Smådalarö Gård Hotell & Spa

We stayed in this hotel from July 20th to 23rd, 2022. The archipelago was the highlight of our southern Sweden tour (2 adults, 2 children 9 and 13). We had been looking for a romantic hotel in the archipelago for a long time, next time we would rent a cottage. We booked a "spacious" family room. When checking in, the employee said (ironically?) that we would have more space there. The room turned out to be so small that we wouldn't even have had room to open a suitcase on the floor. We asked for another room, which was assigned to us with much reluctance and astonishment. By the way, no one helped us drag our suitcases up the stairs (no elevator in the building next door). Still tiny, but big enough that the four beds had plenty of space, at least. We lived out of suitcases, as there was no way to unpack even the bare essentials in the room (2 small shelves and 4 hangers). The bathroom with shower, single sink and toilet was a mere 2.3 m2. Flooding when showering included. The nice thing about the room was the adorable blue wallpaper and the location towards the forest. There is no sea view in this category. After arriving, we wanted to go to the spa. But that was no luck here either: children are only allowed in the spa until 12:00 noon, and entry costs around 50 euros per person on top, even if you just want to swim in the pool. So no pool for the children, as the outdoor pool is only accessible via the spa. We went swimming in the sea, which was wonderful, but not everyone's cup of tea at 18 degrees. So the pool would have been a nice addition. The hotel doesn't provide towels for the sea either, by the way, but bathrobes are provided! Today (7/22/22) we tried the spa again in the morning and came across an extremely nice employee. As the spa is not fully booked (book in advance!!) we are allowed to stay until 3pm and only paid 900 SEK in total. The spa is beautifully designed!! We went to eat in the brasserie, which is really beautifully located and the food was also very delicious! We had booked a table in advance for all evenings, but unfortunately it didn't work perfectly and we had to argue about why we wanted to sit outside when that was what was stated in the reservation confirmation. The system was broken and it wasn't possible to charge the food to the room. There is no terrace with service, it is self-service, drinks are to be picked up inside the building. All in all, a wonderful location, a romantic restaurant, some of the staff tried very hard. Overall a little unloving with outliers, service could be improved significantly, commercial and apart from the location, the costs are not in proportion to the service. There is a fine line between a relaxed atmosphere and waiting 20 minutes for someone to clear the breakfast table from the people before us....