The Crystal Vaya Unique

Fantastic hotel, not good for Apres ski. Staff are all lovely and speak English. Pool outside is hot and fun. Spa is excellent and good value. Food is very posh ⛄️. Location is perfect for the gondola. If weather is bad, get the bus to solden as the skiing there is great too. Overall I’d go back. Made my wife’s birthday special.

This hotel has the potential to be very good indeed but falls short on a few points that should be addressed: The good: - we had an amazing room in the renovated part of the hotel. Two separate bedrooms, nice living room, huge balcony (which we managed to use on sunny days despite the cold). The cleaning lady was amazing, she kept making hearts and animals out of towels and our daughters loved it. It was also pretty quiet. - location: great location connected directly to the ski hire shop and ski room and the ski shop is directly connected to the gondola. Could not have been better, on top of which the ski hire Scheiber were really friendly. - Food was nice altho we missed the omelette guys for 2 days - I guess no back up for his days off. Fish dishes were a bit too much focused on cream sauces. The bad (and sadly the bad really annoyed us): - Tap water is charged at EUR4.50/bottle, sparkling water over EUR6/bottle!! Unbelievable. That is basically abusing the thirst of people after skiing. All other drinks highly priced too so we ended up drinking far less than we would normally out of pure anger. Water fountain gets switched off in the evening so the only thing you can do is not drink or drink very little (or sneak in your own) - Service: the waiter service is a bit hit and miss - some were nice but some were pretty useless. The one we first had could not even open a bottle of wine and did not apologise for bringing a bottle with the wrong year. All Eastern European which I guess is a result off staff shortages. reception staff sent us to the wrong floor with our luggage so we had to look around for a while before finding our room one floor higher with another elevator - on check in I would have expected a person to accompany us and help with luggage - Spa: generally speaking very nice but when the hotel is fully booked, simply too small. Place is flooded with water, kids are jumping in and out of the outdoor pool with parents not paying attention. Anything but relaxing. Only time this was nice is before 4pm. - Bathroom: our shower really stank - something wrong with the drain. No conditioner was provided, only shampoo so had to go buy some. - There is a nice supermarket just outside the hotel - great for snacks (and water!!) All in all this could be a really nice hotel but simply fell short. We have had much better 4 star experiences elsewhere, also more personal, altho the room was one of the better ones. Overall I would say 3.5 star rating but rating it 3 would have been unfair so gave it a 4. With a few adjustments this place could be much improved. Review on Obergurgl as a resort posted separately

Just finished one of my ski holidays for 2025. I/we stayed at an amazing hotel The Crystal Vaya, it is amazing. The food is of a very high standard and staff are so helpful and lovely. The bar area is chief. I would 100% recommend this five star hotel.

We loved our stay here. The hotel is perfectly positioned for the slopes, massive warm boot room and straight onto the lift. The staff throughout the hotel and restaurant were so polite and helpful. We dined in the restaurant each evening, delicious food, buffet starters and plated main and deserts. Big shout out to Martin the waiter, total professional. And the restaurant managers both excellent. The room was comfortable, spacious and plenty of storage for ski kit. The spa was classy, brilliant end to a hard days skiing - we even plucked up the courage for the non-textile area which was much nicer for adults. Even tried a Viking themed Finnish sauna experience! We will be back.

It is a shame that this year the apres ski food has been withdrawn. This is not brought to your attention when you book and is pretty vital when you return from the slopes with hungry children. Clearly a cost cutting measure which is a shame. Spa remains fabulous.