Summary:

Positives: traditional Austrian style, very clean, excellent pool/sauna/steam complex in the basement, good breakfast.

Negatives: the hotel is about half a mile up a steepish road leading out of town, plus attention to detail is not all it could be

Report:

Location:

The biggest problem with this hotel is its location 2/3rds of a kilometre on a hill out of town, although how much of a problem this is depends on what you are looking for. St Anton is a party town, and if you want to enjoy the restaurants and bars in town, you will be faced at the end of the evening with either a) a long, dark, climb back up the icy hill to the hotel or b) a long wait for the night bus (which runs once an hour until 2am, and costs 3.50E per person, or c) a very expensive taxi ride of about 12E. In terms of cost per km, St Anton taxis must be the most expensive in the world.

Alternatively, if you don't want to go out and prefer early nights and a quiet evening dining in the hotel, this may not be such a problem. You will still need to consider how you will get to and from the lifts in town with all your ski gear, as it's way too far and steep to walk in ski boots. The hotel runs a shuttle bus from the hotel to town from 8.30 to 11 only, and back again from town to hotel from 3 to 5 only. This does cut down your flexibility of movement and arrangements a bit. Alternatively there's a free bus (number 3) which leaves from behind the Cafe St Anton and takes you past the hotel in about ten or 15 minutes. However, this is only every hour and the last bus is at twenty past six.

First impressions

We stayed here for a long weekend, which is not the norm in St Anton, but the hotel was willing to be flexible as January is the off season in the resort. We arrived from the airport at about 11pm, to find a completely dark hotel. We later discovered that the place effectively shuts down for the night at about 9 or 10pm, when a heavy iron grille comes down to close the hotel bar and all the reception and communal area lighting is switched off. Not a terribly welcoming start!

The lady who greeted us was polite although a little wary and not overfriendly. The other staff (including a traditional Tyrolean waistcoated maitre d', a Greek barman, and a Bosnian shuttle bus driver) were extremely friendly, and always wished us a good day skiing every morning.

Also please note that there is a flight of about twelve stairs up from the hotel front door to reception and the lifts to bedrooms, which makes this hotel unsuitable for people in wheelchairs. It also means you will need to be able to carry your own luggage up the stairs from the taxi or your car when you arrive!

Room

We had asked for a twin room and in fact got a double (made out of twin mattresses) with a sort of divan sofa bed in the corner. Both beds had European style duvets. The room was spotlessly clean, however, with a small west facing balcony, a portable TV, minibar, hairdryer and a capacious wardrobe. A very nice touch was that the loo was separate from the bathroom.

On the downside, strangely, given the outside temperature was well below zero, the window was open and the radiator was off... again, not very welcoming. Four of the lightbulbs in the room were not working, and the TV remote control was held together with duct tape and had leaking batteries. I would expect better than this from a four star hotel. I also thought that given the room was double occupancy, and that when you are skiing you tend to take a lot of baths and showers, the bathroom would have more than two towels.

Also, there were a few things missing I would expect to see in a four star... there were no bathroom amenities at all, so make sure you take your own shampoo and cotton wool etc, plus there was nothing in the room that we could see giving any information about the hotel or the local area. We had no idea when breakfast was, or of the existence and whereabouts of the hotel's spa complex, or anything!

Food & drink

The hotel has a traditional Austrian-style restaurant and clearly prefers residents to stay half board and eat dinner in the hotel. Make sure that you specify B&B only when booking if you would prefer to eat out in the livelier restaurants in town. Breakfast was good though: a buffet of cereals, juices, ham and cheese, boiled eggs, rolls, toast, and bacon.

There is a small bar in the hotel, with good views over the mountains, and a display of the owner's many skiing trophies and medals (he was once world champion!). It's a nice place to meet for a gluhwein or schnapps before going out for dinner, but unfortunately it closes early so it's no good for late nightcaps!

Other

In terms of facilities, the Hotel Karl Schranz has a new looking and very impressive indoor pool facility, complete with sauna, steam room, showers, and massage treatments. It's located in the basement, but has windows out onto the mountains, which is great. We went one afternoon and found it very peaceful and quiet, (unlike the public swimmingpool in town Arlberg Wellness.Com, which was packed with people and surprisingly expensive).