Our company hold half yearly kick off meetings and we've been to some excellent places in the time I've worked for them, but the Krallerhof in Leogang was just about the best.

Situated on the bottom of a ski slope there was no snow at ground leve in August, but no doubt there would be ski to the door access. Views of the surrounding mountains are stunning - If you like this kind of scenery (I do!) you will love it.

The hotel itself is large and is really more of a Spa resort.

From my skiing holidays this is the kind of place I might sometimes stop at for an expensive snack lunch rather than stay in, but now I've seen how the other half live!

My room was a large double with a huge bathroom and an extensive balcony - I thought it massive until I saw some colleagues suites (they were sharing 2 to a suitee, but honestly I've stayed in smaller appartments for 4 or 5 people and certainly much less luxurious ones).

The whole hotel - public rooms, bars, pool, gym, suites, bedrooms and conference rooms - were all decorated, maintained and furnished to an amazingly high standard with the familiar timber of Austrian buildings very prominent - Although it's large, it feels cozy, like a small Austrian gasthof!

Food, from breakfast to dinner was unremittingly excellent.

If I could afford to stay here in the winter for a skiing holiday I would and I would recommend this hotel to anyone looking for a mountain getaway, whether romantic, sporty or business.

Only downside I can see is there's not much around locally unless you have some transport, but it's near to large resorts like Kitzbuhel, white water rafting and other mountain sports and Leogang is a little walk away.

All my colleagues were equal in their praise and almost awe at the location and quality of the Krallerhof.

This hotel is a gem in the middle of nowhere and it is a perfect location for relaxation! Your reservation includes all meals and they are AMAZING! There is a great variety of foods for breakfast and lunch and dinner is a top-notch gourmet experience. The staff in the restaurant is great. The one area that could use a little work is the front desk experience - the staff there was very slow and could have done a better job explaining all the various offerings of the hotel (spa, hikes, etc).

Its quality deserves its price. I stayed there from Friday till Sunday alone in a double-bed appartment. One of the best high-quality hotels I've ever stayed in.
Perfect:
- rooms layout and decoration
- breakfast (freshly pressed juices, scrambled eggs made on-site and they let you chose the ingredients...)
- inside decoration of the hotel
- lighting of the rooms
- wellness (Refugium)
- price/quality ratio

Small negatives:
- had once the feeling of restaurant waiter not being too nice...
- biliard for 2 EUR one game with very poor quality of the table... to expensive here ;).

We recently enjoyed a long weekend at Der Krallerhof, and by and large, we completely agree with the raves stated in the previous reviews. The location is absolutely stunning near the small village of Leogang, and we were fortunate to have an amazing view from our room of the towering mountains across the valley providing a dramatic show as the light changed throughout the day. The room was quite spacious with creative lighting effects (though some of ours were burnt out) that really added a unique ambiance to the room. And the shower sports a shower head roughly the size of a dinner plate, creating an absolutely luxurious shower experience! Would go again just for that.

We very much enjoyed the variety, presentation, and quality of the meals, and the young woman who waited on our table was absolutely attentive and delightful. The wine list is, indeed, a bit expensive, especially if you go to the pages outside of Austria (Anyone for a 1900 euro bottle of French Bordeaux - Yeow!) but the Austrian reds we sampled were very good and well worth the money. About half way through our stay, we learned that many schools were on ski holdiay, so the property was teaming with chldren of all ages, which created a particularly energized atsmosphere while we were there. We didn't mind most of the time, but it did get noisy now and again. (Unlike large commerical hotels replete with wall to wall carpeting and noisy ventilations systems, there was very little white noise to muffle extraneous sound) Might be worth asking about that if peace and quite is a priority for you.

The spa facilities are beautifully conceived, and we took advantage of a 'treatment for two' which essentially consisted of a single (wonderful) therapist alternating between the two of us while the other rested while consuming fruit and champagne. Complete decadence, and again, well worth the money.

So why only four stars on our rating you might ask? Well, there were a couple glitches - the main one having to do with transportaion. We opted to arrive by train at Saalfeden a good 11 kilometres away, then inquired as to how to reach the hotel. They confirmed (twice) there would be a driver waiting for us upon our arrival. (That was more than we had hoped for!) But upon arrival, we somehow never connected with the driver, nor could we negotiate the payphone to call the hotel. (And my cell couldn't grab a signal there.) Thus a 20 euro cab ride to the hotel. We reported the incident at check-in and the girl responded that the driver had been there but couldn't find us. Seems to me we were fairly obvious as distincttive foreigners, but such is life. Then, the night before departure, we inquired about the return to the train station, and they readily volunteered another driver back to Saalfelden. Great! But when we got downstairs with all our luggage, we were informed that the drivers were all busy with ski shuttles and so she hailed us a cab. Another 20 euros, again at our own expense. It was more the prinicpal than the cash flow, particularly ironic that we had taken the train to save a few bucks on renting a car. I suppose you don't stay at a place like this if you're going to worry about the nickle and diming, but it didn't leave us with warm feelings upon departure.

Beyond a few issues with transportation, light fixtures, and surface noise, we were completely blown away by the location, style, and general ambiance of this hotel, and would gladly return feeling a bit more streetwise about negotiating a spa vacation in Austria. Funny the things one comes to assume when traveling abroad!