Haus Amaris

The family who runs the hotel were especially friendly, and the hotel and rooms were very clean. I also liked the sauna and the good range at breakfast. There are some great places to eat nearby: the Italian next door was one of our favorites, along with Pfandl for local dishes and Wine and Dine for something more upscale. You can ski back to the hotel, and it’s a short walk to get down to the lift. There’s also a lovely path to the village. For complete beginners, a ski bus goes to one of the lifts. This is definitely one of my favorite places.

The staff were the real highlight, some of the friendliest people you’ll meet, always ready to help. The whole hotel was spotless and tidy, with cozy rooms and breakfast that was consistently up to standard. The ski room, sauna, and relaxation area were all what you’d expect. Everything was top-notch.

The breakfast was poor, with almost no fruit: just three unappealing apples that nobody ate, plus one sliced kiwi and one orange cut into wedges each morning. It seemed to be gradually replenished, so fruit was always running short. We were also disappointed by the room, which had no kettle and no hot water for tea. A cup of medium-sized hot water cost €1. The bathroom had two ordinary plastic cups that couldn’t be washed because they’d break, and housekeeping didn’t replace them during daily cleaning. The cleaning cart didn’t even have glasses, so we had to ask for glass ones ourselves. The hotel doesn’t serve dinner and gave us no suggestions for where to eat or information about food delivery. It’s very far from the center, uphill, and there are no buses outside ski hours. We found A Casa two buildings away, an excellent Italian restaurant, which worked out well since we couldn’t find another option nearby apart from the center down the hill. It wasn’t ski-in, ski-out at all, which was the only reason we’d agreed to pay their very high fee. To reach the slopes, you have to take a bus or walk uphill for 10 minutes, not one or five, with a steep section. Check-in documents that guests have to sign and all hotel signs are only in German. The only exceptions were notices that served the hotel: one saying not to take food from the breakfast room and another stating checkout is at 9 a.m. with no space to store luggage for a few hours. The food allergy notice was also only in German, beside the translated notice about not taking food from the room. They clearly translate what suits them, and seemed to have no interest in welcoming people who don’t speak German. It’s not a three-star hotel. It looks like a hotel from the 70s that tried to modernize but stopped halfway. The homemade decorations were in very bad taste, trying for a warm home or mountain feel but coming across as ordinary and trite. Everything felt miserable, with a constant miserable attitude. Terrible value for money. We’d never return.

The rooms were okay and parking was available, with a pizza restaurant in the next building. The location is good: Gigijoch bahn is a five-minute walk, though there’s no direct ski bus, and Gleischkogel bahn is five minutes away by ski bus. Breakfast was below standard.