We booked the hotel for a week’s skiing. We booked with Directski. Com and everything went smoothly – less than 90 minutes from baggage reclaim to hotel check in. We had booked a suite for a good price. It was exceptionally large. The decor was bit tired and there were a few minor drawbacks ( a shower only , no bath, and very few coat hooks when you really need a lot when you have skiing gear and you have to collect the bathrobes from reception). There as no wifi in teh room but the TV was a big flat screen and, pleasingly, didn’t have just have CNN as it’s English language channel (which seems enough to tick the box for some hotels) but had two British channels (BBC news and BBC entertainment). The two most important things for us are that the room is room is very clean and was very quiet; this scored on both counts so we were, in general, very happy with it. The meals were all good quality 4 star Austrian ski hotel. The reception area is very small as is the lounge – a disadvantage when check in is busy but it did give the hotel an intimate feel. The town of Bad Hof Gastein itself is quiet but very pleasant: no shops open on Saturday afternoon or Sunday, it has no through traffic) and no noisy bars but it does have an open air ice rink and very attractive streets to wander. The ski room at the hotel was handy for the ski bus which is very frequent to the bus station at the bottom of the funicular railway up the mountain and from where you can get free skibuses to other areas. As intermediates, we found the ski area varied and interesting. One day, when an ear infection prevented skiing, we also got the ski bus to Bad Gastein which was fascinating because the centre is virtually empty pending redevelopment. If you ski into it, you arrive at the edge of the town and so do not see the town centre (unless you walk down which I suggest would be very difficult in ski boots!). We never used the hotel’s pool but accessed the– Alpentherme by a heated underground walkway from this hotel and the Norica (which is next door). When you enter the Alpentherme you walk through the treatment area reception and then pass the gym before entering the swimming pool area. The pool looked good an ideal for families and young children. Beyond that there is the adults only Sauna world. It has a dozen saunas and steam rooms plus an outside pool. Even if you do nothing else in the sauna world, you must try one of the sauna sessions where an attendant sprays the sauna with fragrant oils and wafts the scented air around the sauna (this takes place in a large sauna at the very far end every hour from 3.00 onwards). As is usual in Austria, no costumes are allowed and the attendants did politely enforce the rule for one bashful couple who tried to enter and seemed oblivious to the two dozen naked people already in. The relaxation lounge above the big sauna has beautiful views of the mountains for afterwards. It is a magnificent way to end the day before returning to the hotel for the evening meal.
You can get, and we have often had, the hotel quality, food and skiing elsewhere in Austria but the clincher for this one is the link to Alpentherme.
This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC