We spent a Christmas holiday in the Sonnleiten and hotel was a very nice and cosy family hotel. There was a easy access to slopes and there were nice slope for kids just 100 m from the front door. Hotel was a bit far from the village and it was a bit of journey to walk back to hotel. Also parking places were limited due to location.
Halfboard menues were very good and all meals tasty.
Very recommendable hotel for winter time stay in Saalbach Hiterglemm.

We went to the SonnLeiten on a Thomson bike package - following a link for biking holidays on their Lakes and Mountains web pages.
Saalbach is a beautifully kept ski village in the Tirol, with the major hotels in town staying open for the summer months. The Sonnleiten is a little way out of town, up a very steep hill and it takes you 10-15 minutes to get into the village from the hotel.
There are many good things about the hotel and quite a few poor things, too. As part of the package you get a hard-tailed bike for the week and they are excellent quality, lightweight with disk brakes, the Saalbach-Hinterglemm 'Joker' card was included which is great value, giving access to all the four major lifts in the valley (and one the other side in Leogang) plus many more attractions.
There are two swimming pools at the hotel - outdoor and indoor, a fabulous espresso machine (breakfast only, you have to pay several euros for a coffee if you want one after dinner), large comfortable bedrooms with lovely bathrooms, great views across the valley, a good free internet service with wi-fi hotspots.
On the downside the food is not what you'd expect from a four-star hotel and the drinks are expensive - 4.60 euros for a 0.4 cl diet coke for the children, 4.10 for a .75cl bottle of fizzy water. The wine list started at around 23 euros. We didn't see anybody order a bottle all week.
Food was generally underwhelming. One night the dessert was panna cotta - served in a butter dish, one size down from a creme brulee dish and garnished with a mint leaf in the middle. Two teaspoonfuls.
If you don't like to dress up for dinner, though, it's good. Most of the guests came down in shorts, T-shirt, crocs and sometimes vests. You have to be early, though. On buffet nights they start to take the food away by 8.30pm and we had to shout at the chefs to leave courses that we hadn't had - we had made the mistake of coming down for dinner at 7.50.
The general feeling is of being hustled out of the restaurant. On our first night at the hotel we arrived at 8.30pm and were told we couldn't have a meal because the restaurant was closed. Thomson say that the first 24 hours at a hotel is the most important time. Perhaps they should tell the Sonnleiten.
Because there is nothing going on in the hotel in the evening, after dinner you take the long trail down into Saalbach and are amazed that other hotels are still serving food, people are sitting back in their chairs, relaxing, enjoying themselves at incredibly late times such as 9.00 and 9.30pm!
Apart from poor food and restaurant management the hotel has limited outside seating. It has three tables outside by the entrance road, should you want to sit outside. The hotel caters mostly for Germans and they are almost all occupied by cigarette smokers as it is verboten in the public areas inside. Similarly, three floors below, round by the swimming pool, cigarette smokers abound, and while we were there, a pipe smoker too. Which was quite a novelty. I don't think any of our teenage chldren had seen a pipe smoker before.
The reception staff swing between competent and incompetent. Sabine is a true professional and will sort any problem given to her. The rest... Let's put it this way, one of them could easily have played the part of the Von Trapp family's housekeeper (you know, in the bit where they're trying to sneak off under the cover of darkness and somebody's rung the authorities).
The hotel likes to promote itself as a family hotel run by the 'Familie Gerns' but we didn't see evidence of them being there. Last year we had a brilliant time at the Hotel Park in St.Johan and that WAS a family hotel with both husband and wife sorting things from reception and their children playing in the reception lobby. It may have been that 'Familie Gerns' were away that week but aspects of the hotel make it seem more like a charmless chain with the 'Familie' tag as window dressing
The tone of the holiday is set by the Saalbach clock chimes that wake you up at 6am and 7am every morning. "You are in Austria. You will get up at 7am. We run things on time here!"

Wow! We have just returned from a 2 week stay at Hotel Sonnleiten, Saalbach and had to post this review to share our experience of the fantastic hotel.  All members of staff, the management, restaurant staff, receptionists, chamber maid, and activity staff Christian and Bojan were fabulous and went out of their way to make sure that our stay was perfect!  All staff spoke excellent English and treated all guests in a professional manner.  The hotel is situated a short walk from the centre of Saalbach, high in the valley with spectacular views.  There are 2 routes to the hotel, one on a short steep pedestrian climb and another on a less steep road route, both shouldn't be a problem if your fit, besides you are in Austria surrounded by beautiful mountains so hills should be expected really!  Each morning the breakfast was a full banquet offering a huge variety of food and drinks, and the evening meals were superb and well presented, the themed buffet evenings were especially good and guests were encouraged to enjoy the full range of quality local produce on offer.  Each morning guests were presented with a daily leaflet giving a 3 day weather forecast, complimentary suduko, the menu for that evening, and details on local events and attractions, all presented in the language of the reader, as was the full dinner menu each evening.  The restaurant staff were particularly friendly and good fun, giving advice on local events and places of interest.  The facilities at the hotel are first class with a choice of two pools, both very clean and well maintained, two saunas with plenty of clean towels and laundry baskets, excellent showers, solarium areas and sun loungers. We made use of the free bike hire and Nordic walking sticks, the hotel provided everything from helmets, locks, tool kit and tips on cycling routes and excellent mountain huts.  The bikes were brand new and really good bikes, there was a full range of sizes for all the family.  If you are looking for a perfect place to stay then choose Hotel Sonnleiten.  If you love cycling, walking, keeping fit, good food and lovely, polite friendly people then Austria is the place for you.  Special mention to Hotel Mitterer in Saalbach centre, excellent food and friendly staff.  Can't wait till next year!  Family Townend.

hotel is 5 mins up very very steep slope from town or 15 minutes long way round up not s,o steep climb. rooms ok, do not accept rooms 210 or 211 very basic rooms overlooking where bikes are cleaned so can be noisey. the manager did not seem keen on british visitors and although receptionists tried , their command of english was not much better than my very basic german,although they probably welcome more Brits than i have opportunity to speak German. Food was good,plenty for breakfast,dinner usually 4 courses but not big portions, few vegetables.Excellent area for walking and all levels of bikers,use the joker card and take full advantage of the lifts to see the area,lots of mountain huts to eat and drink at (spielberg haus very good, 45 min walk from hotel.Town small 2 supermarkets to stock up on water etc, but when out walking this can be obtained from mountain streams and safely drunk.Would return to area but probably not hotel.