From a small farm to a children’s hotel
The history of the Testerhof
The Testerhof in the Ziller/Tuxer Valley was built in around 1800 and was a small farm. The owners at the time were also weavers and processed linen. In 1966 our parents moved in with the residents, Josefa and Josef Gredler, who had no children. Our parents looked after the elderly couple and also took care of the home and farm. Not even Josefa and Josef knew why the small farm was called the “Testerhof”. Our parents later inherited the farm. They built a small house in 1969 and started renting two rooms to guests from 1975.
Tourism started to grow in the Tuxer Valley and the bed & breakfast was turned into the Testerhof in 1981/82. It could accommodate around 25 guests. In 1990, our parents built a 3-court tennis hall with a bowling lane and squash boxing. Petra and Sepp took over the bed & breakfast and tennis hall in 2000.
In 2004, we expanded the Testerhof and also built a small wellness area with a pool. Tennis had initially been incredibly popular but was no longer in demand. So 2 indoor courts were dismantled. In 2006, we formed the Playarena together with partner businesses and transformed the remaining area into a children’s paradise. We took the next big step and in summer 2007 started to run the Testerhof as a hotel and specialise in families. As the “old Testerhof” was no longer aligned with our new concept (it only had small double rooms), we gutted the old part of the building in 2011. The small rooms were turned into 2-room family suites, the restaurant was extended and the terrace was redesigned and expanded. While the hotel was closed due to corona, we added another small section to the restaurant.
That’s the history of our Kinderhotel Testerhof.
Petra, Sarah and Sepp Pleier
