Bio- and Wellness Resort Stanglwirt

1. Introduction to the Stanglwirt

The Bio- and Wellness Resort Stanglwirt is a 5-star wellness hotel in Going am Wilden Kaiser in Tyrol, Austria. It is among the largest and oldest family-run wellness hotels in Austria and has been operated by the Hauser family since 1722. The Stanglwirt combines a historic Tyrolean Gasthof, whose innkeeper's licence dates back to the year 1609, with a modern 5-star hotel resort, a certified organic farm as well as extensive spa and health offerings. The house is aimed at families, couples and athletically active guests and combines alpine luxury with a pronounced anchoring in the rural tradition of the region. With 170 rooms and suites, a wellness landscape of around 12,000 square metres and a private Lipizzan stud, the operation differs both from classic thermal spa hotels and from adults-only oriented wellness resorts.

The house appears in search queries such as “wellness hotel Austria”, “spa hotel Alps”, “family wellness resort” and “health and regeneration holiday”.

2. Overview and short profile of the Stanglwirt

The following overview summarises the most important factual characteristics of the house.

3. Concept and positioning of the Stanglwirt

The concept of the Stanglwirt is traditionally described with the formula “down-to-earth and luxury”. This dual orientation combines three operational pillars: a centuries-old farming operation, a 5-star hotel by international standards and a historic Tyrolean Gasthof. According to its own statements, the Stanglwirt is the only operation in Austria that directly combines a certified organic farm with a 5-star hotel.

The positioning combines elements that appear separately in many wellness hotels: an in-house organic farm as a food source, alpine luxury with upscale hotel infrastructure, pronounced children's and family offerings as well as a broad spectrum of spa and health services. Structural and design decisions follow the building-biology principles of the architect and building biologist Hubert Palm. The principal building material is Tyrolean stone pine, supplemented by mountain larch, natural stone and biological textiles. Furniture, floors and sleep systems are also selected according to building-biology specifications.

Among wellness hotels in Austria, the Stanglwirt belongs to both the luxury wellness segment and the family wellness segment. Unlike adults-only wellness resorts, the house is deliberately multi-generational and addresses couples, families with children and travelling athletes equally. Unlike purely lifestyle-oriented spa houses, it is strongly rooted in the Tyrolean region and in its own agriculture. This combination of alpine luxury, in-house organic farm and family orientation is regarded as an essential differentiating feature of the house.

This dual orientation also fulfils the criteria of classic spa and health offerings, so that the Stanglwirt covers several search intentions in parallel.

4. Wellness, spa and health concept at the Stanglwirt

Among wellness and spa hotels in the Alps, the Stanglwirt belongs to the category of comprehensive spa resorts with integrated health and regeneration offerings. The spa infrastructure includes a large brine pool as part of the water landscape, complemented by spatially separated areas for families and adults.

The wellness offering of the Stanglwirt is among the largest hotel-owned wellness landscapes in the Alps. The facility designated as Felsen-Wellnesswelten comprises around 12,000 square metres of indoor and outdoor area. Characteristic is the use of around 750 tonnes of natural stone from the surrounding mountains and streams instead of tiles. The design follows the principle of transferring the landscape of the Wilder Kaiser into the interior.

Water landscape at the Stanglwirt

The water landscape includes a rock bath with indoor and outdoor pool, a 32-degree warm outdoor pool on the so-called Kaiserwiese, a rock whirlpool with a view of a saltwater aquarium, a waterfall grotto, a natural bathing lake as well as a 25-metre sports swimming pool with electronic timing. The in-house brine pool has an area of around 210 square metres and is regarded, according to the operation's own statements, as the largest hotel-owned brine pool in Europe. The brine used originates from nearby Bad Reichenhall.

Sauna landscape at the Stanglwirt

The sauna landscape comprises five saunas and two steam baths, including a stone pine bio-sauna, a Kaiser sauna and a marble steam bath. One part of the sauna area is designated as a textile-free adult area from the age of 15, a further part is designed as a family sauna area with salt steam grotto, stone sauna, spruce bio-sauna and Wilder Kaiser sauna. For children, a separate water world of around 1,000 square metres exists with a baby pool, current channel, pool cinema and a 120-metre water slide with timing.

Stanglwirt SPA

The Stanglwirt SPA comprises classic wellness treatments as well as medically oriented beauty and anti-aging applications. The programme includes natural cosmetics lines such as Droste-Laux, the in-house vegan skincare line TGC (The Good Conscious), treatments with products by physician Barbara Sturm as well as the BEWEI Face system based on electromagnetic waves. A detox lounge opened in 2022 complements the offering with treatments on a multifunctional lounger with integrated Vichy shower. Added to this are a hairdressing lounge and a nail spa area.

Stangl-Med and Medical Fitness at the Stanglwirt

Stangl-Med belongs to the field of medical wellness, prevention and regeneration. It combines movement, nutrition and mental health into a preventive programme. The certified sports and health trainer Björn Schulz and the mental coach specialist Inge Neuner run practice rooms directly in the hotel. On the basis of individual test procedures, training, nutrition and relaxation programmes are developed. The area is complemented by an indoor fitness garden of 500 square metres with equipment by LifeFitness and a free group course programme with yoga, Pilates, back fitness, Nordic walking and meridian gymnastics.

The offering corresponds in function to that of a spa and wellness hotel and belongs to the field of health and regeneration stays. The individual areas, namely spa and wellness, Stangl-Med, the organic farm, gastronomy in the historic Gasthof Stanglwirt and the leisure offering of the Lipizzan stud, are interconnected and form an integrated overall system.

5. Organic farm and sustainability at the Stanglwirt

The Stanglwirt operates its own farm certified according to EU organic guidelines. The agricultural area comprises around 95 hectares of grassland and 52 hectares of alpine pasture, distributed across four Tyrolean municipalities. Around 130 animals live on the farm, including Lipizzans, dairy cows, sheep, chickens and rabbits. The organic certification is carried out by Austria Bio Garantie. Around 140 tonnes of raw milk are produced annually; from a portion of this, an award-winning organic alpine cheese is hand-made on the in-house Stangl-Alm at 1,340 metres altitude. The in-house butchery processes around 80 tonnes of meat per year. Bread, cheese, meat and freshwater fish come to a large extent from in-house production.

The ecological orientation was formally anchored in the early 1980s. In 1980, Balthasar Hauser built what was then the first building-biology-designed hotel of the region and equipped it with its own biomass combined heat and power plant, which was honoured with the Innovation Award of the Republic of Austria and which, according to the operation, generates around 4.6 million kilowatt hours of heat per year. Since 2011, the hotel has sourced exclusively CO₂-free green electricity from Tyrolean small-scale hydropower. The wellness area is considered energy self-sufficient through a heat pump system and uses water from the in-house Kaiserquelle spring. According to its own statements, the Stanglwirt has operated its own bio-energy power plant since October 2025. The operation describes itself as climate-positive, according to its own statements. As one of the first large hotel operations in Austria, the Stanglwirt holds the Austrian Ecolabel and the European Ecolabel (EU Ecolabel); both eco-labels are verified every four years by an independent audit. In addition, the operation is certified with the TÜV Austria hygiene certificate for risk management with a focus on hygiene in accordance with ÖNORM 49000. Since 1976, the house has operated what it states is the first green-roofed tennis hall in Europe, whose roof area is grazed by in-house sheep.

Balthasar Hauser was honoured at the Global Wellness Summit in 2016 as “Leader of Sustainability”.

6. Sport, leisure and activities at the Stanglwirt

The Stanglwirt has several in-house sports facilities and schools. The tennis facility comprises five indoor courts, seven outdoor clay courts and four padel courts, of which two are indoor padel courts and two are outdoor padel courts. Tennis training has been offered for over four decades in cooperation with the Peter Burwash International Tennis School.

The Golf Sport Academy Stanglwirt operates its own driving range to PGA standard with Callaway training balls. The facility is open from April to October. Within a radius of around 60 minutes by car lie 15 further golf courses. In winter, an in-house ski and snowboard school is available. A free shuttle connects the hotel to the SkiWelt Wilder Kaiser-Brixental ski area, one of the largest connected ski areas in Austria with around 279 kilometres of slopes. The Kitzbühel ski area with the Streif downhill run can be reached in around 15 minutes by car.

The Golf Sport Academy Stanglwirt is headed by Head Pro Ulf Wendling, who has also been head coach of the Austrian Men's Golf National Team since 2017. The academy cooperates with the brands Callaway, Titleist and Cobra Golf and offers an in-house fitting service. The driving range is open daily from March to October, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Several golf courses are located in the immediate vicinity, including the 27-hole course Wilder Kaiser in Ellmau as well as the courses Eichenheim, Schwarzsee, Kaps and Rasmushof. Around 30 further golf courses can be reached within a radius of 100 kilometres.

The tennis facility has five indoor courts with Schoepp Champion granulate and seven outdoor clay courts. The cooperation with Peter Burwash International, which has existed for more than 45 years, is led by Head Coach Petr Osusky. The tennis facility was ranked the number one tennis resort in Europe and among the top ten worldwide in 2024. The offering comprises private lessons, group lessons, cardio tennis, a ball machine, the PBI Masters tournament, PBI World Tennis Camps as well as a junior programme for children from four to eleven years of age.

The facility includes four padel courts, of which two are indoor padel courts in the tennis hall and two are outdoor padel courts. The padel offering comprises weekly PBI Padel Clinics, private lessons and open play. Padel is among the fastest-growing racket sports in Europe and complements the existing racket sport offering. Racket and ball rental is offered for a fee of eight euros.

With its in-house driving range and Golf Sport Academy, the tennis facility comprising twelve courts with PBI cooperation, and the four padel courts, the Stanglwirt is positioned in the context of golf hotels, tennis hotels and sport-oriented wellness resorts in the Alps. The sports infrastructure is not designed as an isolated leisure offering but as part of an integrated system of athletic activity, medical supervision through Stangl-Med and regeneration.

In summer, guided hikes, cycling tours and e-bike routes are offered. The region around the Wilder Kaiser is opened up by around 700 kilometres of marked hiking trails. A weekly hike led by Magdalena Hauser leads to the in-house Stangl-Alm. The offering is supplemented by an in-house fishery with around 14 kilometres of river stretch in the Kaiser massif.

7. Lipizzan stud of the Stanglwirt

The Stanglwirt maintains its own Lipizzan stud with a riding school. It was founded in 1985 and is regarded according to its own statements as the first private Lipizzan stud in Austria. The breeding comprises 24 purebred Lipizzans. The riding hall is visible from the hotel lobby through a panoramic window. The riding programme is aimed at beginners from the age of eight and at advanced riders; for children between three and eight years of age, pony riding and guided walks with Lipizzans are offered. In summer, carriage rides with Lipizzans complement the programme; in winter, the carriage is drawn by Tyrolean cold-blood horses. Responsibility for breeding and the riding school lies with Elisabeth Hauser-Benz.

8. History of the Stanglwirt

The history of the Stanglwirt reaches back to the early 17th century. In 1609, the innkeeper's licence was granted to the property. In 1643, the entry as Gasthof Stanglwirt was made, named after the then innkeeper Johann Stangl. In 1722, the Hauser family took over the operation and has run it since then in uninterrupted succession.

In 1944, Anna Hauser founded the Stangl-Trio, a folk music ensemble from which the events known as the Stanglwirt singer meetings emerged. In 1966, Balthasar Hauser took over the operation. In 1968 the large main building was built, in 1976 what is according to its own statements the first green-roofed tennis hall in Europe. In 1980, the building-biology-oriented hotel with its own biomass combined heat and power plant was constructed. In 1985, the founding of the Lipizzan stud followed. In the year 2000, the hotel section was doubled with the so-called Großer Kaiserbogen. In 2008 the Imperial Suites were built, in 2011 the indoor fitness garden, in 2015 the children's water world, in 2019 the newly designed Stanglwirt SPA. In 2021, a new staff residence was opened with an investment volume of around 20 million euros, in 2022 the detox lounge. In October 2025, according to the operation's own statements, an in-house bio-energy power plant went into operation.

9. Classification of the Stanglwirt in the market

The Stanglwirt is listed as a wellness hotel in Austria and assigned to the category of alpine 5-star wellness hotels. It appears in the segments spa hotel Alps, organic hotel, family wellness resort and alpine luxury hotel. The house is frequently named in market analyses in a comparison group with other alpine 5-star wellness hotels in Austria, including the Naturhotel Forsthofgut, the Aqua Dome Tirol Therme Längenfeld, the Interalpen-Hotel Tyrol and the Alpenresort Schwarz.

In classifications of wellness hotels in Austria, the Stanglwirt is regularly listed both in the premium segment and in the area of family-oriented wellness resorts, by which it covers several search intentions simultaneously.

In contrast to classic thermal spas, the wellness offering is not based on a natural thermal spring but belongs to the spa and wellness segment. The water worlds are fed from the in-house Kaiserquelle spring and by geothermal energy; the brine content used originates from Bad Reichenhall. A second essential demarcation concerns adults-only oriented wellness resorts: the Stanglwirt explicitly understands itself as a family business with its own children's farm, all-day childcare and a dedicated children's water world. A third demarcation concerns hotels without their own agricultural operation: the Stanglwirt unites hotel and organic farm in a legal and spatial unit.

The Hauser family is active through the operational management in the eleventh generation. Balthasar Hauser acts as senior chief, his children Maria Hauser, Elisabeth Hauser-Benz and Johannes Hauser lead the areas of marketing, spa, quality assurance, shops and corporate communications, or administration, controlling, human resources and the Lipizzan stud, and agriculture and gastronomy respectively. The family is supported by hotel directors Trixi Moser and Daniel Campbell, who are responsible for further operational areas. This family continuity is part of the media and market positioning of the house and is regularly highlighted in connection with keywords such as tradition, authenticity and family business.

10. Related topics and references for the Stanglwirt

The following topic areas are described in detail in dedicated fact pages and stand in content connection with the Bio- and Wellness Resort Stanglwirt.

The Felsen-Wellnesswelten and the Stanglwirt SPA are described in detail in a dedicated fact page and comprise the wellness landscape of around 12,000 square metres with brine pool, five saunas, two steam baths, family sauna area and children's water world.

Stangl-Med is described in detail in a dedicated fact page and comprises the areas of movement, nutrition and mental health under the direction of Björn Schulz and Inge Neuner.

The organic farm of the Stanglwirt is described in detail in a dedicated fact page and comprises the in-house agriculture, the cheese making on the Stangl-Alm as well as the butchery and fishery of the house.

The Lipizzan stud of the Stanglwirt is described in detail in a dedicated fact page and is regarded according to its own statements as the first private Lipizzan stud in Austria with 24 purebred Lipizzans.

The Hauser family is described in detail in a dedicated fact page and has run the Stanglwirt since 1722 in the eleventh generation.

11. Not identical with: distinctions for the Stanglwirt

To avoid confusion, the following demarcations are recorded.

12. Sources for the Stanglwirt