Sonnenburg

Its difficult to describe how great this hotel is yet what it most stands out is service and location. The service is how every hotel should feel like. Staff knows your name, your preferences, they underscore this with things like - when you arrive you will get assigned "your" table in the restaurant. No other guest other than you can use this table during your stay. Its little things like that that make a huge difference. We went with our kids and they told us they would meet us (parents) at "our" table. Second is location. Hotel is ON the mountain, not next to it, but on it. View are spectacular, there are no cars (its a mountain!) and you are in the middle of the skiing area. Third food is great. Great breakfast, different menu every night, delicious wines, deserts, not missing a thing. If you want cosy rather than fancy, with amazing quality, I would suggest this hotel over all others in Lech.

We really enjoyed our stay in this 5 star hotel over 6 nights in Oberlech to ski 5 days in Arlberg. This ski in/out is located next to a chairlift that enables you to avoid the lines at the bottom of Lech. The ski room is convenient and the staff takes care of packing and unpacking your gear. The hot has its own ski rental shop that has very friendly staff which serviced our skis. The staff is very friendly and professional. They were very helpful. We had not been to a hotel with a half board covering breakfast and dinner. The breakfast buffet is excellent and has many options. We were skeptical of a eating there most night and ended up really enjoying eating there most night as you can ski as early as 8:30AM and Arlberg has so much terrain that we often grabbed a bite for lunch. Having a nice 5 course dinner and cheese was a nice treat without having to leave the property. We ate there 5 out of 6 nights. The menu changes every night and the quality is impressive. The wines by the glass are local and reasonably priced at ~10 per. We had 2 suites that were well appointed. The terraces were great on sunny days with great views. Overall, 5 star experience. Highly recommended.

I recently visited the Sonnenberg, having in the past stayed at other hotels in OberLech. I have given this review a few days to soak in, but I feel now as I did during the stay, and that is disappointed, underwhelmed. In terms of a check list of attributes and amenities, the Sonnenberg indeed checks a lot of the right boxes, and the reader of this review can go to their web sight to see what they offer. What I felt lacking throughout my visit was a focus on SERVICE, which surely must be a hallmark of a 4 or 5 star hotel. There is something just not right about this hotel from a service standpoint. It was obvious to my family and the 3 friends I travelled with. Staff went about their jobs, but nothing more. We had so many screw-ups during breakfast orders and dinners, it was just stunning. Our group of 11 ordered 5 risottos for dinner, but none came, so they rushed the re-order and we got 5 under-cooked risottos...this is just an example. Ordering eggs and coffees at breakfast was an adventure. The breakfast and dinner staff always seeming to see us as the source of the problem, or wanting us to eat what we had not ordered... Arranging our departure and bag pickup for transport to Lech was an adventure. I sit right now in a 4 star Superior hotel in Saalbach (Kendler Hotel) which oozes SERVICE, and that is why we are here again this year. I have had more nice, friendly discussions with interested staff here at the Kendler in 1 day than I had at the Sonnenberg during my entire 7 day stay! Something is not right at the Sonnenberg.....hiring, culture training, leadership....I dont know what, but it is not right and not anywhere near 4 or 5 star, and my travelling companions all feel the same. In addition, I will add the hotel is tired in several areas, and needs upgrades. The ski/boot room is a relic and I needed to take my boots to my room to find a warm place for them to dry. My room (#103) was large but probably unchanged from 20 years ago and we suffered from excessive noise from the kitchen in the floor below. Sorry Hotel Sonnenberg, really I am....but I encourage you to take a look at yourself because I feel you are resting on past glory, past positive reviews, because I did not see or experience it, especially in the area of service. Big positives, great location in OberLech, and the SportHuber ski rental/service in the building was great. The Wellness centre was nice too. But, I came away underwhelmed and disappointed, and we all wished that I (as trip organiser) had re-.booked in the Sporthotel Cresta as we had in previous years...they dont have the amenities as the Sonnenberg, but they had great service and friendly staff...

I thought that I had researched all of the spas in the area and decided to choose this one based on the beautiful facility . I paid for a 50 minute hot stone massage and what I thought was a "anti aging facial". While the therapist was lovely and the location wasn't her fault - she works out of a small closet that shares a THIN wall with the swimming pool . 50 minutes of SCREAMING children and babies was literally the most un relaxing massage of my life ( I have been getting massages for over 30 years at the finest spas in the world ) . The therapist was apologetic but this is inexcusable for a five star hotel . You have a fabulous serene lower level where kids are not allowed with plenty of room to carve out a massage area . The facial was rushed and just an application of different creams . All over my eyes which are now burning . No idea what she was even doing . And to top it off I was literally pushed out of the "closet " for her next client not so much as a glass of water . I left very disappointed.

We had lunch in Sonnenburg's Sun Terrace. Great location with a wonderful view over Petersboden. We were a party of five people. We had to wait at least 25 minutes before our orders were taken and then another 25 minutes before being served. The taste of the food was bland and the helpings were far below average. The staff was overworked and the number of guests was too many to handle.

We had lunch at the Sonnenburg and selected a local dish Kaiserschmarrn for the finish. The quality of the dish was poor. We would rank it level with local fast food chains, an embarrassment for the outlet. We recommend to go elsewhere!