History

On 26th December 1989 we (Elfriede and Friedl Herbst) opened the Riederalm together with my brother Leonhard Eder. At that time the Riederalm was a ski lodge, dance hall and restaurant in one. In the following year it was renovated and 6 apartments were created – we welcomed our first guests in the winter of 1990/1991. The Riederalm became a meeting place for Leogang’s young people, thanks to the various dance events. We also became well-known from our various live music events (Stoakogler, Goldried Quintet, Nockalm Quintet, etc.…).

With the head chef at the time, Ralf Heinze, (who worked here for 13 years) the Riederalm became a popular à la carte restaurant. A variety-packed offer was provided, including a farmhouse style buffet, ‘woodcutter’ fun with the ‘Verschärften’ (music group) and other events.

With Austria’s 1st Children’s vehicle park the Riederalm increasingly became more of a family-oriented restaurant.

In the year 2000 we expanded our offer by building our popular Almgartl (heated guest garden) and expanded our play park. Both of our sons Andreas and Thomas graduated from the tourism school in Bad Hofgastein. They both gained in-depth specialist expertise in well-known businesses. Starting with specialities in travelling through countries to gourmet weeks ‘Forest and meadow’, they have proven their award-winning training. Then in 2006 we decided to construct the 4-star Hotel Riederalm.

Our hotel opened on 30th November 2007. A new era started with both our sons Andreas and Thomas in the kitchen, Fernando Fanaro managing the restaurant and Andrea Saller (daughter-in-law) in Reception. In 2009 an apartment in the original building was refurbished to create our new ‘Alpenglühen’ suite – and in November 2010 our restaurant was upgraded. This gave rise to the ‘Spielbergstube’, our cosy lounge with open fire and to our new bar.

In 2010 Kurt Zehentmayr became head chef, which meant that Andreas was able to expand his specialist expertise with Mario Lohninger (Germany’s Chef of the Year in 2010) in Frankfurt. When Andreas came back home, Thomas moved to the service area and since June 2012 he has been a qualified sommelier. Andreas is the creative thinker in the kitchen, while our daughter-in-law Andrea works at Reception and takes care of our marketing.

With the hotel philosophy: familial, personal service provision, family-friendly offers and gourmet cuisine, the Hotel Riederalm gained awards in its first 4 years:

• Relax Guide 1 Lily
• Zoover Award 2010 (Best 4-star hotel Saalbach Hinterglemm Leogang)
• Award 2010 best 4-star hotel at Top of the Mountains (awarded in Ischgl)
• Award 2011 best restaurant – Top of the Mountains (awarded in Saalbach)
• We celebrated the greatest joy with the birth of our granddaughter Juliana on 12th June 2011.
  With her, a third generation in the Riederalm has begun.
• On 14th May 2014 our grandson Laurenz was born - we were over the moon.
• TripAdvisor Travellers' Choice Award 2015 in Leogang – thanks to our guests for the fantastic ratings and to our team for their indefatigable commitment!

In spring 2014 we renovated our existing 5 holiday apartments in the hotel part of the Asitz (original building) to create exclusive suites and comfortable rooms. 2 spacious family suites were created (the ‘Himmelreich’ suite & the ‘Landleben’ suite), 1 lovely Junior suite, the ‘Bergglück’, and 4 Comfort standard and double rooms (‘Heimat’ & ‘Almidylle’). We and our guests are really inspired by this new level of comfort.

In 2014 we decided together that we would take things a step further and expand our hotel. We felt compelled to update our existing pool and since our family is up and running and spanning 3 generations, we decides that we would expand the Hotel Riederalm to provide an extensive SPA area (Mountain Spa & ‘Pinzgau Wasserfestspiele’ – on an area spanning 1500 m²), 25 exclusive suites & rooms and new restaurant. What has remained of course is our familial atmosphere, that well-known Riederalm friendliness and our Gourmet cuisine (but with a few new features too of course – look forward to being surprised!).

Best quality for guests in our hotel – this is always our aim and we are always striving to improve. Our new features in 2016 included:

• Unique awning and a makeover for our sun terrace
• Our new climbing wall with side in the Games Room
• Expansion of our own herb garden
• Our wine cellar "Weinblick"

Awards, for which we have to thank our outstanding staff and our fantastic guests.

• HolidayCheckAward 2016
• Traveller's Choice Award 2016 from TripAdvisor

To be able to offer our guests even more comfort, we decided that we would expand our Mountain Spa (exclusively for adults). We racked our brains as to what might bring out our uniqueness and what might suit our concept and quite simply be inspiring. That is why we decided that we would build Leogang’s first thermal pool. Our maxim ‘Regionality’ perfectly reflects this – with healing water coming from St. Martin near Lofer. The following upgrades have been completed:

• Thermal pool (20 m) with interior steps
• Panorama sauna (90 °C) with sauna infusions
• ’Glacier ice’ plunge pool
• Swiss pine Relax Cube with panoramic views

In May 2018, the 31 rooms and suites in the "Spielberg" house were newly renovated and offer now modern comfort and an alpine feel-good atmosphere.

New created and renovated are:

• 22 panorama rooms deluxe
• 6 family studios "Stoaberg"
• 3 Good Life Suites

The anniversary year 2019 was of course celebrated and there were some new things for our guests.

• The large playground has been expanded with the unique motoric course.
• The soft play facility with ball pit for toddlers was created in the gameroom.
• Our indoor pool has been enlarged.
• The spa living room "Hochsitz" was embellished and enlarged with many extras.
• The junior suite "Almfeuer" with a double infrared cabin and many exclusive details was designed.

2019 was also one of the most successful years in Riederalm history with many awards:

• Andreas Herbst was admitted to the Jeunes restaurateurs d'europe JRE - Europe's cooking elite!
• Andreas Herbst & his team were awarded 2 toques (13.5 points) by Gault Millau.
• In the "A la Carte Guide" the kitchen team around Andreas Herbst and the service team around Fernando Fanaro received 83 points, 3 stars and 2 wine bottles!
• 2 lily in the Relax-Guide
• Traveller's Choice Award fromTripAdvisor

The year 2020 has already started well, namely with the "HolidayCheck Award 2020".

We look forward to many more exciting years - Yours Familie Herbst