2 reviews of Hotel Sonne in Saalbach, Austria.
Reviewed 13 May 2024
2nd time we have been to the hotel, for a skiing holiday it is one of the best hotels. Really nice family hotel with the same staff from the previous year. The food was excellent to a very good standard. Hotel is a mile or two out of town but they run a fleet of minibuses, you just go down to reception and they get one sorted to run you down to wherever you want to go. You're given a phone number to call they come and pick you up, we never had to wait longer than 10 mins. Would not hesitate going again!
Reviewed 19 May 2015
The service was phenomenal, this is easily the best hotel I’ve been to in terms of attentiveness. Sometimes you find that the staff are overly fussy when you’re wanting a bit of privacy - the staff here didn’t cross any boundaries but at the same time, your glass was never left empty. When you had your sit down meal, they’d know what drink you were having and bring it to the table and when we were sitting as a family playing board games, they’d bring over your beer.
The overall value for money was brilliant. They obviously weren’t giving out Dom Pérignon but they weren’t as restrictive as all-inclusive drinks tend to be.
Everyone liked the food. I personally would have preferred something other than traditional Austrian, but that was just the evening meals - in general the food was great. We’d get up and have breakfast and sometimes come back for an early afternoon snack. We were a bit restricted in terms of making our way back from the slopes for lunch, but a lot of people seemed to use it as a spa hotel because the facilities were so good, so for them having lunch wouldn’t be a problem. I’d rather be in the centre and go for a wander and try different restaurants but if you want hassle-free, which we did at the time, this kind of arrangement is perfect.
It’s a beautiful building, not a big sprawling thing but a little more like a chalet, with lots of nooks and crannies. We were staying in the older rooms which are a little dated, but also a bit bigger, so you can spread out and relax in them a bit more. The only issue I had was that the TV was all in German, there were no Sky channels or anything like that – but it was actually a good thing as it made us go down and play games of cards and backgammon together.
There was a shuttle bus that would run you anywhere in the ski resort (between something like 8 or 9 in the morning and 5 or 6 at night). I just had to text the driver where we were and he’d be there in 10-15 minutes. He’d give us as many lifts as we needed. It would be possible to ski round but the resort is a bit fragmented, and having a driver on hand meant you could explore the whole area. The hotel had some great heated boot warmers.
As far as package holidays go, I find them a bit average, but this holiday was as good as it gets. The transfers went well – they put just one plane of people on the coach so we didn’t have to wait for others to land, and they took us straight to the resort with no having to stop off at other resorts on the way. The coach was nice, with a coffee machine and toilet that we could use. I know from experience that you don’t always get this lucky on package holidays and usually prefer to hire my own car or book a private transfer.