Alpenhof Brixen

Goed

Spotless clean, great food (breakfast and dinner), fantastic facilities (SPA / indoor pool).
Great location – an easy walk away from nearby bus (skibus / 4051 line) and train (REX3 / S8) stations.
As for there is only one train station in Brixen im Thale and it is very close to this hotel, exploring the area (SkiWelt/Kitzski) and reaching Wörgl Hbf is easier compared to other places that may be closer to the SkiWelt Gondolas.
Essential measures are taken in order reduce the risk of COVID-19 infections (G2 rule, FFP2 mask usage by staff and guests) gives a good relatively safe feeling.

Das Hotel ist in die "Jahre" gekommen, Teppichböden und Einrichtungen sind nicht auf dem heutigen Stand.
Die Mitarbeiter, sehr viele Osteuropäer sind alle sehr bemüht gewesen und freundlich. Einzig die sprachlichen Schwierigkeiten sind zu erwähnen.

You know me, I write pretty rare reviews and am only inspired to do so when something is either surprisingly good, bad or bizarre.

Well the Alpenhof is all of the above.

THE GOOD:
Ok, lets start with the good: all you’d expect from a ski hotel, well appointed boot / ski room, bar area, apres snacks, good location, clean tidy room with a private balcony both of decent size (albeit a little tired). Pool and wellness sauna.

The room staff and cleaners on our floor were friendly, efficient and should really be well rewarded. The room was presented immaculately every day. Thank you for that.

Restaurant staff were friendly and efficient and did their best to accommodate us. Two in particular were outstanding given the regime they work under - (see bizarre below).

THE BAD:
However, there were some flaws, the food whilst plentiful but was average at best. Sometimes had even gone off (fruit salad and Bircher muesli was way beyond tolerable - was replaced when mentioned but...never should have been out). Several of the group had specific dietary needs (not complex) and little was done to accommodate these.

Bar: these people couldn’t get a room number right if you paid them (oh hang on we DID pay them). Bar bills were either non existent or were charged to incorrect rooms. This is not acceptable.

Reception staff: crack a smile will you? You run this place with the Austrian efficiency you’d expect...but make the guests feel welcome please. Your attitude may well work when ordering employees around but it’s not great for guests.

THE BIZARRE:
There was an atmosphere of “edge” throughout the hotel. It’s hard to describe. Think “The Stepford Wives” or the more recent “Get Out”. The staff did their best to work under what appeared to be an odd and possibly, dare I say it, dictatorial management regime.

Note to owner: This could be one of the best hotels around if you at the very least welcomed your guests with a smile (even if it is false Bon Amis, do try).

In conclusion I guess a lot of this review is subjective and others may have found it delightful, however in our group’s experience this was not the case.

Although this hotel is very clean, tidy and run in an orderly fashion, it seriously lacks a soul or welcoming attitude.

The room we had was one of the older ones which has not been upgraded yet and therefore it was pretty basic, and the layout of the toilet and shower was awkward. (Separate shower room & toilet and basin in the another). Asked reception for different pillows and they were sent to my room immediately which was excellent. The Wellness and swimming facilités were also excellent.

Breakfast was good with an early start of 7.15am which was brilliant if you want to head to the slopes for an early start. We found it odd that there was no ability to have toast! There was no toasting machine and the kitchen did not accommodated any requests. (We later found out that this was because Dutch Guests tended to try and toast the bread with Cheese which caused issues... But I’m sure they could have found ways to stop this without withdrawing the option all together). On two occasions we had to point out that the fruit and porridge had gone fizzy! (Bad, Bad, Bad)

The Bar was comfortable and although on the surface the bar person was friendly and smiling, it was apparent that they did not want to be there serving us... hence the drinks ordered constantly ended up on the wrong room number!

We booked half board and I’m telling you the price we paid for the room, expectations were high!. Two of our group had dietary requirements and although the hotel made some effort to accommodate, they were made to feel like they were a hinderance. A simple request for a scoop of vanilla ice cream instead of the offending desert was met with a strong no!...(although I think this had something to do with the owner of the hotel being chef in the kitchen who had lost the face to face customer appreciation).

One evening however they were offered fruit or ice cream instead of the dessert and so they asked for a small bit of fruit and a scoop of ice cream... and that was met with a no!... so one of them had to order ice cream and the other had to order fruit at which point they had to share between them at the table!... (this was unbelievably bad service) hence many of our group ventured out into the town for dinner on two occasions as they could not face the restaurant food which was just simply bland and uninspiring. The only saving grace was the waiting staff who tried their best under the iron rules laid before them.

We found the receptionist was not very welcoming and did not have the ability to smile doing the minimum required to keep her guests happy.

I understand that in Austria you are required to have certain services/standards to maintain the four star status that this hotel holds but I’m telling you now this hotel does scrape the edge of these requirements if indeed possible falling slightly below in some areas.

Normally I’m very understanding of the industry as a whole and how difficult guests can be but this hotel really has lost it’s soul.. :-(

Stayed for 3 nights in February for a skiing trip. Room was comfortable with a nice big balcony, tv with international channels, and clean bathroom. Nothing special though - very similar to a premier inn in the UK. For a British person who likes tea I found the lack of tea making facilities in the room a real let down. Outside breakfast time the only way to get a cup of tea was from the bar and I really could’ve done with one in my room after a long day on the mountain. Breakfast was good - typical tyrolean hotel spread. Dinner was OK but not really to my taste. Good ski room. I can see why people say the front of house staff are unfriendly but actually I they’re very pleasant once you get chatting to them and were helpful with everything I needed. All staff were good. Location was pretty good for skiing - 2 minute walk to the ski bus stop which is 5 minutes to the gondola station, less than 5 minutes walk from the train station. There is a blue run almost to the back of the hotel but it’s only open when there’s loads of snow. Overall I thought it was slightly underwhelming for 4 stars and slightly overpriced, but then it was peak ski season.

We are not usually fans of half-board but opted for it at this hotel and we were very pleased with the decision. OK - we had to choose in the morning what we wanted for dinner but there was a choice of at least three mains and a buffet on the Sunday. Everything was freshly looked and nicely presented. Waiting staff were really super friendly and efficient. There was a great choice at breakfast too. My only gripe was the mozzarella which was bland and not at all creamy..

The top-floor room had a balcony and was roomy enough. Extra pillows were provided swiftly. The rooms could be upgraded a little but when you are out skiing all day, it does not really matter that much.

The spa area was great - steam room, weird and amazing shower - all very nice if you are ok in your birthday suit!!

There's a ski room so boots are nice and toasty in the morning. We drove to the base station but you need to get there early to find a space! There is a bus on the main road but they were rather packed!

Alles perfekt, so muss Urlaub sein, von der Anreise bis zur Abreise alle super

Vi hade bokat och betalt rum med balkong. Vid incheckning sa receptionisten att det var utan balkong. Vi visade bokningen från hotels.com, men hon framhärdade att priset var utan balkong och menade att hotels.com översatt fel. Blev mycket tjafs och sedan sa hon att de inte hade något rum med balkong och eftersom vi var trötta så accepterade vi det. Någon reducering av pris fick vi inte.
När vi kollat både samma kväll och flera dagar efteråt, så står det fortfarande att det finns rum med balkong för det priset. Hon ljög helt enkelt och det känns inte bra.
Frukosten var bra och helt annat bemötande av den personalen, så inget att klaga på där.
Vackra omgivningar.
Toaletten smutsig, för övrigt fint hotell men kändes inte riktigt som fyrstjärnigt.
Men det som drar ner betyget är det dåliga välkomnandet där hon ljög oss rakt upp i ansiktet.

Although old-fashioned and in need of a refurbishment, the rooms were nevertheless spacious and clean.

Waiting staff in the restaurant were incredibly friendly, chatty and super helpful during our stay, and were an absolute credit to the hotel. Food was tasty; although dinner portions a little small, the selection of buffet starters were aplenty, and the quality of food to a high standard.

Sadly, this was tarnished by the incredibly rude woman at reception, whose attitude towards us was nothing short of appalling. When requesting a pillow (yes, the square things you sleep on, commonly found in hotels) from the lady at reception, instead of being responded to in a respectful manner, she simply replied ‘no’. When pushed, she said ‘too late’. We then explained that we had made this request much earlier, however since no staff had brought said pillow to the room, we thought it would be acceptable to check up on this before going to bed. We’d have been better talking to a brick wall. What’s more, the other questions we had asked previously (opening times of the spa, where to store our luggage when checking out etc.) were also treated in the same manner - extremely rudely. How dare we ask questions regarding the hotel’s activities - right?

Needless to say, we were really appalled at the attitude that an employee (and according to the staff - this woman is actually the boss) of Alpenhof would exhibit to a paying guest.

Hilariously, the elusive pillow which we were told was SO impossible to retrieve, magically appeared in our room within about 15 seconds when they started to realise we were serious about the complaint. Funny that, isn’t it? It’s almost as if paying €400 for a two night stay would earn you the right to ask the establishment for a simple sleeping necessity such as a pillow.

As we live nearby in Salzburg, this would have otherwise been the hotel we would return to for future skiing trips, but thanks to this delightful woman (yes, the sarcasm you detected is correct) we will take pleasure in choosing another establishment and won’t heaitate to tell friends and family to avoid.

In our vacation in Austria. We enjoyed the hospitality of hotel staff, how many receptionists and even more in waiters, all the praise for the staff, the rooms clean large, wellnes is excellent, especially after skiing, great breakfast, a rich selection of dishes, also very tasty dinner, but the staff is the best, smiling and very glad to help, and the next year the same hotel

Sehr gut gelegen um Wanderungen durchzuführen.
Im Hotel war alles sauber, gutes Essen und nette Leute.

Arriving to the hotel you will see that the hotel is not the newest but you will be welcomed by a competent personal. The rooms are functional and large, with confortable beds. I can recomend the half-board in the hotel. The food is good value for money.

Beautiful looking hotel, bedrooms with plenty of space with the advantage of a balcony too overlooking the mountains, we was on a coach tour so everything was included, apart from drinks, plenty of choice at breakfast, which included bacon & eggs which wasn't expected, on the whole the staff are very friendly, most speak English, no air con anywhere which it could have done with, no tea & coffee facilities either in the room, we took our own travel kettle though, evening meal was soup with a choice of main from two meals, plus dessert, no tea or coffee offered after or water on the tables, that was an extra 3 euros, if certain things were rectified it would be definitely 5 stars

Brixen im Thale is a very good place for ski holidays. It has what is good about Ski in Austria - the slopes, the infrastructures, the snow, the weather, but it is not full of people. The ski slopes are really good, they are not particularly difficult which is very good for learning, progression of learning which is excellent for families and for children. The Alpenhof is a very nice and cosy hotel, with good rooms and a Warm staff. Breakfasts are great and the dinners very nice. It is relatively close (5m walk) to the bus stop served by the SkiBus which in a few minutes puts us in the ski resort. I highly recommend it.

We stayed in this hotel for 7 nights on our ski vacation in SkiWelt & KitzSki.

We booked the Junior suite on the 3rd floor.
It faced west and not to the main valley. Nevertheless it had some nice view. Free parking is available at the hotel.

In general the hotel is very nice. Facilities are well maintained and cleaned throughout the day. The service was excellent : in the reception , in the restaurant or in the spa - nothing to complain about . It was perfect. (Though English is not spoken fluently by the staff).

This hotel has around 60 rooms (give or take) spread out on 3 floors. Our junior suite was situated under the roof which made the ceiling a bit low in the bathroom otherwise it was spacious enough. (The elevator was a bit eclectic so we used the stairs quite often).

The room had a nice balcony where we could sit and enjoy the last rays of the sun. A small safe was at our disposal but our room didn't have a cattle and mini bar. (?!)
Another small inconvenience was that the bathtub was a bit slippery and without a security rail to secure your self. The bathroom had a special jet shower. We used it only once and didn't find it useful.

The bed was comfortable and the room was cleaned properly every day . LCD TV had lots of channels - but wasn't an interest for us.

Breakfast was good , fresh coffee and tea. No patisseries but always 3 types of bread and rolls. Some vegetables , cheese but mainly eggs & cold meat sausages.

Dinner was good too. Menu was changing every night. Varieties of soups, cold buffet with vegetables and entrees, main courses (meat or fish) were served to the table except for weekend when it was buffet too.
Vegans & vegetarians would have found enough dishes too. Extra menu was available.
Excellent deserts !

The spa was good. Two dry saunas and two wet ones. A nice recovery resting room with relaxing music. The swimming pool was small but ok. The place was clean and comfortable. We didn't use the massage .

The last point I would like to mention in this review is important for skiers who consider this hotel .
Location Location , Location!
Brixen im Thale is very well located to cover two ski areas. First its main area - SkiWelt and the second is Kitzbühel .

In terms of skiing Brixen it is a strategic location and we actually discovered it - first hand .

From the hotel a 5min walk to the main road and you take the bus the the nearby Hochbrixen cable car to ski on SkiWelt.

SkiWelt domain is not high in altitude and some winters snow coverage and ski condition are not so good . summits barely reach 1700m and most of the skiing is done from 1400m to 700m. In 6 days of ski, we only skied 2 days in SkiWelt. Temperatures were too high for mid February , snow was quickly melting and turning into a slush bellow 1000m. It even rained bellow 1400m.

So our backup skiing plan was to ski in Kitzbühel. Summits are around 2000m and have many north faced slopes. Excellent ski there.

From the hotel we walked 5min with our ski gear to the nearby train station and in 10mins we where at the Kitzbühel Hahnenkhammbahn. It was very convenient and free of charge. Parking in Kitzbühel is challenging especially on weekends and costs about 10€ a day.

We really enjoyed our stay at the Alpenhof Brixen hotel. The rooms were nice and the staff very helpful. We also really enjoyed the spa and heath center.
Most importantly this hotel has a great location. It is just steps from the free ski bus shuttle service which takes you to the ski lift within 10 minutes. We were also able to purchase our ski lift tickets from the hotel front desk which was a nice perk.

sehr schön gelegenes Hotel mit sauberen, grossen Zimmern und sehr feundlichem Personal!Essen sehr lecker und abwechslungsreich

We stayed in this hotel for our annual skiing trip to Austria. It was our first vacation in this area and we didn't know a lot about neither the hotel base nor the villlage, but I can honestly say we were not dissapointed by our choice. The hotel is not very new, but I think it was recently renovated. Our room was HUGE and clean, it had a good new TV, fridge and a balcony. We could use the wellness complex every day from 3 pm to 8 pm (which is a nice treat after a tiring day on the slopes) and a swimming pool (not very big but with some water jets to massage your sore muscles). The food in the hotel restaurant is delicious, the choice of breakfast and supper meals is satisfacory even to the most fastidious guests. The skiing room has warming hangers and a lot of space for all your skiing equiment. The staff is helpful and always smiling. They will give You all the info You may need, the bathrobes and You can even buy your skipasses in the reception (nice thing not to have to queue in the morning). I can recommend it with all my heart :)

I booked one night for Alpenhof hotel with half-board.

The room was spacious and clean. However, the service level was quite interesting at times. The manager of the shift for example came and told me and my friend that we shouldn't take care of anything in the reception with bath-robes on, while we were on our way downstairs to the spa section, and she told it in a less friendly way. Didn't make us feel that welcome, especially considering it is a spa hotel. Have stayed in bathrobes at a lot more up-scale hotels in public places, and it has been totally exeptable.

They had also not prepared any snacks for my special diet, even if it was highlited to them in advance. The buffet dining and morning breakfast was well taken care of. The breakfast deserves a positive remark, the buffet was good but not great.

The rest of the staff were very friendly.

Just to highlight - it is apparently totally normal to use the mixed spa section butt-naked in Austria, so foreignres, don't be surprised about this.

All in all, it's a quite nice stay, even if I don't think it quite reaches up to the promised 4 stars. It's very close to the railway station if you are coming by train.