Book breakfast inclusive - it's not standard but worth it (champagne and every breakfast food i could think of with the best views from the dining room) and this place is miles from anywhere.

Hotel, staff, service, food, relaxation, spa treatments, cocktails, views all superb but we stayed a week and that might have been a little too long as it is 20+ mins drive into town - if you want a drink away from the hotel or if the weather is bad then driving there isn't an option. The Imperial restaurant was incredible for food and service but other restaurant good too if you are staying in.

It is so lovely, so cocoon-like and so isolated that you don't notice how much the expensive meals and spa treatments are adding up to - you wouldn't go here to watch the budget. A month on from our trip we haven't talked about the money but how wonderful it was so it must be worth it.

This is a really nice hotel, expensive but reasonable (not great) value for money. You expect a lot and you get a lot, and only one or two problems. We stayed for a week half-board around Valentines Day and were not really disappointed.
Location – terrific. High in the Black Forest on the Swarzwald Hochstrasse – the Black Forest High Road – in the middle of the forest, surrounded by beautiful scenery, walking/trekking, several small ski slopes, and marvellous views.
Our welcome – good with reasonable English spoken by most of the staff (much better than our German!).
Our Room – (338) – a ‘superior’ room, effectively a junior suite with a living area, walk-in closet and good bathroom. The ‘Rhine view’ was disappointing as there were only small gaps between the trees blocking the view. There is a large tree close opposite the room windows that would completely block the view in summer. Selling this room as a Rhine view is inappropriate. Most of the furniture and fittings in the room and bathroom were fine, and there was an excellent walk-in wardrobe/closet. The bathroom was good – two sinks, bidet, but shower over the bath. The TV had 20 channels including CNN and Eurosport in English, the rest in German. We were a bit disappointed at the number of stains on the carpet, but apart from that it was OK.
Public rooms – Apart from the threadbare carpets on two sets of stairs they were mostly of a high standard. The gourmet ‘Imperial’ restaurant was closed for its annual break, so we used the second one – the Schloss-restaurant. This was fine with consistently good meals and an interesting selection on the half-board menu. The wine list was over-extensive and over-priced for good basic drinking wines, though I have seen a lot worse for the fine champagnes etc. Breakfasts were good, with a good international range of food available. We often lunched in the coffee bar, where cakes and gateaux were the chief attraction. But we had three problems in the restaurant – 1, they sometimes had difficulty coping when they were full – Saturday night took forever; 2, they did not record who took what properly, so we had an issue with the bill later, when they charged us for an extra set of dinners one night. (€180!); 3, we booked a table for five for ourselves and our daughter’s family, also guests there, very clearly, but they were surprised when we all turned up expecting to sit together! It took them half an hour to rearrange furniture, and over 3 hours to serve the meal, by which time our granddaughter was asleep unfed despite our early start! Presumably when the other restaurant is open it will take some of the load. Restaurant staff service quality was a bit mixed – a couple of the senior people were very good but two young men were a bit hopeless, the rest in-between.
Leisure facilities – there is an excellent pool, large and clean with sauna, steam room, jacuzzi, and a centre for health treatments all together on the bottom floor. No supervision of the pool, etc. so you can’t (safely) leave children there unattended. A big glass wall separated the very warm pool area from the snow-laden trees right outside, which made for an interesting experience. Some of the health treatments were a bit pricey, but the massage was the best we’ve ever had. The centre staff clearly know what they’re doing – highly recommended for some first class pampering.
Service quality generally – was fairly good (not brilliant but not bad enough to complain). The turn-down service always came with fresh towels if needed and chocolates, even though we didn’t eat the last ones and they were left there. Checkout was not efficient - the bill contained a number of errors and we were charged for things we didn’t have. Although they ask for your room number in the restaurants etc, they don’t ask to see your key, so mistakes are easily made. They were OK about corrections and when we noticed one after we left and rang them to get that taken off they were OK about that too – and the credit appeared on my Amex account along with the debit.
Part of the problem seemed to be their catering for corporate events. The Porsche dealerships were in having some sort of reception & conference one day and this detracted noticeably from attention to resident guests, and completely blew out the already full car park. We ended up parked a considerable distance away on some occasions.
Overall – a delightful stay at a lovely hotel in a beautiful place; upmarket without being too posh, expensive without being top class, only a few flaws and essential to check your account carefully, some of the expected efficiency missing. We will return, but with rather more realistic expectations than we had been led to believe. Caution – the England football team are staying here for the World Cup in June – we’ll leave it till well after they’ve gone before we return.

Let me start the review by saying that I have never stayed at a nicer hotel in my life. It was great.

The Schlosshotel is located in the black forest in germany and after some amazing drives you arrive at the front gateway and know you have arrived at someplace special. We got up to our room and were amazed to see the view -- make sure you get to the hotel before sunset! The pictures really do not do it justice.

The room was big and included a sofa bed and had a great bathroom with all the amenities you expect from a nice american hotel. It was a corner room so we had a very good view of everything.

We ate at their casual restaurant, which was still expensive and amazing. I suggest you do the same, if just for the views the dining room enjoys of the valley. Later we took a dip in their amazing pool and walked the grounds a little.

There were lots of little perks, like the free internet access near checkin and the welcome cocktail. The staff was very friendly the entire time and despite standing out as a young american guy the staff was great.

You know you've stayed someplace special when you're sad to leave. In our case we had many exciting things to do that day in Baden-baden but we still knew that it would be a long time before we got to go to a hotel like that again.

If you are in the area and can spend a few hundred in a nice room, by all means do.

It's not often that hotels actually turn out better than expected! This one is a gem.

Rooms - large, comfy, with duvets that felt like sleeping under warm clouds.

We ate in the less smart dining room, at a table looking out over a forty mile view into France. The food was outstanding, even here in the junior restaurant, and the service quick, attentive and fun.

The highlight of this hotel is, for us, its pool. This is filled with Black Forest spring water, and is so clear that with goggles on you can see clearly across the pool underwater as if there was no water! The water felt so soft and clean that it was a delight just being in it! Probably the best quality swimming water I have ever experienced, except maybe for the Okavango Delta in Botswana!

The staff were efficient, polite, and discreet. All of us (two adults, two children) cant wait to go back.