Hotel Baltic

I can highly recommend this hotel to visitors with an interest in history, in particular German history of the late Kaiser period, and the Cold War era in the GDR. Around the turn of the last century, Zinnowitz was known as one of the German seabaths who discriminated against Jewish guests. The song "Der Itz von Zinnowitz" can be found on wikipedia. During WW2 Zinnowitz was witness to the rocket tests of Wernher von Brauns V2 development factory in neighbouring Peenemünde. When the Soviets had indeed taken over East Germany, Zinnowitz became the holiday retreat for Russian NKVD and later German employees of Wismut AG (the Soviet world's largest producer of Uranium). Under the name "Red October" the forefather of the Baltic Hotel was built in the 1970s. Wismut AG was a state within the state. There was a lot of (anti-) espionage activity here. The quality of the building was excellent for the time. Even today this is an interesting and worthwhile hotel to spend time on the Baltic Sea. Lots of prominent persons have left their fotos at the bar, in particular sports persons who came here for training, such as the Klitschko brothers, or soccer teams. The history of hotel owner Tim Dornbusch and his father is also interesting. They do an excellent job in running the hotel.

After listening to a lot of bad reviews we had mixed feelings to go there. It is a huge building in a great location and has an interesting history. We made sure our room was above the third level, those rooms are renovated and have an ocean view. There are plenty of sitting arrangements in the lobby. The breakfast and dinner buffet was sufficient and had something for everyone. The Therme pool opens at 6.30 am but towels are only available from 10 am. The staff was friendly and efficient. We had a relaxing time there

Let me start this story, ahem review, with one simple fact that will explain everything and anything around it: at the time that we spend our 4 nights at the Hotel Baltic in Zinnowitz on Usedom, it was off (summer) season. The average age of the patrons was about 75 to 80 years old and my husband says I am being generous here. But I am not, because at least about 5% of the guests brought their grandchild (in some cases even great- grandchild - and I know, because we casually talked to quite a few of those people, having our 5-year old son and 3-year old daughter as conversation starters....). 1 kid per paid room can stay in the room for free on a pullout bed, so why not bond with your grandkids or help out your daughter or son with some private time. But that really brought the average age DOWN. Having said that, I want to add that I have nothing against retirees - I am planing on becoming old myself and it is only then, that we know if I will turn out a handing-out-candy-granny or an old person at war with myself and the rest of the world. And about 95% of the people we met, where AWESOME candy grannies and grandpas. I mean the sheer amount of cheek twitching my kids endured, the mints covered with lint, they fished out of their purses and the many many times I heard a "SO cute" behind us..... But that leaves those other 5 % and those where BAD, as in Steven King novel bad..... We had old geezers scold kids for building a sand castle on the beach (yes really) because it happens to be on the path they where planing on walking that day. We had people leave the pool when anybody under the age of 50 appeared. We had people closing elevator doors in front of us, because 'at my age I have earned to have the elevator to myself' (and that was a quote). You see we had bad bad not-candy-grannies and I had a hard time explaining this to my kids, who, in the 4 days and 4 nights (8 meals in total) did not brake even a single plate, knocked over a glass or forgot to say their pleases and thank yous to every person on staff. No I don't believe it myself either..... Can we continue this at home.....? But all of this said, this whole story leads to one warning: BEWARE OF THE 400 POUND JUNK YARD DOG THEY KEEP IN THE KITCHEN! Where, in my humble opinion, it should stay till the end of time..... The story behind that, you ask? How did the person I am talking about came to be known in our house as 'the angry chef' (my son) and the reason for nightmares (my daughter)? Although we met only once? After our last breakfast.......? We almost made it out alive...... My son had walked over to a boy his age he had met at the beach to tell him that we where leaving - for about the seventh time. He had to enquire if he could check up on their sand castle (3 times) or if the the boy was leaving that day too (2 times). Then it had to be asked if he had a long way back too and what HE was planing on watching in the car. Normal social life of a 5 year old. And yes this can be a bit annoying (if you are not enjoying your son staying out of YOUR face so you can have your last coffee - guilty here), but at no point was he in anybodies way, ran or misbehaved in any other way. He just walked back and force..... I had my coffee. The next think I know is a force of nature, falling out of her cornflake refill station and running over towards my son. I honestly thought she had gotten sick and had to run for the exit...... People stopped talking, stopped eating and just stared. I woke up when I saw her (?) him (?) lifting my son at his collar and kinda shaking/yelling at him. My husband, me and a few other people made our way over and she let go and turned with a triumphant smile on her lips (Stephen king anyone?). I told her ice cold to let go of my son and come over to our table to discuss any issues she might have with him. His friend meanwhile was hiding under the table crying, people returned to their food and she kept babbling something about 'people don't like kids' or something. I asked for her name and that's (I swear) when she started drooling. I asked again and she spat 'Jürgen' (a guys name?) at me and ran back to the cornflakes. Wonderful ending of a 4 day beach vacation, right? Oh and on our way out, besides people congratulating me (I heard 'Lyon mom' a few times, and I weigh 100 pounds soaking wet - I am still shaking with fear), one lady with a beard took it upon herself to tell me to raise my kids better, like in the good old days, with a trip to the wood shed every once in a while (my son asked before falling asleep that day, why some people keep their belts in a woodshed - I had no way of answering this and swallowed my tears). Oh, but: for the amount of people they had to cook for, the food was fresh, tasty and hot. The rooms where not to spacy, but we where at the beach most of the time anyways. The staff was friendly. Because that's what one is supposed to rate in a review right? Not the dog kept in the kitchen.

The hotel invites for a familytrip. The rooms and apartments are very family-friendly. Part of the hotel is a public spa with different saunas, ab big kiddy-area, outsidepool with 32°C water-temperature. The staff is very friendly and helpful. You´ll get a lot for your money.

The hotel is an old style hotel. It has a good breakfast but this is the only good thing that we had in the hotel. The room is old fashioned. In the bathroom there is no bath tub but shower only. In the small room there is only very small old CRT type TV set with German channels only, there are no international channels, nor any channel in English. There is a small mini bar in the room but there was no cattle and tea q coffee bags. The worth thing is that in the 21st century there is no Internet connection in the hotel rooms. Today it is essential that each room will have cable or wireless Internet connection.