Zurserhof

Zurserhof

At Zurserhof, guests step out of their skis and straight into the lobby: ski-to-door access connects the hotel directly to the pistes served by the Hexenboden, Zurserseebahn and Seekopfbahn lifts, so the walk from the last run to the door takes minutes. The Skardarasy family runs this 96-room hotel in Zürs, part of Lech am Arlberg, and their hand shows in the farmhouse-style stube and the rustic lounges with comfortable armchairs, rather than in any imported hotel-chain concept. Rooms span six categories, from a 269 Standard Room with a full double bed to a 753 Suite with a safe, telephone, mirror and proper toiletries; every category comes with a hairdryer, television and private bathroom as standard. After the lifts close there is a pool, sauna, steam bath, solarium and massage room, plus a fitness center for anyone who skied through lunch and regrets it. A library and a ping-pong area sit near playrooms for children, so families traveling with kids of different ages are not stuck sharing one room. Staff switch between English, German, Italian and French without fuss, and a tour assistance desk, transfer service and business center handle the logistics that usually eat an afternoon. Lech am Arlberg's centre is 4km away, so anyone wanting a lively square outside the door, or a sleek minimalist look instead of a farmhouse-style stube, should look elsewhere. Check-in runs from 3pm, check-out by noon, and the hotel settles payment by bank transfer before arrival rather than at the desk. What lingers is the sense of a family still watching the door, in a resort where most hotels answer to a head office. Zurserhof opens straight onto three ski lifts, and the family that owns it still runs the show rather than a hotel chain. Rooms move from a simple 269 Standard to a 753 Suite with its own safe and telephone. It rewards skiers over sightseers.