Your hosts on Hochzeiger Haus

The Hochzeiger Haus was built in 1932/33 as a simple shelter and served as an air base for the German Wehrmacht during the Second World War. The last owner died in 1952. Hochzeiger Haus then stood empty for more than 10 years and was in very poor condition.

In 1962, great-grandmother Resi (Stefan Sailer’s great-grandmother) – who had been head chef at the prestigious Hotel Post in Imst for many years – was invited to Jerzens as a retirement present.

She soon called her 20-year-old grandson Werner Sailer (Stefan Sailer’s father) and suggested that he visit Jerzens. She probably already had a plan and organized a driveway for him to the empty Hochzeiger Haus. At the time, the road only led as far as the village of Jerzens. The remaining 800 meters in altitude were on a 9-kilometre mountain road – only accessible by jeep or Unimog. Werner, who came from near Imst, was immediately impressed by the area and the views from the Hochzeiger.

Great-grandmother Resi was able to convince her grandson to support this project. The 20-year-old Werner – previously a hotel secretary in Hochsölden – managed to convince two banks of his project. The following year, he bought Hochzeiger Haus and started with makeshift renovation work – without electricity and water for the 1963/64 winter season.

Trucks could only drive as far as Jerzens at that time. From there, Werner used a small Unimog to bring the building materials for the conversion to the top. The drive up took 2 hours. Once again, everything had to be unloaded from the Unimog by hand.

Of course, there was also no central heating, which meant unheated bedrooms at 1,900 meters above sea level. In the same year, Werner Sailer and his father Klaus Sailer founded the Hochzeiger lift company with 8 people. Their first project was a platter lift next to Hochzeiger Haus.

An interesting detail in passing: at that time, the age of majority was only 21, and you were only allowed to register a business at the age of 24. Without further ado, Werner Sailer was declared of age by the district court at the age of 20. In the early years, great-grandma Resi cooked at Hochzeiger Haus during the summer months.

At Christmas 1965, there was finally electricity, water, heating in the house and a better access road. Guests were transported to Hochzeiger Haus in jeeps. The 1970s were very good times with high turnover. People partied all night long and the Hochzeiger Haus attracted guests from near and far. The average length of stay for guests was 14 days.

In 1978, the annex with 40 beds was added. In the mid-1980s, Hochzeiger Haus was renovated and most of the rooms were fitted with showers and toilets.

Stefan Sailer has been the boss at Hochzeiger Haus since 2004. He also carried out the modernization and expansion in 2015.

Today, the Hochzeiger Haus shines with a new restaurant, alpine sauna and completely renovated rooms. Guests can still feel the character of the hut. But they also enjoy the comfort of an ideally located hotel with excellent cuisine in the mountains.