The wellness oasis in the Tannheimer Tal!
January 2025
Hotel Jungbrunn – The Gutzeitort.
The Hotel Jungbrunn is a family-run hotel in its third generation, which is constantly reinventing itself!
The Jungbrunn is more than just a wellness hotel in the mountains of Tyrol. It is a temporary home. A retreat with a feel-good atmosphere and warmth.
LA ESPLORA: The name of the hotel is based on a historical event. There is a spring/fountain under the building?
ulrika gutheinz: Exactly, you divide the area into field sections, there was first the Jungbrunn lift, which was also named after this well room behind the house. It is a spring that used to supply the entire Tannheimer Tal with water. Today, the spring is only sufficient for our own water needs. The original spring was the Jungbrunnstube, the first drag lift can still be seen today in our hotel as a small lift museum in the basement.
LA ESPLORA: What values does the Hotel Jungbrunn stand for? Please tell me the three main values of your hotel?
ulrika gutheinz: The three main values of our hotel are, firstly, individual hospitality. There is nothing off the peg in our house. Everything has been designed and prepared to make our guests feel at home. Another point is that we offer “a little bit more” of everything. Be it the time we provide as hosts of the hotel or the different restaurants with our varied menus. And thirdly – a very special value – is the honesty and authenticity of this place. That is our product to our guests.
LA ESPLORA: I read that the recently completed renovation was already the 30th renovation. It’s fair to say that your hotel is constantly reinventing itself & pursuing new styles for guests. What is the motivation behind these new directions? Which themes did you focus on in particular during the last renovation?
ulrika gutheinz: We are very good observers of our guests. This new area of the Alpine Lounge, where we are currently sitting, has always been the focal point. We noticed that our guests often walked through this area in their bathrobes. It was important to us to spread this out again. To preserve the discretion of the guest, who can move around the spa area in their bathrobe. And we wanted to offer guests an even nicer point of contact. Guests like to socialize here in the Alpine Lounge before or after their meal. We wanted to create a more attractive communal area. In terms of the spa area, we originally only wanted to renovate the sauna area. But when we started to leave, we realized that all the installations had to be redone. From this situation, we then tried to reinvent ourselves again; we have saunas with a view of nature. So during our renovation, we completely renewed the inner heart of the spa, the sauna landscape, to create even more sauna experiences and set ourselves apart from our competitors. At 8000 square meters, we have a very spacious spa area with many loungers and treatment areas.
LA ESPLORA: What special guest experience does the Hotel Jungbrunn offer, is there a highlight in the hotel?
ulrika gutheinz: Certainly our large spa area with 8,000 square meters. We already had our 3D sauna with a great view of the mountains, but with our renovation we have now created even more beautiful lounging areas around our spring pond. With the redesign around our spring pond, we wanted to present the theme of “pure nature” even more. Our Alpine Lounge with our “Bartreu” bar, which, as soon as it was opened after the renovation, is often used by our guests as a sociable meeting place. The nice thing after such a renovation phase is to see that when you open the door, guests use and enjoy the areas as if they had always been there. That is very nice and fills us with joy. The bar is well frequented every evening. And our theory that guests want to spend time in a pleasant “good time atmosphere” has worked out just as well.
LA ESPLORA: I did some research and read that you also used AI, artificial intelligence, when planning the conversion. How can the reader imagine this?
ulrika gutheinz: Yes, that’s true. A comprehensive renovation like this takes many years of intensive planning and preparation. And we don’t just let an architect draw drafts and approve them straight away. We entered the main keywords/results from the long construction meetings and looked to see what result/description the AI came up with. We wanted to find out how a listener or our future guest feels about the new concept. We used this input in particular for our new atrium in the spa area.
LA ESPLORA: Ms. Gutheinz, this conversion has certainly taken a lot of energy. Where do you recharge your batteries, are there any special places in the world that you like to travel to? Do you have a favorite destination?
ulrika gutheinz: There is a nearby source of strength. We love going to a thermal spa in Italy. There we let our battered bones recover in the magnesium spring water. Then my husband and I are passionate divers. We love going to the Maldives. This lifestyle in the Maldives – barefoot in the sand, no shoes, light clothing. We love that very much. Snorkeling and diving in the sea quickly recharges our batteries.
LA ESPLORA: This was the 30th renovation of the Hotel Jungbrunn. Are there already further plans, new visions?
ulrika gutheinz: A house like ours always has potential for development. Surrounded by green meadows, we are not restricted in terms of design space. But for now, we need to nurture our maltreated souls a little. One of our next projects will certainly be the construction of a 6th staff building. We run a hotel with 200 guests and employ 160 people. The art of leadership has become increasingly important in today’s world. It is important to us to invite good employees from all over the world to work with us. We invest a lot of energy in the development of our employees. We have also founded the Jungbrunn Employee Academy, which my son brought to life. Then I could imagine that in a few years’ time we will expand the Jungbrunnhaus, where our beautiful double rooms are currently located, with spacious suites. But we have never had such a good infrastructure, such a perfect stage, in the house as we do now. (laughs)
LA ESPLORA: Keyword employee management. I read that you also received an award, a prize, for the best employee management? You have every right to be proud of that.
ulrika gutheinz: That’s right. My son received this award as employer of the year. We are particularly proud of the fact that the award was decided solely by the employees. As I mentioned, my son also set up the Employee Academy and conducts countless discussions with our employees to support them in their individual development.
LA ESPLORA: What exactly is the Employee Academy?
ulrika gutheinz: There are external consultants who organize workshops with the employees together with my son and daughter. These workshops go beyond the topic of work. They are often also about shaping and developing the individual personality of each employee. The concept should be “humanly sustainable”. Even if the employees one day no longer work for us and are working somewhere else in the world, we want them to remember the good Jungbrunn times.
LA ESPLORA: Let’s move on to the culinary delights. The Hotel Jungbrunn has three different restaurants. Could you recommend one restaurant in particular to La Esplora readers?
ulrika gutheinz: Our main restaurant “Kulinarium”, where we combine crossover with Austrian cuisine. Our chef has been with us for many years. I always tell our guests that if you really want to experience “culinary art”, then you should definitely visit the Kulinarium restaurant. Martin Pöll manages to put together a 6-course menu with regional products every day and not to repeat himself within 4 weeks. This is his personal concern, that even a guest who visits us for three weeks can enjoy a new, creative menu every day. That would be my personal recommendation!
LA ESPLORA: We were talking about traveling earlier. When designing the hotel, were inspirations / ideas that you yourself had gained on your travels also taken into account?
ulrika gutheinz: Good question. Yes, there are indeed some areas that have been shaped by our own travel experiences. For example, when you walk through our sauna area, a narrow corridor opens up that leads to our spring pond. Above it is a semi-circular canopy, which is made of barn wood and is also illuminated in the evening. This design comes from one of our many stays in the Maldives. When you walk from massage hut to massage hut there, you can enjoy this freedom, this air. In our climes, you always have to cover everything up a bit more because of the weather. But the whole area around the spring pond, the round sunbathing area around the pond, that was actually an inspiration from our many stays in the Maldives.
LA ESPLORA: Could you give our readers a little more information about the Tannheimer Tal. There are many recreational opportunities, both for the winter and summer months.
ulrika gutheinz: We are the perfect destination for a winter wellness alpinist. This means that our guests enjoy a long breakfast, go up the mountain at 11.00 a.m., ski until 2.00 p.m., ski down from the hotel – you can ski right down to our hotel – and then relax in the sauna. There are five ski areas in our region that are not connected, which can be reached by shuttle or hotel bus. The special feature of the Tannheimer Tal is cross-country skiing or skating & winter hiking. We have a good 120 km of trails in the valley. Carriage rides through the valley are also possible. The great thing about the Tannheimer Tal is that it is a really sunny valley. We have many sun worshippers who like to visit us as we are often kissed by the sun.
LA ESPLORA: And how do things look in the summer months?
ulrika gutheinz: The Tannheimer Tal is a hiking valley. We have around 50 different trekking tours to choose from. The special thing is that you can start here at 1100 meters and thus start your hiking tours high up. Of course, bike lovers also get their money’s worth here. We have many guests who arrive with their racing or mountain bikes. We ourselves hire out electric mountain bikes.
LA ESPLORA: I noticed that you present a very extensive spa brochure with a wide range of different treatments.
ulrika gutheinz: It’s like this. We offer our guests over 50 treatment modules and 25 therapists. Since 2019, we have even had a separate area in which we only offer Ayurveda massages – with an authentic interior and trained Ayurveda therapists.
LA ESPLORA: Do you have a personal favorite treatment or massage?
ulrika gutheinz: I personally like to book the Jungbrunn Signature Treatment. We have also developed our own cosmetic line. In our Jungbrunn treatment, you lie on a warmed waterbed in which water is stored like in an air mattress, gently warmed. Lying like this, you are first cleansed with a scrub, then given a body wrap and then wrapped in towels. After this treatment, you feel like you have baby skin again and have done something good for yourself and your skin. This treatment is my favorite!
LA ESPLORA: Dear Ms. Gutheinz, thank you very much for the interesting interview.
"The heart of visionaries is borne by courage."
This is the motto of the concept book entitled ‘Vision 2024’, which forms the basis for the conversion of the Hotel Jungbrunn.
“The Hotel Jungbrunn – the Gutzeitort in Tyrol – is an extraordinary place where joie de vivre lives and peace of mind is at home.” (Gutheinz)
The Hotel Jungbrunn impresses its guests with the personal charm and service of a family-run domicile. Casual luxury combined with alpine lifestyle in an appealing way. The history of the hotel began in 1957 as a “ski water hut” at the first lift station in Tannheim. The name Jungbrunn goes back to the hotel’s own spring. Today, an exceptional 7,900 m² spa pampers guests, who can enjoy regional specialties and experimental gourmet cuisine in the various restaurants. The Tannheimer Tal also offers a wide range of leisure activities in what is probably the most beautiful high valley in Europe.
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