Hotelier of the year
Vote for Hotelier of the Year 2019
VOTE FOR SEPP!
Our host Josef “Sepp” Schwaiger is a passionate hotelier and host and is always there for his guests with total commitment. For his tireless efforts, Sepp has been nominated as “Hotelier of the Year” by the trade magazine Rolling Pin. And once you’re in the top three, you naturally want to win.
Hotelier with a passion
Growing up in the family business Gasthof Eder in Maria Alm, Josef Schwaiger, the eldest of five children, “breathed hotel air” from an early age and internalised the processes in the hotel business. After leaving school, Josef Schwaiger embarked on a different career path that would also have a lasting impact on his life: After various internships in the construction industry, he studied architecture and gained practical experience in project management at an architectural firm.
At the same time, he continued to cultivate his passion for tourism and the hotel industry. After training as a professional bartender, Sepp went on to study at the MCI (Management Centre Innsbruck), specialising in “Business Management in the Tourism & Leisure Industry”. After completing his studies, he returned to his roots to join the family business at the local Gasthof Eder in Maria Alm, initially as assistant to the management.


In 2008, Josef Schwaiger took over his parents’ business as owner and managing director of Eder Hotels GmbH and converted the 29-room guesthouse into a 72-room lifestyle hotel in the four-star superior category with a wellness area. Both of his qualifications stood him in good stead: On the one hand, Sepp was able to utilise his architectural skills while at the same time keeping an eye on the requirements as a hotelier. And although the structural conditions at the location in the centre of the village were a challenge, the visionary has created a hotel from the traditional building that combines the traditional values with modern components in a characteristic way.
Armed with the experience of the hotel conversion, Josef Schwaiger followed up in 2018 with the new Hotel SEPP, built according to his architectural ideas. Here, the passionate hotelier has ventured down a completely new path and created a hotel that is unrivalled – always with the well-being of guests and the motto “together in the middle of it all” in mind. And even though the two hotels pursue completely different concepts and ideas, Sepp’s signature, his love of detail, his high standards of hospitality and the realisation of a very special lifestyle can be felt in both establishments.
Alongside his professional commitments, Sepp has been active as an honorary member of the tourism board of the Hochkönig region since 2012, as a member of the supervisory board of the mountain railway, as a municipal representative and second mayor of Maria Alm.
Everything that Sepp tackles, the thoroughbred hotelier does with a lot of energy and passion and always in the service of the guest.
And if you need a little more inspiration, just take a look behind the scenes in our film: