Schenna Resort: your family-run hotel in Meran & Environs

Our father Luis was not a man of many words, but he was a man of great deeds, shaped by diligence, creative strength and a big heart.

Luis was born in 1944 in “Beckenhaus” in Schenna and grew up with three sisters in very modest circumstances.

At the age of just fourteen, he began an apprenticeship as a painter in Gratsch; he often walked there and back on foot, morning and evening. At eighteen, he completed his apprenticeship and became self-employed. As a young master painter, he was highly appreciated by many customers. The trust placed in him over the decades meant a great deal to him.

Through hard work, our father Luis acquired the small farm Stinkbrunner Höfl in 1966, where he also kept four pigs, which he cared for himself.

Driven by the wish to create a home of his own, he began building the Guest house Etschblick in 1967, which he initially ran together with his parents and his sister Lisl.

He found the great love of his life during painting work at the Angererhof in Verdins: Rosl. The two married in 1969, and their marriage was blessed with four children: Heidi, Priska, Lisi and Stefan.

With foresight, courage and tireless dedication, he built Hotel Schwefelbad together with our mother Rosl in the 1980s. Every possible expansion was carried out by the two of them with full commitment. During the day, Luis worked as a painter; in the evenings, he took care of the bookkeeping, and in every free moment he helped at the hotel. The winter months were his high season as a painter, the summer months his time as an innkeeper.

When his children were still small, he and his siblings looked each year for a suitable summer place for the family, for mother, father and the many children, until he acquired the mountain hut in St. Felix in 1978. There he spent many wonderful times with his family, his children and grandchildren. For him, holidays meant one thing above all: the mountain hut.

Everything our father needed and loved, he found in his family – in his wife, his children and his grandchildren. It was always important to him that everyone was doing well, that everyone had it “guat geat”.

Luis also spent the summer of his final year at the mountain hut. On 9 August 2025, after a three-month illness, his strength left him and he set out on his final journey.

With deep gratitude and love, he will remain forever in our hearts.

• 1966: Alois Pföstl, who started his own painting business at the age of 19, succeeds in buying the small Stinkbrunn farmhouse. At that time, our present hill was just a bare, rocky spot.
• 1968: Alois opens the Pension Etschblick inn with the help of his parents and his sister Lisl. In 1969, he marries Rosa, the daughter of the Oberprantacher family from Angererhof.
• Good years passed, the painting business is doing well, many hotels are built, and guests from near and far are drawn more and more to Schenna. Alois and Rosa are happy with their children: Heidi, Priska, Elisabeth and Stefan.
• 1978: Purchase of the Pföstl Alm in St. Felix am Gampenpass. It serves as a retreat for the family for their summer holidays.
• 1979: Construction of Hotel Schwefelbad begins. Because of the high interest rates, construction takes over two years.
• 1981: Hotel Schwefelbad is finally open and managed with great commitment by Rosa and Alois as a family business. The children also help at an early age and soon discover their joy of being hosts.

• 1990: First extension of the hotel towards the tennis courts
• 1994: Purchase of Pension Mitterplatt inn – Hubert Wörndle, Heidi’s husband, was and still is in charge of the building with subsequent conversion of the rooms and acquisition of the surrounding vineyards
• 1996: Peter, the first grandson, was born, followed by Florian in 1997 whose parents are Heidi and Hubert. The next grandson, Thomas, was born in 1999 and is the son of daughter Elisabeth and her husband, Franz Pföstl, owner of the butcher’s shop and Pföstl delicatessen. Between 2000 and 2002, three more grandchildren were born: Michael and Daniel, the twins from daughter Priska and Lukas, as well as Elisabeth’s second son.

• 2000: Major renovation of the hotel with underground parking, dining room, bar, suites, rooms, and our rock wine cellar. Stefan’s collector’s spirit is awakened.
• 2002: Georg, the seventh grandson, was born – Heidi’s and Hubert’s third son.
• 2003: Extension of the hotel on the 3^rd floor – our new deluxe rooms are added. Hubert’s first wine cellar is introduced this year.
• 2004: Purchase of the neighbouring Hotel Rosengarten, which Heidi manages as a family hotel.
• 2005: Acquisition of the vineyard under Schloss Goyen and first wine cellar by Stefan
• 2006: Creation of Schenna Resort to merge the businesses and present them as a single entity.
• 2007: Launch of the Steff brand – laying the foundation stone of Stefan’s wine cellar
• 2009: The Messner meadow next to the hotel becomes a vineyard with a fixed barbecue and buffet area furnished with handcrafted chestnut wood seating. The massage pavilion in the Mitterplatt vineyard opens.
• 2010: Purchase of a fallow orchard on Schennastraße street above the Rosengarten and founding of a vineyard
• 2011-2012: Construction of our new Hotel Mitterplatt, our oasis of peace. Plans for conversion and reconstruction of Hotel Rosengarten are underway. After seven years of planning, the reconstruction of Hotel Rosengarten is completed within seven months (October 2015 – May 2016). The most important data: Construction time – 7 months, demolition of the old Hotel Rosengarten – 3 weeks, excavation of 13,000 m³ of rock, and realisation of 32,000 m³ building volume.
• 2019: Construction of eight new suites at Hotel Schwefelbad and complete renovation of the facade.
• Purchase of the neighbouring apple orchard between Etschblick and Mitterplatt
• First plans for restructuring Etschblick, our parents’ house
• 2020: Demolition and new construction of the main house Etschblick
• 2021: April, cessation of construction by the building authority of the municipality of Schenna