful entering the water for the stairs are slippery. Beware of the unstable lawnchairs.
Try the restaurant, it is worth it. The lemonade is also great.

Positives: Weather & Indoor pool area
Negatives: hotel rooms - poor quality furniture, uncomfortable beds, no balconies; most of the hotel staff - unfriendly, poor english and rude manners to the customers; beach - not a beach realy but more like back garden, narrow access to the Balaton lake through rocks, quite dirty water surrounded by lots of reed; frogs and snakes in the water which is not suitable for a kids at all.

We stayed for 6 nights this Summer with our 9 year old daughter. The location was great, approximately 10 minutes walk through parkland to the centre of Balatonalmadi and the railway station (direct trains to Budapest every 2 hours). The hotel was a gem. The private garden on the lakefront is great for relaxing, and there's table tennis, skittles, a pedalo and a little beech to keep the kids happy (all for free). There's also an outside bar serving drinks, snacks (salads, burgers etc.) and ice creams. All very reasonable. One minor disappointment was that no local beer was available, the hotel only had Stella on draught or Heineken in bottles.

The indoor pool is great for the kids with water jets and small inflatables, also a jacuzzi, sauna and steam room for the grown ups (again for free).

Breakfast was fairly basic, with no fruit juice which was strange. As for the room, we were in a standard plus double with an extra bed. It was fairly small, but we coped, and the aircon was very effective. The rooms are cleaned on request rather than daily meaning that we ran out of loo roll on one occasion!

The service from reception is great, and also in the bar and restaurant. We ate there one night and the food was good, although slightly more expensive than in the town centre.

We paid approximate €95 per night including the 3rd bed. This seemed fair value compared to other hotels that we researched. Overall we really enjoyed our stay and would return.

Some notes on the town. Personally, I much preferred B'almadi to the more fashionable (and more expensive) B'fured. There's plenty enough facilities in B'almadi, including a number of restaurants and pay-beaches (about 500ft per person per day, less than £2). Also good transport connections by train, bus and boat. Some tips for eating are Kucko, the open-air eatery in the town centre, and also Snidling which is about 5 minutes walk from Monopoly across the railway track. The Thai curries in the latter are devine, but it's only small so booking is advisable.

We stayed in hotel Monopoly for 5 nights and really enjoyed our stay. It's a relatively small-scale hotel, with ca.40 rooms only, which contributes to a relaxing and quiet experience - no queuing for breakfast table, no lack of sunbeds at the water etc.
The room we stayed in, the standard one, had airco, a fridge and comfortable beds - for ca. €60 per night provided very good value for money. Hotel staff is friendly and generally speaks good English or else German.
In day time it's wonderful to read or lay on a sunbed in the garden or take a swim in lake Balaton. There's an indoor pool as well, mostly children/family oriented. Breakfast buffet is basic but of good quality. The hotel has it's own jetty and a waterbike you can borrow for free (it's locked, key is at reception). Also, the hotel has 2 mountainbikes which you can borrow for free, on which we explored the area a bit. Nearby Balatonfüred is a very nice place to have dinner in the evening, probably the most upmarket at lake Balaton and still very affordable compared to say Italian prices. It has a lovely promenade along the water and a marina with nice restaurants, places to have a drink or an ice cream. Further highlights include a visit to Tihany, Veszprém (beautiful baroque square) and the Herend porcellain-factory about 40min by car from Balatonalmadi. When we go back to Balaton, we most probably will stay in Monopoly again.