The Place
Not many sports stars have turned to hotel-keeping as successfully as Hans Senger, who represented Austria at the 1952 Olympic Games. Haus Senger, wedged into a steep hill above Heiligenblut, is a careful mixture of old and new. Rebuilt in 1966, it looks like an old farmhouse thanks to the 400-year old beams and planks rescued from an old barn. These, along with the stone-flagged floors and crackling open hearth, give the dining-room and Stube the atmosphere holidaymakers dream about.
Upstairs, most bedrooms are interlinked so they can be used individually or as suites, with connecting doors soundproofed by mattresses. All are decorated in country style with fabrics of soft red, blue or green. Some suites have kitchenettes so parents can make breakfast while the children run around in pyjamas. The Romantik Zimmer boasts a four-poster bed painted blue and hung with white muslin curtains.
Menus range from Italian and French dishes to the regular Wednesday fondue evenings. A new wing, with a health and fitness area, blends in cleverly and guests ski out and ski back from a side door. A hotel that is better in reality than in its brochure.