Haus Brunhilde

The mountain backdrop around this gorgeous building is almost unreal. After what could have been a huge drive, we got a really restful night's sleep. The owners seem to do everything themselves, from cooking and serving to cleaning, organising rooms, de-icing the ground and handling maintenance. You can tell they love the place and their work. Even the hotel's dog was friendly and kept watch over his snow.

This was the worst hotel or pension I've stayed in in Austria. The rooms weren't clean, and the quality was very low. The bathroom was tiny, the shower was awful, and there was no toilet in it. Food was average; for anything better, get something from the supermarket or eat at another restaurant. The owner doesn't speak English, so if your German is poor like mine, you'll need a translator. The location in the middle of a quiet valley is maybe okay, but it's still far from the nearest ski resort. Wi-Fi was also very slow and didn't work well in the rooms.

Our son has food allergies, so we asked the cook twice whether the meals were safe for him. He was still served dessert with nuts. He spent the night and half the next day in hospital, and we were frightened for his safety. It caused a lot of stress and frustration, and he missed one of our three days of skiing. The establishment didn't even apologise.

The rooms had a few small drawbacks, though breakfast was pretty good. And there's an awesome dog, possibly two, since I saw another one a few times.