Passionate hosts
for generations

The first few years were characterised by hard work and industry. Anna Guggenberger (*1912) remembers the beginning: My father Johann Schwarzenbacher was a woodcutter and came from Carinthia in 1885. Thanks to his prowess and abilities, he was able to work his way to becoming an esteemed citizen of Kleinarl during the course of his life. He purchased the Arlerwirt guesthouse in 1897, though he had few funds of his own. He was able to do so on credit, with a loan from the owner of the sawmill, Hans Stadler. At the time, the guesthouse also included a shop and a smallholding with five cows.

My parents were married in 1897, my mother came from Kleinarl. The marriage produced seven children. My mother died in 1926 and my father re-married. The second marriage produced no children.

The guesthouse was busiest on Sundays, when farmers and workers returned after mass. A pair of sausages and "Lüngerl" with one or two bread rolls were the most popular meals. Under the influence of beer and spirits, they discussed politics and shared what had been keeping the inhabitants of Kleinarl occupied and interested in the week. By midday, the public room had emptied again as the local guests returned home for lunch. During the week, the priest, teacher, forester and other respectable citizens would meet to play cards. Weekdays were less busy, with only the carters stopping for lunch and to feed their horses.

Special events were only celebrated at "Vinzenzi" for the woodcutters and during carnival for "Austrian curling", and a ball was held for everyone. A few weddings were held, perhaps once or twice a year, and always on a Monday. The wedding feast would consist of roast pork, roast veal or a "Schnitzel". The celebrations were normally calm events, and fights were extremely rare.

At the beginning, the shop was only run as a sideline. A bell was hung over the door. It would ring whenever a customer came in. By this time, my father had become a master woodcutter and contractor and managed a team of around 30 woodcutters. They liked to buy their food at the shop, which became more and more important as a stream of income. My father was also the operations manager of the saw mill for the company Hans Stadler and served as mayor of Kleinarl for seven years.

Until 1939, my father ran the guesthouse and ancillary operations himself, before passing on the shop to me, his youngest child. Together with my husband, a carpenter who I married in 1933, we managed the guesthouse and smallholding. We had five children.

During the inter-war years, the first summer visitors arrived, mainly from Vienna. Nobody visited in winter. Between the start of the war and 1954, we had no guests. The poverty of the post-war era and the many struggles and cares left no room for holidays and relaxation. At the time, the focus was on providing food and rebuilding the destroyed cities. It was only in 1955, when the occupying forces left, that tourism gradually started up again.

This was a difficult time for us, too. On 12 October 1953, our guesthouse went up in flames, probably due to arson. The new building was roofed on 20 December 1953. But every cloud has a silver lining. The new building allowed us to make the rooms more comfortable and install running water and toilets, followed by central heating and hot water in the early 60s. The first lifts were added and the electricity available for guests slowly increased. Construction boomed everywhere. New guesthouses and boarding houses rose from the ashes, but many people also rented out beds in their own homes.

In 1970, we passed down the business to our son Anton.

In 1970, Toni and Anni Guggenberger took over the hotel and restaurant with great personal commitment. When the large ski lifts were built, linking the ski resorts Zauchensee - Flachauwinkl - Kleinarl, the number of guests quickly increased. In 1982, the now 30-year-old guesthouse was torn down to make way for a large new building with comfortable rooms.

This was expanded further in 2001. The extension contained modern rooms and a wellness area with three saunas and an indoor-outdoor swimming pool, which proved popular from the start. The restaurant was renovated in 2007. A wine cellar was added for tastings, plus rooms to allow for parties of any size. 

Locally, according to tradition, we are still the village inn. Weddings, baptisms, confirmations, holy communion and local society celebrations are held here. This can be quite a challenge at times, but we are proud of it. For us, it is an important sign of quality that the locals stay loyal to us.

In 2011, the hotel was fully renovated and updated. To protect the environment, the new building was given optimal insulation and the heat supply was connected to the Kleinarl biomass heating plant. The hotel receives clean energy from the Kleinarl hydropower station.

Toni and Anni still live at the hotel to this day, even though they handed over the reins to their daughter Manuela in 20XX. The Guggenbergers will soon be able to celebrate 125 years as popular hosts in Kleinarl.

Manuela Guggenberger is looking forward to running the hotel as a family business for many more years to come.