fantastic location, nice swimming pool, great food, friendly staff!

Enormous, meandering hotel. Seems to have come together out of a few separate buildings, yet it works well. Quirky interior, but lots of lovely big couches to sink into in the lobby at night, great spot to enjoy a nice drink and the live entertainment. Dinner was great, plenty to eat, and each night was different. Generally a set menu, with a few choices, but a few different buffets over the duration of our stay made dinner exciting. The dessert buffet was lovely!

One downside, we were put in a room next to a what seemed to be a barn. The smell was terrible, and when we went out onto the balcony it was unbearable! Looking over the railing to see a big pile of manure and straw was horrifying. Even with the windows closed the smell seemed to linger everywhere! We requested a room change, and though this was done efficiently, the staff didn't seem too pleased.

This was really the only downside to our stay, otherwise Staff were pleasant enough and our new room was clean and well equipped.

I stayed in a single room, number 254, in the Landhaus Neuhaus annex. The room was very small, fitting a bed, cupboard and desk, but not much else, and the furnishings were very outdated. That didn't worry me. What was concerning is that that side of the Neuhaus annex overlooks a pig barn. If at night you like to open a window or, in this case the balcony door, your sleep is likely to be disturbed by the sound of pigs squealing and grunting. I like a bit of fresh air at night but instead I got the pungent aroma of manure and pigswill. A sign on the barn indicates that it is a car parking garage. Whether the hotel is deliberately being deceptive is not for me to say. I travelled with Inghams. Needless to say, there was no mention of the pigs in their 2011 Ski brochure, nor on their 2012 Ski web-site, even though I have pointed this out to them

I visited the Neuhaus with my young (7 yo) daughter. First impressions were not great as it is a large hotel occupying several buildings and I was in the St Joseph annex. However, after I got used to the Austrian style I loved it. It is also just at the end of the main drag off the Market Square, which is a quieter part of the town, but still within good reach of everything – a location that I found to be ideal.

The rooms are being up-dated. The one I stayed in hadn't been re-decorated and was unusual by British tastes, but I soon got to like it’s quirkiness and found it very comfortable and warm with masses of hot water. The room was unusual in that the St Joseph’s rooms are built around the exterior of the auditorium for a cinema and when were originally built didn’t have bathrooms – the subsequent adding of these makes for an unusual “L” shape, but actually it worked pretty well. There was no noise from the cinema and very little from a ground floor cafe / bar. Access to the main hotel for the pool / food / bar etc is either by crossing a quiet road, or by a tunnel. If you take the latter you will find an Austrian Bowling alley mid way, which is somewhat different to our ten pin bowls and great fun to play – it is not expensive.

The apartments for the hotel are also remote from the main hotel and on the other side of the little square.

Facilities are good with the aforementioned pool (both indoor and outdoor – but the outdoor is closed in winter), the almost obligatory sauna, a ‘wellness centre’, bowling alley, bar, outdoor children’s play ground. A band plays every night.

I found the staff all very helpful in an efficient Austrian way. They were particularly helpful and even arranged a birthday cake and little birthday party for my daughter (the charge for the cake was fairly minimal compared with a more recent one I bought from Waitrose).

Food was plentiful and of a good 4* standard. We particularly enjoyed breakfast where the chef made pancakes of differing shapes (Teddy Bear etc) for my daughter. There is a choice of three mains in the evening, with an additional child’s option – supplemented by starts and a good salad bar. The food is catered so that there is something that should appeal to most people and was generally of good 4* quality.

The hotel is a trek from the Penken ski lift – and either further from the Ahorn. However, we did opt to walk to the Penken ski lift a couple of mornings – so it is not that far – and more usually you would use the regular and free ski bus which stops in the market square outside. This system works really well in the morning – and then in the afternoon we tended to slowly wander back to the hotel, although the buses do run if you want them.

A really big tip is to leave your skis a top the Penken. Crystal offer a ski park facility at the bottom of the ski lift, but you have to pay for the pleasure – and you have to lug your skis up and down the mountain with you every day. A few other of the ski hire companies (and I would really recommend Luggi Rent Ski - http://www.rentski.info/uk/Welcome.html - for price, experience and quality) have made arrangements with cafe owners atop the mountain for you to leave your skis with them over-night. This makes all the difference. You can leave your boots etc on heated racks so they are nice for the morning and make the leisurely trip up and down by cable car. It takes the hard work out of the process.

Yes – there is a bit of a culture shock upon arrival – it is not the anonymous Marriott or Hilton that I am used to, but we had a really good stay and would certainly go back there again if we returned to Mayrhofen – which I hope to.