Austria’s Family-Owned Das Edelweiss Redefines The Luxury Mountain Hotel

20.03.2024 - 16:09 / forbes.com

It’s understandable to imagine that there’s no point in going to an Austrian mountain resort like Das Edelweiss unless it’s to ski. But that’s also incorrect.

As the winter 2024 season nears its close, almost one-third of the guests at the luxury hotel, in the Tirolean Alps, skipped the slopes. (But for those who seek the slopes, the owners want you to know that Das Edelweiss is one of few five-star hotels in the region with ski-in, ski-out access—especially since its home, the resort town of Grossarl, got a second gondola this winter. Also, there are a few more weeks of snow this season.) There’s more than enough to enjoy indoors.

Das Edelweiss is one of those uniquely Austrian resorts that pairs proper five-star flourishes with a down-home, family-owned vibe. The hospitality feels genuine beneath its professional veneer. The decoration is full mountain vernacular, all rough-hewn wood and warm lighting. Bowls of apples decorate countertops. Female staffers wear dirndls.

The hotel started life in the late 1970s as so many hospitality projects do: as a simple café and pension with 14 rooms. The Hettegger family, longtime Grossarl natives, then expanded it to a bed-and-breakfast, and then a smaller hotel. Their son Peter Jr. worked for a while as a lumberjack before returning to his tourism roots and expanding it further.

In the 1990s, Peter and family added more rooms, an après-ski dance club that boomed in popularity, and a significant wellness section—“all good hotels built spas” at the time, says marketing director Wolfgang Niederhauser—with lots of saunas, steam baths, rest areas, and indoor and outdoor swimming pools. Now the wellness area is a destination in its own right, complete with (wholesome) entertainment in the saunas.

The hotel was awarded four stars, then a “four-star superior” designation. In 2018, they decided to go all-in on becoming a five-star “lifestyle design property,” which meant reducing the room count in favor of creating bigger spaces. They closed for ten months, turned Das Edelweiss into the biggest construction site in the Salzburg region, and emerged with 148 rooms, about half of which are suites.

The family has remained closely involved in the operations, with founder Peter Hettegger a frequent sight in the dining rooms until his death at age 94 earlier this year. Now 14 family members work at the hotel, in roles ranging from waiter to CEO. The fourth generation is starting to get involved, though it’s perhaps too soon to promise, as the founders’ great-grandson is only 11.

By the time the hotel emerged from the final stages of the renovation—a new indoor pool and children’s facilities—much had changed. There are now those non-skiing winter guests (not to mention a