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A Lifetime Dedicated to Hospitality: Our Senior Director Peter Hettegger

Honored with the Salzburg WIKARUS Business Award for His Entrepreneurial Lifetime Achievement

A Lifetime Dedicated to Hospitality: Our Senior Director Peter Hettegger

Honored with the Salzburg WIKARUS Business Award for His Entrepreneurial Lifetime Achievement

More than 45 years ago, our Senior Director Peter Hettegger started out with a small 14-room guesthouse. In 2023, he was honored with the Salzburg WIKARUS Business Award for his entrepreneurial lifetime achievement—an award granted to only a single individual each year.

Published on 01.10.2026

DAS EDELWEISS

Vom Holzfäller zum Hotelier

Governor Wilfried Haslauer put it in a nutshell back then:

“He is a host through and through. And that is not merely a qualification, but a defining trait of his character. His strength comes from his family, the mountains, and God above.”

Peter grew up near Grossarl as one of eleven children in a forestry worker’s family. He originally wanted to become a chef, but at his parents' request, he trained as an electrician and subsequently worked as a logger in the forest—an experience that shapes him to this day. At just 17 years old, together with his parents Anna and Peter Hettegger, he purchased his first piece of land. It was there that a small 14-room guesthouse with a café was built in 1978/79. That was the beginning of DAS EDELWEISS Grossarl. In 2023, he was honored with the Salzburg WIKARUS Business Award for his entrepreneurial lifetime achievement.

From Guesthouse to Resort

In the mid-1980s, Peter Hettegger acquired his father’s shares and expanded the guesthouse to 70 beds. Regular guests and locals still talk today about the former dance bar 'Rauchkuchl', located where the Sirloin | Grill & Dine stands today.

To bring guests to the Grossarl Valley, the family also traveled to trade fairs. Taking the 'Stieglalm' on the road with them, they cooked, shared stories, and promoted the 'Valley of Alpine Huts'—the very valley where Peter himself served as mayor from 1994 to 1999. In 1999, the Spa, revolutionary for its time, was added, followed by further renovations. In 2010, Peter Hettegger opened a second hotel in the heart of Berchtesgaden. In 2018, he handed over DAS EDELWEISS in Grossarl to his son Peter and his wife Karin.

None of this would have been possible without family—something Peter himself emphasizes time and again:

“I have achieved far more than I ever imagined. The family was always right there behind me, and that is the most important thing. Without them, none of this would have been possible.”

Peter Hettegger, sen.

What 14 Rooms Have Become

From a small guesthouse, it has grown into a 5-star resort located right on the slopes: featuring a 7,000 m² Mountain Spa, dedicated areas for families and adults, and restaurants ranging from regional cuisine to the awarded Sirloin | Grill & Dine to sushi. And right in the middle of it all, our grandparents' old tiled stove still stands to this day.

The WIKARUS honors Peter personally. Yet the awards for the house he built also demonstrate the lasting impact of his life's work:

MICHELIN Keys 2024, 2025 & 2026
100 out of 100 points in the Falstaff Hotel Guide 2027
Falstaff Best Family Spa 2027
Falstaff Best Skihotel 2026

Thank you, Peter – for everything you have built.

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