Vienna-based company reportedly buys Rudolfshütte mountain hotel

The Rudolfshütte mountain hotel in Uttendorf appears to have been sold to a Vienna-based company, ORF Salzburg reported on Saturday. Former owner Wilfried Holleis declined to comment to ORF. The purchase price has not been disclosed.

The hotel stands about 2,300 metres above sea level in the Pinzgau region. Holleis had owned it since taking over the building from the Alpine Club in 2004. Reports also say he has sold his shares in the lift company that operates the cable car serving the hotel.

The three-star hotel has an indoor climbing park, an indoor pool and a spa. It is on the shore of the Weißsee, next to the border of a national park. Holleis said the cable car runs up an annual deficit of about 700,000 euros; its operating concession has 25 years left.

Plans to expand the hotel from 350 to nearly 580 beds have since received approval. Holleis had announced in September 2024 that he planned to close the hotel and cable car, citing business reasons and criticising state politicians and the state environmental ombudsman’s office. He had previously said an expansion permit had been refused.

Holleis said he had invested about 13 million euros in modernising the hotel and nearly 12 million euros in the mountain lifts. He has developed several tourism businesses over the decades, starting with the Grand Hotel in Zell am See. He has sold two hotels in Croatia, on Katarina Island near Rovinj and in Opatija, but still owns Kvarner Palace in Crikvenica. He is also planning a new wine hotel on Lake Garda. Holleis has described Austria as unfriendly to business and said bureaucracy had become excessive.