Family Metzler
Family Metzler
At our Romantik Hotel, we want to offer you what is most important to us when travelling and in our own activities: authentic, warm hospitality with far more than stars, toques, lilies and points. Honestly and familiarly lived and (co-)supported by every single one of our employees.
The 5th generation of "Schiffle hosts" is at the helm and the next one is already waiting in the wings. What they all have in common is a passion for hospitality and the joy of enjoyment.
The historic house from 1840 set the pace for us, is the heartbeat of the whole thing, so to speak. With each individual expansion stage, we make the ship fit for the future without losing its rhythm.
Hans-Peter Metzler
Anchored in the region.
The Bregenzerwald. A region that does not need to be reinvented or carried into the future. Tradition has always been rethought and lived here. It is a region of pioneers and visionaries, of stubbornness and cosmopolitan spirits. Always striving to make things better – with a lot of love for doing. Warmth and hospitality are deeply rooted in their DNA. We are grateful to be able to live here!
Amassador of good taste.
Erna Metzler is considered the co-founder of gourmet cuisine in the Bregenzerwald. As an autodidact, she has earned numerous toques, stars and forks and made connoisseurs from near and far rave. Erna has turned the Schiffle into the "Ark of Good Taste". Our young kitchen team is allowed to carry on their life's work in their spirit.
A Heart & a kitchen
Courageous cooks have always been at work in the ship, but with Erna the great art found its way into the ship's kitchen. At the end of the 1980s, she courageously created the first "gourmet salad" and added bottled wines to her range. She herself had never been trained as a chef, envied other artists at the stove and tried menu after menu. In 1990 she tasted a "mousse au chocolat" at her first time at the Krone in Dornbirn and was enraptured. Only three years later, her name was in the Gault Millau – with 14 points, she was the rising star of the year and the first female chef in Vorarlberg to be crowned by Gault Millau!
For more than 60 years, she wielded the wooden spoon and kept the kitchen running with her prudent, human manner. Despite many awards - in 2019 she was ennobled as a "Vorarlberg Gastronomy Legend" for many decades of passionate cooking - she has remained modest.
180 years. Gift and responsibility at the same time
If you listen carefully, you will hear the beams in the headquarters creaking as if they wanted to tell their story(s) ... Of good and challenging times, big ideas and bold innovations. Listen to it! But we also want to leave enough space to discover all the hidden treasures for yourself.
How the hotel got its name
When our ancestor Johann Jakob Mennel resigned from his service in the Austro-Hungarian Navy in Trieste in 1840 and dropped anchor for home, he made a good choice. Not far from the parish church, in a sunny location with an unobstructed view, he built an inn, called it "The Ship", and ran the associated farm.
Changing times
Johann Peter and Erna (Christine) made fundamental changes to the house: In 1951, a restaurant with a large sun terrace was added, followed by a cosy café in 1963. Even then, the house was praised for its "acknowledged good cuisine" and Erna was introduced to work at an early age as a young girl.
"We had two aprons. One for Sundays and holidays, a second for everyone else. After school, I was needed in the kitchen."
Erna Metzler
A manoeuvre every few years
The ship has grown harmoniously over the decades. All conversions and additions were always carried out very carefully, always with great standards of quality and execution, almost exclusively with the support of the craftsmen from the Bregenzerwald. Despite the initial scepticism of hoteliers in the region "that the wellness boom would probably not last long", the spa was built in 2007. Five years later, the dining room underwent a redesign and the wooden suites were built.
A shop and lots of wood
With the new suites and the striking wooden cube of the shop, the new and the historic in the nave come together with a harmonious matter-of-factness. The "Ernele" was a novelty for the region and is still one of the ship's flagships today. The modern, light-flooded building initially served as a beautiful space for weddings and celebrations. In 2016 it opened its doors as "Ladenwirtschaft Ernele" – the concept of uncompromisingly regional cooking and only offering delicacies from the surrounding area was groundbreaking.
Come with us on a journey into the past.
You can find even more history and stories in our anniversary booklet. Have fun browsing ...
