Grand Tradition
The GRAND HOTEL, the town’s landmark, has had a continuing history over the last
3 centuries – 1896 until today
- built in 1894 – 1896, the GRAND HOTEL was the best address during the Belle Epoque.
- Due to the First World War - the end of the Austrian Empire- and a general demise, tourism was suffering a great reversal. The Grand Hotel was sold in 1918.
- At the end of the War the Grand Hotel was occupied by the US forces for ten years. Following reconstruction after the war, tourism in Zell am See - including the Grand Hotel – enjoyed a previously unknown upswing. Several popular films of the time (”Allotria in Zell am See” with Harald Juhnke, ”Liebe, Schnee und Sonnenschein”) were filmed at the hotel.
- In 1983 the Grand Hotel was sold to a Swedish time-sharing company and completely rebuilt in 1984, with a traditional exterior and modern interior comfort.
- In 1995 the Holleis family, which also owns the five-star Hotel Salzburgerhof in Zell am See, acquired the Grand Hotel and has run it in the spirit and tradition of refined Austrian hotel culture. The traditional ”Imperial Café Bar” was opened forChristmas 1998. The contemporary ”Austrian Fountain”, by Friedensreich Hundertwasser, was built in the hotel garden in the summer of 2003. The new exclusive 1.000m² wellness area, located in the 5th floor, paved its way into the 21st century in Autumn 2008.
