Thurnerhof history

‘My grandparents Gertraud and Georg Kröll laid the foundation stone for our hotel. In 1950 they started to let out small rooms in the erstwhile farmhouse. After a few years they consciously turned their attentions to young people. They turned the farmhouse into a youth hostel, with three rooms and mains water facilities in the corridor. With Saalbach Hinterglemm becoming known as a ski area, my grandparents were already able to accommodate twenty guests in 1958.’

‘Under today's Senior Managers Adele and Hermann Kröll, the building became one of the most state-of-the-art youth hostels in Saalbach. While my mum single-handedly provided meals for around one hundred young guests, my dad took care of the paperwork and all the jobs around the building.’

‘At the age of twenty-one, I was the fourth generation to take ownership of the family business in 2006, and as host, taking on the destiny of the hotel. At a very young age, but full of spirit. For me it was never a question of being fully committed to continuing on with the parental business in the proven family tradition, even though I could never quite get to grips with its categorisation as a ‘youth hostel’. From the outset I had one goal in mind - to establish the Hotel Thurnerhof.’

‘Professional success was accompanied by personal joy in the year 2015. Since that time my life partner Erika Fuchs has been by my side. As a master florist, she is admittedly not from a hotel sector background, however she is responsible for all the creative visions. With her eye for perfection and a flair for lovely things, she has brought the Thurnerhof to life and created a place where attention to detail is palpable.’

‘With the birth of our first son Moritz in 2016, has made this fifth generation of familial joy perfect.’

‘Since we tend to see standing idle as something of a backward step, I was soon able to convince my family to keep on with developing the Thurnerhof. And with that we - Erica, Moritz and myself - set about brainstorming. After a phase of planning, in spring 2020 we started with a phase of rebuilding. Just before Christmas, we received another great gift as a family - our second son Xaver came into the world.’

‘We enjoyed a unique season this summer, along with many old and new faces. Between adults and children. And they were especially amazed by the new adventure playground, set amid nature.’

‘In between smaller adjustments, the refurbishment of the last of the older rooms and creating a new summer pasture area at the pool, we are continuing with our developments. All our great ideas.’