The Gołębiewski Hotel on the Baltic Sea in Pobierowo, including a water park and a large conference complex, is set to open later this year, after repeated delays. The building boasts 13 floors and 1,200 rooms, the largest facility of its kind on the Baltic Sea.

The investment is not going down well with its German neighbors. “The largest hotel on the Baltic Sea is being built in the Polish resort town of Pobierowo. After a long wait, its opening is planned for this year. Some are delighted, while others are apprehensive about the impending opening,” reports Ostsee Zeitung, as cited by Do Rzeczy.

“A comparison with large hotels in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern clearly highlights the difference: Morada Resort Kühlungsborn has 413 rooms, Hotel Neptun in Warnemünde has 338 rooms, and the Baltic in Zinnowitz has 333 rooms,” the newspaper reports.

If it opens before the summer season, it will pose a significant challenge for hoteliers on the German side of the Baltic Sea. “Some praise the hotel as an extremely attractive offer for dream vacations, others fear a formidable rival: German tourism experts fear competition,” Ostsee Zeitung continues.

“They fear that customers, purchasing power, and employees will rapidly shift from the German side to the Polish side,” the paper notes.

German tourists have also criticized the Polish hotel, calling it a “monstrous concrete block, “simply awful,” and “unparalleled in its ugliness and lack of imagination.”

Another told the paper: “I love going to Poland, but not to such a monstrosity.”

This isn’t the first time Germany has criticized the development of the Polish coast. In August 2025, the Provincial Administrative Court in Warsaw dismissed a complaint against the environmental decision for the container terminal in Świnoujście filed by environmental organizations from Poland and Germany. The complaints were filed by the German organization Bürgerinitiative Lebensraum Vorpommern from Uznam Island and the Polish association Zielone Wyspy Świnoujście.

The construction of a deepwater container terminal in Świnoujście is one of the largest projects in the Polish maritime economy. The investor is the Szczecin and Świnoujście Seaports Authority, and the project is coordinated by the Ministry of Infrastructure. The terminal, in the form of a so-called external port, is scheduled for completion by 2029.

Prime Minister Donald Tusk recently assured that the project will be implemented regardless of the obstacles. “No one will block this terminal,” he asserted.