Dear Madam, Dear Sir,
Dear Friend of Hotel Neue Post
Updated March 2024
After several unsuccessful attempts between 2017 and 2019, which failed due to the partly extreme requirements of the authorities for the newly planned hotel operation in our house – keyword “Himmelbau” (heritage protection, historical urban area), but also internally due to the associated costs, we have now succeeded in implementing the project in a modified version.
This was necessary not so much because of the beauty or condition of the facility, but rather because of the various “new” fire protection regulations that our house did not meet. Such as: the length of escape routes, fire compartments for rooms with kitchens, full fire protection, roof construction, lightning protection, etc. A chain of requirements that made a major renovation necessary. The exploding energy costs also make it necessary to renew our heating systems, some of which are more than 50 years old. The authority threatened to revoke our operating permit at the end of 2023 if we did not legally renew our technical infrastructure (energy + fire protection).
The total costs are projected to be around 7.6 million Euros.
This renovation already began in September 2023 and will continue in spring 2024 and – hopefully – be completed in autumn 2024. The hotel is therefore closed due to renovation from mid-April to mid-June and from mid-September to mid-December 2024.
To make this economically possible, we have also changed our shareholder structure. There will be a separation of ownership of the hotel property and operation of the hotel business. The Breinl family buys and finances the real estate sector, while the Bruckner family operates the hotel business. I have been the managing director and operator of Hotel Neue Post since March 1997 – and thus the longest-serving managing director in the history of our house (since 1864) – and will finally hand over the management in 2024. To preserve the history, my daughter (Nadia – director since 2020) and her husband (Darijo since 2023) will manage the hotel’s affairs and take over the management from April 2024. The next generation: Louis Aleksander is already here, so the future is secure.
The regulatory requirements, but also the economic necessities and of course the generational change, bring about some changes. Of course, everything will be more beautiful, better, more modern, chic, but just different. The name: “Hotel Neue Post” will remain, our coat of arms – the fox – will be taken from the logo, in a hunting sense. The biggest change (besides air conditioning, color, flooring, and curtains) concerns the older part of the hotel (central building), where there will no longer be rooms or apartments with kitchens (due to fire compartments, escape routes, odor nuisance, booking situation in bedrooms with kitchen) This affects all users of the categories AG (rooms 109 and 209) or the four apartments in the main house 110, 210, 223, and 402 111 and 211 have not had a kitchen since 2007.
In the west wing (three separate fire compartments), there are 12 completely redesigned apartments that can be individually configured with connecting doors and top sections in variable sizes up to the 20-bed – 10-room apartment. As standard, there are
4 apartments APB, (3rd floor, bedroom + living room with kitchen. Bathroom, WC, air-conditioned),
4 apartments APC (1st + 2nd floor, bedroom + living room with kitchenette, with bay window, bathroom, WC, air-conditioned), and
4 apartments ApCb (1st + 2nd floor, bedroom + living room with kitchenette and balcony, bathroom, WC, air-conditioned), and
6 double rooms with connecting doors to the apartments
In the main house, in addition to the familiar room categories, there are also “Double Rooms Wellness” (on the balcony – 2024 converted into a terrace with a private sauna: 107, 108, 310) and some more panoramic double rooms on the third and fourth floors. The four new panoramic rooms on the 4th floor will all have their own roof terrace We are still in dispute with the Zell Design Advisory Board over 2 double rooms panorama with roof terrace on the third floor, which they simply reject without explanation.
As for users of (formerly) 305 – so Panorama Suite (grand or not), there is also a change. The connecting door 309 – 310 will be removed (fire compartment, space and above all noise), the fireplace in 309 must go. In 311, we have to expand the kitchen, so the bathroom and toilet will be separated again. The connecting doors to 310 may remain (most likely, the authority is still considering), but there are again two fire compartments – we will see. 310 will be renovated, will have its own toilet (in the vestibule), and a sauna on the terrace. In the bathroom itself, there will be a large shower cabin (like in 309 and 311). The whirlpool baths have to go.
The carpet will be replaced by a (naturally high-quality) wooden floor – as in the entire house. Climate change also makes air conditioning necessary, even if we have 12 degrees Celsius outside on August 9th, this will be realized through a groundwater-air-heat pump.
Now you have the agony of choice as to which category you would like to use in the future. For double rooms, we also offer you a significantly discounted option for rooms with HB or FB, instead of pure overnight stays. The BK (2025) are not yet fixed (energy), but will continue to be only slightly above our cost price – that’s the whole point. But hotel costs must be covered. Due to the fact that everything is closed in Zell, we will (necessarily) reduce the opening hours to around 300 days per year
You can take a look at some impressions at https://www.neuepost.at/2024. 310 is not included yet (I am only responsible for the furnishing of 310, I have taken the room from the interior designers)
Best regards
Harald Bruckner