Hotel Sport & Spa Strass

We returned for another visit at the Hotel Strass and wasn't disappointed. Nothing is any trouble for the staff any requests made were fulfilled. The food was excellent and the service in the restaurant was excellent too especially Robert and Zoran who looked after us. The cleanliness in the bedroom was second to none as was the rest of the hotel. The reception staff were always helpful and very professional especially Corrina and Elizabeth who always makes us welcome. The hotel is in an ideal location next to the Penken cable car and a short walk to the Ahorn. We are looking to book for next year

Unsurprisingly I'll be repeating a lot of the things that other reviewers have said but in summary the Sporthotel Strass is a perfectly acceptable hotel complex in the heart of Mayrhofen, suitable for young and old. The good points are: 1.Location, right next to one cable car station and a 5 minute walk to the other one. The bus stop is close to the hotel and the services run all over the valley. The railway station is a 10 or 15 minute walk away as its on the outskirts of the town. At chucking out time there can be some noise from the street but overall its not too intrusive. 2. The staff. Without exception every member of staff we encountered was friendly, polite and helpful. We weren't thrilled with our room so spoke to the front desk and they offered us another room with no fuss at all. Restaurant staff all attentive and willing to provide alternatives if you don't fancy any of the three main courses on offer. Now to the negatives... Unfortunately there are things that could be better and some that really do need to be addressed as they take the shine off the whole experience. The rooms we saw were largely acceptable but some of the soft furnishings in particular were past their best. As others have mentioned the towels belong in a 1 star hotel, not an establishment that purports to be above average. They are laughably thin, coarse and small. They should be replaced urgently. The bed pillows are similarly low standard and provide virtually no support. We had to ask for extra ones which the front desk were happy to provide but again, they need to invest in some higher quality ones immediately. Soap dispensers are provided in the bathroom but no toiletries. Little touches like that make a difference. The main lounge/bar area is a little austere feeling. Most of the seats are set out in a very regimented way which I felt made it feel more like a waiting area than a cosy lounge and somewhere pleasant to relax. In the restaurant there is evidentally some unexplained hierarchy when it comes to where you sit. It's a huge area divided into several zones some of which are more pleasant than others. We were allocated a table for the week, as we're the other guests as far as I could tell, and because we made friends with our neighbours we didn't ask about the possibility of moving to a nicer location. The suspicion though is that some guests are given preferential treatment. The food is fine without being anything remarkable. Standard Austrian hotel fare with several courses each evening. Portions were large enough given the number of courses but if you skipped a few then you might not be full by the end of the meal. Only choice was for the main course and was a meat dish, something fishy and a vegetarian option. It is possible to order other dishes but this isn't advertised. Drinks prices are a little higher than in the surrounding cafes but not significantly. The entertainment laid on by the hotel is typically tyrolean, the demand for accordion music still baffles me. Thankfully the lounge is big enough for you to get far enough away to be able to ignore it and do other things. We didn't partake but the hotel does offer some free guided walks and bike rides which were well received by our friends. So overall, a perfectly acceptable place to stay but one that needs to up its game if it wants to compete with more luxurious alternatives. It wouldn't cost a fortune to invest in better towels and pillows, to put some toiletries in each bathroom and to make the lounge area more inviting, but it would make a real difference.