Hotel Matschner

I made the mistake of booking our rooms directly with the hotel (I recommend to only book through *********** to avoid the fiasco caused by the hotel). First they booked the wrong dates (2 months too early), then they booked the wrong rooms, then they booked the wrong dates again. Each time I responded by email with the correct details of what we were trying to book. When we arrived, their system showed us booked for the following day! Of course, it was peak season and they were completely full. So we had to find a hotel in a nearby town to stay our first night. I requested from the 2 staff helping me that they make sure that our last night gets cancelled (since they had the whole booking off by a day), and could they talk to management to make sure we get reimbursed for it. Two days later, I mention to the staff that our last night still looks like it isn't cancelled. The staff member said she couldn't cancel it because "what if I change my mind". She instructed me to speak with the owner, but she couldn't tell me when the owner would be on staff. For two days I went to reception to ask to speak to the owner, and each time was told I had missed her. Eventually everything was fixed when speaking to the owner the day before our departure. We travelled from overseas to spend a week skiing in Austria, and chose this hotel because 5 years ago I had a lovely experience at the hotel. Due to Covid, we were not able to come a 2nd time in 2020 (having lost our full deposit). We finally were able to return this year. The breakfast buffet offerings were great, although lining up for 10 minutes for coffee was unreasonable. Eventually we figured out that you can request a carafe of coffee for you table. It would have been nice if the staff had mentioned and offered that. The cake offerings in the afternoon were also lovely. But we really missed the savory offerings of 5 years ago that included gulash, frankfurter, and other similar items. Something savory was offered with the cake, but usually it was just some pasta with a dash of very plain tomato sauce on it. Dinner, on the other hand, was a disappointment. It started with a soup and salad buffet. 2 of our 4 nights there was no soup left and it wasn’t replenished, even though we arrived between 7-7:30pm. Plus the soup offerings were so plain and meager. One was always just a plain broth where you could add a topping… yet never was leberknödel, or frittaten, or backerbsen offered, despite being in the Steiermark. Some well known and loved Austrian soups would have been a joy, but not what they offered here. 2 out of 4 nights we waited for 10-15 minutes for the salad bar to be replenished, to no avail (even though it was never past 7:30pm). We finally gave up and went without salad, as the items left over were clearly not favorites. Each night there were 3 main course options (one meat, one fish, one vegetarian). The fish or vegetarian option alternated between which one was 90% pasta. The main course always

We first came here in 2019 for their “guided snow shoe week “ and for obvious reasons have not been able to return here till now for another guided week, this one led by the excellent Carl. Thank you Carl for three great hikes. It’s really an excuse to eat a lot of cake which the hotel provides in generous amounts Service is still good tho a little stretched at times, not unusual these days. The food is still pretty good though the mains are not as interesting as we remember from our last visit. The Wi-Fi also seems to struggle on occasion. However these are minor criticisms. The Matchner remins a splendid place to stay and actually very good value too. It also has immediate access, on the doorstep to a vast area of snow oriented activities.

Loved the property, staff and great breakfast! Would stay again!