Frank Mannion Reviews Relais & Châteaux Hotel Tennerhof And Follows In The Footsteps Of 007 Creator Ian Fleming.
“Feel the history. Enjoy luxury” is the family motto of the Relais & Chateaux Hotel Tennerhof, a gorgeous 5-star hotel that has been owned by the Pasquali family for three generations. “My golden years” is how Ian Fleming, the creator of 007, described his time as a young man in Kitzbühel.
His mother had sent him to improve his German so he could enter the Foreign Service, and he stayed at the Hotel Tennerhof which was then a guesthouse run by an elderly English couple by the name of Forbes Dennis. Ernan was a retired British spy and his wife Phyllis was a successful writer, four of whose novels were made into movies.
She and her husband encouraged Ian to pursue writing. Two years before he died, Fleming wrote in a letter that his time with them at Hotel Tennerhof had been his “most cherished memories” and that he did not know where he would be without them.
Fleming was enchanted by Kitzbühel, returning twice a year until the start of the War. Kitzbühel and skiing feature in the James Bond books – the Austrian Alps is the setting for ski chases in Octopussy and The Living Daylights. In the snowbound On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, Bond is on his way to his honeymoon in Kitzbühel when his wife is tragically killed. Fleming’s former lover Lisl even makes a fictionalised cameo appearance in the For Your Eyes Only short story collection as an Austrian spy.
The hotel, now run by the vivacious and super-efficient general manager, Patricia Reisinger, honours that connection with many guests asking to stay in the wood-panelled Ian Fleming Double Room (room 9).
His stay at the Tennerhof was a formative time for Fleming as he fell in love with local waitress Lisl Popper and years later, he helped her escape the Nazis. He also befriended the flamboyant British spy Charles Ffrench O’Brien, who was posing as a travel agent, but in reality, was running the MI6-style Z Organisation and was influential in securing Fleming a position in Naval Intelligence during the war.
Hotel Tennerhof is the most authentic, charming and luxurious 5-star hotel in the region and the spirit of calm exudes from its beautiful 17th century timber exterior. The fragrant wood beamed corridors are adorned with charming portraits and images from local Alpine life. With 39 rooms and suites, no two rooms are the same, and the hotel is filled with Tyrolean charm and antique furniture that have been carefully selected by the general manager and owners.
I am staying in Suite 19 which has two panoramic terraces with spectacular views of the village itself, and the infamous World Cup Hahnenkamm Ski Run that draws over 100,000 ski fans to the town each January. I arrive the day before the start of the Hahnenkamm and the suite offers the perfect perch to watch the glamorous flow of helicopters dropping the world’s best professional skiers unto the slope known as the Streif.
The suite itself is full of Alpine flair with blonde wooden parquet floors, open beamed ceilings and beautifully ornate furniture including a colourful wooden wardrobe and, best of all, a charming open fireplace stocked with wood that the staff will light on request each night. It makes leaving the room very difficult indeed. Acqua Di Parma products are a very welcome addition to the spacious bathroom which has a bidet and a magnificent jacuzzi with a jaw dropping view overlooking the Streif.
The hotel’s Gourmet restaurant is a destination in itself in Kitzbühel and it has an international crowd enjoying a 4 course set menu of hearty dishes such as a wonderful beef tenderloin in hen of the wood mushrooms, asparagus and carrot layered potato cake and a very fine turbot with osietra caviar, dill oil and Andean Gold potatoes, finished by a beautifully presented Valrhona chocolate, red berries, sorbet and lemon balm.
The hotel bar is cosy, and one expects any moment a Bond lady to appear with a Vesper martini. Nothing is too much trouble for the obliging and welcoming staff, a combination of multilingual Austrians, Hungarians and Slovaks.
Staff are knowledgeable about hiking routes, and the Kitzbühel Horn mountain ski lift station is just 5 minutes’ walk away. The colourful daily Tennerhof Telegraph is produced at the sunny breakfast room and offers a 3-day skiing forecast and tips for daily excursions such as to nearby Kufstein (the “Pearl of the Tyrol” where renowned wine glass maker Riedel is celebrating 270 years).
Breakfast has an impressive range of bread, juices, jams, cured sausages and temptations like Bundt Cake and Apfel Strudl, as well as made to order scrambled eggs with wild caught prawn and herbal butter and a sensational Consommé of local beef with organic egg yolk. The breakfast and dining terrace offers views of the village below and the hotel’s outdoor swimming pool and gardens.
The hotel shuttle provides a regular local service to the main ski routes and guests will get a 20% discount from a local ski equipment supplier. It was a nice touch to be picked up and dropped off at the train station to begin my stay.
The stillness is a wonder, the ski gondolas pass silently over the side of the hotel and the silence is only broken occasionally by church and cow bells. The Tennerhof is part of an exclusive enclave where the Pasquali family also own the neighbouring Rimmerhof offering a 4-star experience (whose guests can use the hotel spa and breakfast), as well as two luxurious self-contained luxury chalets.
The Tennerhof is a spectacular spot in winter with its dedicated ski room conveniently located next to its award-winning Spa de Charmes wellness centre. The Spa is an oasis offering weary guests a choice of three temperature-controlled Finnish saunas, an expansive indoor swimming pool, jacuzzi and steam room. It has a relaxing Silence Room and a heated panoramic room with views over the Kitzbühel Alps, while the Treatment Room has a choice of tasty Demmer Tee-Haus loose-leaf teas and fruit.
Since the Tennerhof is the perfect spot to watch the HahnenKamm (or Rooster Run), the hotel is packed with ski enthusiasts and the whole town is abuzz with film crews (interviewing the likes of Arnold Schwarzenegger and Zlatan Ibrahamovic). In summer, the Tennerhof is a divine hideaway on the sunniest side of Kitzbühel, with glorious views of the Alps.
In summer when the snow melts, the Hahnenkamm and other ski slopes are re-imagined as picturesque 18-hole golf courses that draw golfers from all over Europe. Hotel Tennerhof is a magnificent place for a winter or summer getaway, and is easily accessible from both Salzburg and Innsbruck, each just over an hour’s drive away.
In keeping with the spirit of 007, there is nothing more exciting than to spend quality time at the Hotel Tennerhof where an impressionable Fleming developed the skills, ideas and characters that would populate the James Bond universe.
Bedroom images (C) Michael Huber
Tell Me More About The Relais & Chateaux Hotel Tennerhof
Hotel Tennerhof Relais & Châteaux, Griesenauweg 26, A-6370 Kitzbühel, Austria
T: +43 5356 63181 E: office@tennerhof.com
Standard double rooms at Hotel Tennerhof start from £355 per night, while the James Bond Double Room starts at £510 per night.
