Hofbrauhaus Inn, Helen

OK, If you just want a bed to lay flat.Nothing special!Don'T expect more than people are willing to give and you won't be disappointed!!!!!!!!!!! Nothing to write home about.Let's face it ,the place is OLD. What do you expect?

After having a wonderful time vacationing in Pigeon Forge and the Smoky Mountains, our family decided to make a spur of the moment trip to Helen for the Oktoberfest on 10/10/2007. Being a last minute side-trip on our way home, we thought that it would be difficult to find a hotel room with two queen beds. We found the Hampton in had a room, but it was above our remaining budget. We visited the Days Inn who only had doubles, but they were nice enough to call around. The only available non-smoking, queen rooms were at the Hofbrau Inn. I was told that the hotel was owned by a nice German couple, and that it was a "clean little inn with a German restaurant." I was handed a nice little fold out pamphlet that showed a quaint little older motel. **DO NOT be fooled by this pamphlet** I was told that the price was $89.00. We arrived at the hotel and, wanting to go have some dinner, quickly paid for the room sight unseen. We had dinner at the Edelweiss Restaurant (very good!), and strolled the town a bit. Around 9pm, we got back to our room (#105), opened the door, and was practically knocked over by the musty foul smell. As we walked in, the first thing that I noticed was one of the headboards was literally hanging off the wall. The carpet was filthy and frayed, and the bed looked like it was made without the sheets being changed from the last victim. I wanted to get out of the room after a minute for fear of contracting something. There was not even a lock on the door! I loaded our luggage into the car, and went to complain. The management apologized and offered me the key to #106. While this room was a little cleaner, it still had an overwhelming odor...it smelled as though the river (which runs behind the hotel) had flooded into the rooms and the carpet wasn't replaced. At this point I went back to the office and asked for a refund, and I was told "it is not the policy of this hotel to give refunds." She then pulled out three more keys to begin showing me rooms in "the new building", until she was reminded by her co-worker that these were smoking rooms, and the one that wasn't hadn't yet been "made up". The girl, apparently sensing my astonishment at this whole mess, offered us the honeymoon suite...king bed, jacuzzi, their most expensive room. I reluctantly agreed again to look at the room. As we were walking to the room, she commented on how there are plans to tear down the old building and replace it. The room had one king bed in it, and when I reminded her that there were two adults and two teenagers, she said that she would bring in rollaway beds. She opened up the room, and the same thing: horrible smell, filthy carpets...just nasty! She apologized for management's policy of no refunds, and even called her manager to ask if she could refund me, to which the manager told her no. We told her that we would deal with it ourselves and left. It was very upsetting to have our wonderful vacation end on such a sour note. As of this writing, we are awaiting the results of our contesting the room charges on our credit card. I am also in the process of composing a letter to the Better Business Bureau of Helen to advise them about this dump. Even if you do not believe a word of this review, then let me say this: Do yourself a favor and look at the room before you hand them any money. You have been warned!

Wow, there are not enough words to explain what a dump this is. First of all, the stairs leading up to the balcony rooms, had been patched and not painted to match the decor. This told us immediately we had made a terrible mistake. Booked here for 3 days. When we checked in, we were charged immediately for all 3 nights. When we looked at the room we were flabbergasted. What a dump!!! Dust on the hanging lamp that you could tell had been there for a long time. Curtains hanging half way off the rods,stained towels, and the smell was awful. Totally unacceptable. Went back to the office to cancel the stay and was told that we would be charged for one night. After much debate and dispute, we were still charged 20% of the total stay. Misrepresented on web. Do yourself a favor--don't book here! You'll be sorry . In desperate need of updates. Looks like something you would see in the 60's and 70's very outdated and dirty. Very overpriced for what you get. This place is certainly first cousin to the "Bates Motel".

Mediocre food! Absent service! Don't go! They forgot about our order until we asked about it 45 minutes later. When the order arrived, one of the meals was missing and the server said it wasn't on the order. Quite interesting in that I asked what the particular item was when I ordered. Food was tasteless - worst spatzle we ever had. Extremely disappointing end to our stay in Helen,GA.

Made reservations two weeks ahead of time. Our room was given to someone else, had to wait on them to move out. The rooms are nasty and way over priced! Misrepresented on website. Non-Smoking room had burns on countertops, and all over floor. Linens looked dirty, room smelled musty. The restaraunt is very good, we will dine at the rest. again, but will NEVER consider staying at the "Bates Motel" again. If you have reservations do yourself a favor and cancel them/find somewhere else to stay!!!

Well, I was supposed to stay at this hotel but it didnt happen, theres seemed to have been a problem with the reservation i booked 4 months prior and they booked someone else on top of mine so i didnt get to stay, they lady i spoke to there was very rude and obnoxious its D something.. I would not reccomend to anyone i was told by some friends that it was a very nasty place to stay and that only a handful of people there are helpful, however i have eaten at the rest.and it is delicious! so if you go to helen i would say eat but dont stay.

I have stayed here for the past 2 years for about once every 3-4 months and it is fantastic! I would like to say that the staff abroad this hotel were fantastic!!! The manager is very nice also and all are willing to help in anyway!! There are a few things I would update but, other than that the hotel gives off the at home layed back vibe. The rooms are not the Hilton but are very clean. Someone had made a comment that all is charged to your card at time of reservation, and I made my reservation well in advance and not a dime was charged until I arrived. I loved being on the river and the patio was an awesome place to just sit and relax, whether at night or in the morning drinking coffee and reading the paper. I will also say that check in is at 3, so my room was ready when I arrived because I listened to the 3:00 check in... Unless the room happen to get done cleaning or was not used were we aloud in earlier!

Rooms pictured on-line are not as nice as they look. The room was not ready when we arrived. The furniture is old and very worn!! Place smells like old room!! Morning breakfast offered, not very good. Coffee was awful. Old motel, needs updating very badly

First of all the room was very unclean, the bathroom was nasty and really unusable, we had ants in our room, there was mildew throughout the room, air condition made loud noise all the time, the linen didnt look very clean. While the staff was nice when we checked in at the hotel,the hotel was very close to town and we were allowed to have our dog. However, we will never stay here again!

Where to start? Rooms are rundown and dirty, from the flooring to the linens. We had to move four times and ended up in a room that was less than what we had payed for with no accommadation made for that. No hot water at all. And not any for the whole three day weekend. Surly staff who will not refund your money for any reasons (the entire amount of your stay is charged when you make your reservations, not just the first night as most other places do). Oh well, to be fair the fireplaces did work, but even some of those were missing the glass guards in the front. But the resturant is excellent and we would eat there again. Too bad they don't run the motel like they do the resturant.