Family & Team

"When I look back over the last 45 years, there’s one experience in particular that makes me smile – it could, in fact, have changed our story completely:

Before we bought our plot of land in Geiselsberg, we’d looked at all sorts of other plots.
At the time, my wife and I were still tenants of the ‘Reiderbar’ in Sexten, which was a popular meeting place for the locals, and we would have liked to stay in Sexten. But although we were welcome and appreciated, we were still ‘outsiders’ – after all, we weren’t from Sexten.

Whenever we expressed our interest in buying to a landowner, we’d only get an evasive “Mmmh” and a shake of the head in reply.
Back then, people were much more reserved, and selling to someone who wasn’t from the valley… well, that simply wasn’t looked upon favourably.

So our search for a plot of land in Sexten proved fruitless.
Then one day we spotted this plot in Geiselsberg in the newspaper, which had been advertised by a private seller, and decided on it quite spontaneously – overnight, so to speak.

Once the contract had been signed, a gentleman from Sexten – whose plot of land we’d also been interested in – came up to us and said – and I quote:
“You know what, you should always ask twice!”
What did he mean by that?
Well, that he would have sold us his plot if only we’d been a bit more persistent. We laugh about it now, but at the time it did give us pause for thought for a moment – a guesthouse or a small hotel in Sexten would, of course, have been a ‘safe bet’, whereas in Geiselsberg there was virtually no tourism at all.
To make matters worse, we soon realised that our new plot was situated right in the middle of a marshy area. We hadn’t noticed that – that’s how naive we were back then.

The locals from Geiselsberg naturally laughed at us for buying the property, and there was a great deal of scepticism: “If it were possible to build on this marshy meadow, we’d have done it already!”, were the words of the Geiselsbergers.
Now our hotel has stood firm and beautiful amidst the surrounding countryside for 45 years, even though the construction was very complicated, as my wife has already reported in one of these magazine articles.

We had to drill a good 15 metres deep into the mountain, and drainage pipes were laid which still safely channel the spring water through the ground to this day.
We were very lucky with the weather during the build: after work began in September 1979, it snowed only once – though very heavily on that occasion, so much so that we had our worst fears – after which it remained dry until the roof was on the building.

So when I look back over the last few decades, at everything we’ve achieved, built up and experienced, I always come to the same conclusion: how lucky we were not to have asked a second time, back then in Sexten!

Now everything is just as it should be, and we wouldn’t swap our lovely little spot for anything – that’s for sure. Because it’s unique – and that’s exactly why it’s perfect for us!"