Holiday Weather

I hope that by reading this review you are informed enough so not as to make the same mistake as we did.

we have spent Christmas in Austria several years now and due to the poor snow in the 2006/7 season we thought we'd try a higher resort. the highest Austrian ski resort is fishtail - 35 mins from Innsbruck so quick transfer.

resort:
as this is not a village it really lacks character - especially for Christmas where it could have been just any another time of year.
there is a convenience store that plays on the fact that there is no competition. that is why a 1.5 l bottle of coke is £3 and water is £2.70. - 4 mach3 razor blades cost £15 !. so take plenty of cash.

skiing:
not a resort that i would ever want to learn at. all ski runs are quite steep in places but i quite enjoyed them. conditions were good if a little choppy. not a good resort for snow boarders though
the resort boasts that there is little or no queuing. we found that on average the que was about 5mins- unless you use the runs at the extreams of the resort.

sport hotel kuhtai is rated 4* so we thought this might be a nice place to stay for Christmas. what a mistake.

Accommodation:
The rooms are similar to travel lodge except with chincy curtains and rather shabby. ours was a decent size but the beds must have been really old because it was like sleeping in a hammock.
strangely dogs are welcome in the hotel rooms (which explains the flea bites). in fact the whole resort is stained with yellow snow and you have to be real careful where you tread.
The towels are thin and hard and obviously quite old. great for exfoliating though.
bed linen is only changed on a weekly basis.
We were lucky enough to be sandwiched between a room with a crying baby to wake us in the morning and a room with a dog that barked first thing.

Facilities:
The pool is nice but during our stay the there was always about 8 german kids 'bombing' the pool so you couldn't actually use it.

the 'salt tunnel' is a joke. it is a stone room with a 10 second spray of salty water if you press the button. just weird and pointless.

the ski room looks to be good but there is not enough room. our skis were damaged in there from being knocked out of the racks.

food was generally good but not as nice as other hotels in Austria. if you like dumplings you'll be in heaven - because they are in every meal.

there is a 'famous wine cellar' that no one is allowed to see. what is the point of telling guests that.

skiing to and from door is a joke. while it is technically possible to ski back to the hotel - with a bit of effort- it is impossible to ski from the hotel (unless you can ski uphill. the main lifts are a couple of minutes walk away.

the main disappointment was the reception/ management staff. we found them rude and patronising. generally we were ignored by those staff in favour of the german guests.for example when we arrived we were given a key to our room and left to take our luggage to it. german guests were shown to their rooms and had their luggage taken up for them. I can only describe the manager as racist.
The funny thing is that when he made comments in german he was stupid enough to think that we could not understand him. Austrian people are usually lovely kind people - but not here. Although the waiters and cleaners were very good- friendly and polite.

We actually saw other guests argue with the manager about their rooms. Even in Belgian we understood that they were not happy.

drinking at the hotel is very expensive. there is also a 20% tax and a 10% service charge. here are some examples of the prices.

750ml water £4.85
250ml coke £2.00
tiny cappuccino £3.25
small white wine £4.00

We were not impressed by the resort or hotel and would rate it no more than 2 star.


If you are looking for a christmasy resort short transfer from Innsbruck then try seefeld. perfect ! The 3.5* alpina leaves the sporthotel in kuhtai in the shade.

Recommended Places
Dont go. but if you do don't stay at the sport hotel!