Review: Hotel Schwarzschmied (Marriott Design Hotels), South Tyrol (Solid)

We recently took a family trip to South Tyrol, the beautiful autonomous region in the Dolomites, in northern Italy. In this post, I’d like to review the the 68-key Hotel Schwarzschmied, part of Design Hotels, which belongs to Marriott Bonvoy. So while the property isn’t managed by Marriott, you can earn and redeem points, and take advantage of select elite perks.

We very much enjoyed our stay at Hotel Schwarzschmied, which is located in the town of Lana. However, of the three hotels we stayed at, it was probably our least favorite (which isn’t to say we didn’t like it, but just not as much as the others — it was also the most affordable, though). There’s a lot to like about this property, like its incredible views, excellent dining, and all-around cozy vibes. There were a few quirks to the experience, though, which were minor in the scheme of things.

All-in-all I’d still highly recommend this property. Let me also mention that 10-key Villa Arnica is the adjacent sister property that’s adults only, and that’s a bit more luxurious, based on what I’ve heard. Furthermore, if you want to be right in the heart of the pedestrian zone of Lana, consider the other sister property, the 8-key 1477 Reichhalter.

Separately, I’m reviewing Miramonti Boutique Hotel (Small Luxury Hotels of the World) and Schgaguler Hotel (Design Hotels), which we also visited on this trip.

Booking Hotel Schwarzschmied

Hotel Schwarzschmied is open nearly year-round, with the exception of a brief closure in winter, around the first quarter of the year. As you’d expect, rates do vary seasonally, but not as much as you might think.

Rates for standard rooms start at just under €200 per night in the off season, and max out at right around €300 per night in peak season. Let me emphasize that standard rooms here are very small, at 21 square meters (226 square feet), so some people may want to book larger accommodations.

I booked Hotel Schwarzschmied through Marriott’s website, since that’s what allows you to earn or redeem points for your stay. For our nights, the rate was €250 per night, and that included breakfast. If I had redeemed points, that would’ve cost 55,000 Bonvoy points per night. That’s why I elected to pay cash, because that’s well under my 0.7 cent per point valuation.

I should also mention that if you book the hotel directly (rather than through Marriott) there’s the option to include half board for a reasonable premium. Since I valued the ability to earn points, we didn’t end up including that. Besides, that allowed us to explore more of the dining in the area. We still had dinner at the hotel one evening, and it was exceptional.

Hotel Schwarzschmied location

Hotel Schwarzschmied is located in Lana, a small town near Merano. While the previous hotel we stayed at (Miramonti Boutique Hotel) was located in the mountains above the town, this property is located directly in town, in a valley. The hotel has a really cool setting on a vineyard with a church in the background, so you really couldn’t have a prettier view.

The hotel offers complimentary parking in a garage, though there’s no valet (and for that matter, there’s not even really a bellmen service).

In terms of getting to the hotel, the property is around a two hour drive from Innsbruck (INN), around a three hour drive from Milan (MXP) or Venice (VCE), and around a four hour drive from Munich (MUC), so you have lots of options for how to arrive.

South Tyrol has so many charming little towns and hiking spots, so I don’t even think it matters that much where you stay. You’re a short drive from all kinds of places — we stayed in three different areas during our trip, and they each had their own charm. This property had the benefit of being walking distance to the town of Lana, so we didn’t even need a car to get around town.

Hotel Schwarzschmied lobby & check-in

Hotel Schwarzschmied has a cozy lobby that almost feels like a living room, with plenty of seating, and a fireplace (which wasn’t on during our visit, given the heatwave).

We arrived at the hotel early afternoon, and our check-in process was quick, though our rooms weren’t quite ready yet. So we decided to have lunch, and then our rooms were ready upon completion of that, still ahead of the standard check-in time.

I was very grateful for the upgrades we received on account of my Marriott Bovnoy Ambassador status, as our rooms were each upgraded from the standard room to the rooftop room, which is significantly larger (and retails for more than twice as much). We even got rooms next to one another, so that was convenient.

Hotel Schwarzschmied room

We were assigned rooftop rooms on the third (top) floor, and these are marketed as being 36 square meters (387 square feet). For getting between the lobby and the rooms you can either take what I’m convinced is the world’s slowest elevator, or stairs, so we usually just walked the stairs (except when we had a stroller).

The hotel’s hallways are quite plain, so aren’t about to win any design awards…

One of the rooms we were assigned was number 307, and I found it to be functional and quite spacious. The room featured an entryway with the bathroom immediately to the right (with virtually no privacy), and then the rest of the room straight ahead.

The main part of the room had a king size bed, and then there were a couple of stairs leading down to the living area, where the “L” shaped couch was located. There was a TV on a stand in the corner, so that it could be viewed from the bed or living room.

There was also a little desk area in the corner of the room, with a stool. It’s not exactly the most comfortable place from which to work, but better than nothing!

There was literally no privacy between the bedroom and bathroom. The bathroom was just immediately behind the bed with glass shields that provided no privacy. There was no door or anything between the bedroom and bathroom either, so if you had a hot shower, it would be felt in the entire room. I’m also not a huge fan of these showers with half shields, given how water floods the entire area. So yeah, this definitely wasn’t among my favorite hotel bathrooms, to put it politely.

On the plus side, the toilet and bidet were in a separate room, at least.

Also back toward the entrance was a closet space behind a curtain. While there was a kettle, there was only tea accompanying that, and no coffee. I found that to be strange, as it was the same story at the next hotel. For an area with such a culture of great coffee, it’s an odd omission. Maybe they just refuse to let people prepare poorly made coffee? I dunno…

There was also a small minibar, with drinks and snacks (well, a snack) for purchase.

The highlight of the room was the outdoor space, which had a dining table with two chairs, a daybed of sorts, and a hammock.

The view from this resort is simply breathtaking — seriously, how beautiful is this view, between the vineyard and the church?

As you’d expect, it was even prettier at sunrise and sunset.

Air conditioning in the room was excellent, given that we were there during the heatwave, which was a relief. Wi-Fi, meanwhile, was more intermittent, and ranged from usable to very slow. That might’ve been a function of the area of the hotel in which our room was located, though, as it worked great in the lobby.

While the rooms here are nothing special, we were grateful for the upgrade and for the amazing views.

Hotel Schwarzschmied spa, pool, & gym

Hotels in South Tyrol have a huge emphasis on spa facilities, and Hotel Schwarzschmied is no exception. The spa area is located on the ground floor, with hours being all over the place:

• The gym is open daily from 6AM until 12AM
• The indoor pool is open daily from 7AM until 8PM
• The outdoor pool is open daily from 7AM until 7PM
• The sauna is open daily from 1PM until 8PM

The spa has a basic reception area, but there’s no need to sign in when you’re using the facilities — you can just go directly to them.

Let’s start with the outdoor heated pool, which is rectangular, and measures 20 meters by seven meters (66 feet by 23 feet). It has plenty of seating on both sides. It’s a nice space, and this place was packed during the day. I was amazed how willing people were to just sit outside for hours on end in 95 degree heat, with a UV index of 10 (but I’m also sort of an indoor cat, so…).

Immediately next to the outdoor pool was the indoor pool, which measures 10 meters by seven meters (33 feet by 23 feet), and was almost never used. Both pools are open to families, with no restrictions on hours.

The spa also has plenty of relaxation areas.

The gym is located within the spa, and… can I just ask, who on earth designed this? Talk about style over substance. I can appreciate this looks cool, but it’s not terribly practical.

On the plus side, there was the option to create your own weights, but goodness, was it a manual process.

There’s also a yoga room, as the hotel offers both private and group classes.

Then there’s a large indoor sauna.

The spa also has an outdoor space with some cold plunges, and a second sauna, which is pretty cool.

So all-in-all it was a pretty nice setup, though not to the level of Miramonti Boutique Hotel, where we stayed before. Then again, this hotel cost a fraction as much, so that shouldn’t be surprising. Of course the spa also has treatments — we didn’t get any, but you can find the treatment menu here.

Hotel Schwarzschmied kids club

Hotel Schwarzschmied is very kids friendly (in the sense that kids are allowed in all facilities at all times). Here’s something that seemed like a cute concept, but wasn’t — in summer, the hotel has a yurt that’s supposed to act as a kids club. Super cool, right?

Well, there were two issues. First, we were there during a heatwave, so you can imagine how unpleasantly hot it was in there. Not only that, but this place was filled with bugs. Like, I took our kids in there, and within 10 minutes I had about five bug bites. That didn’t stop our older son from insisting on staying, but I ended up winning that debate.

Side note — is this a kids club or a haunted house?

Hotel Schwarzschmied restaurant & bar

When it comes to food & drinks, Hotel Schwarzschmied has the following two venues:

• La Fucina is the primary restaurant, serving locally inspired dishes, with breakfast available from 7:30AM until 11AM, and dinner available from 6:30PM until 9PM
• Bistro Luce is sort of the lobby bar and cafe, serving drinks from 8AM until 12AM, and a limited number of dishes from 12PM until 5PM

Let’s start with La Fucina, where we had breakfast each morning, given that it was included in our rate. The indoor part of the restaurant had a bunch of tables with white tablecloths, though most of them were never actually set (both for breakfast and dinner), since most guests preferred eating outside.

The terrace space at the restaurant is absolutely lovely, weather permitting.

Breakfast consisted of a combination of a buffet and a la carte selection. You can find the breakfast menu below.

I’d say the buffet did the trick, but was nothing special. The selection included all kinds of freshly baked bread and pastries, fruit, yogurt, cold cuts, cheese, a live cooking station, and juice stations.

Coffee was brought to the table by the servers, and both the cappuccinos and drip coffee were very good.

From the buffet, I had a veggie omelet each morning, while Miles had the crepe.

We also had dinner at the hotel one evening, and the food was very good, and greatly exceeded my expectations. You really can’t get bad food in South Tyrol. The menu revolves nightly, and you can find the menu for our evening below.

We were offered some bread at the start of our meal.

Of the available dishes, we selected the cauliflower with curry and peanut, the consomme with herb dumplings, the beetroot gnocchi with cheese and cocoa, the free-range chicken with spring leak and summer truffle, and the quinoa burger with broccoli.

Bistro Luce was also quite charming, and was located in the lobby. So while there was a dedicated cafe area with tables, you could also just enjoy drinks anywhere in the lobby, or even on the terrace.

We came here a couple of times for drinks, and the negronis were good.

In the afternoons, there’s also a case with desserts, which we didn’t indulge in, but they seemed to be popular (since a vast majority of guests here were German, they of course love their afternoon coffee and cake culture).

We also had lunch here on our day of arrival, and you can find that menu below.

We ordered nearly everything, incuding the summer salad with watermelon, mint, feta, and pine nuts, the burrata with nectarines, rocket salad, and pistachios, the steamed bun with local venison ragout, cranberries, and crispy onion, the spaghettini with tomato passata and basil, and the homemade fries.

Hotel Schwarzschmied service

Staff at Hotel Schwarzschmied were generally friendly. Service definitely wasn’t as attentive as at Miramonti Boutique Hotel, but it’s also important to adjust expectations — this hotel markets itself as a four-star property, while Miramonti is a five-star property, and they’re priced accordingly.

On the plus side, housekeeping was very efficient, and when we called to request to have our rooms cleaned, they were always there in no time. The front office staff were also friendly. I found the bar staff to sometimes be a bit indifferent, but that’s minor in the scheme of things.

Bottom line

Hotel Schwarzschmied is a solid choice for exploring South Tyrol. The views from this property are stunning, and the hotel offers a good breakfast, a great dinner, and an expansive spa area. I didn’t find this hotel to be quite as charming as the other properties we stayed at, and the service also wasn’t on the same level. Then again, this was also the cheapest property we stayed at this trip, so that’s to be expected.

All things considered, I’d recommend this property. However, if you’re traveling without kids and don’t mind spending a bit more, I’d probably check out sister property Villa Arnica, which is located immediately next door.

What’s your take on Hotel Schwarzschmied?