Insights from Gurgl Carat

Several events with 400 people already took place at Gurgl Carat since it opened. For example the annual medical congress in January or the company conference of a large German retailer last year. Even larger events are possible. In the congress center 500 people can confer, hold meetings and exchange ideas at the same time. But also small meetings have their place at Gurgl Carat. The smallest event to date was a CEO meeting with just 2 participants in the Hangerer seminar room.

Due to its location at the rear end of Ötztal, the Gurgl conference venue is also ideal for exclusive get-togethers. Unfortunately, we are not allowed to reveal names, but probably the most exclusive event at Gurgl Carat was a sponsor event of a German football club. The club not only rented the event location exclusively. The hotels and restaurants in the holiday resort were also reserved exclusively for this group. The highlight of the event was a digital live connection of the CEO to the question and answer session. This event lasted two days and is thus far below the longest event ever held at Gurgl Carat, which is the “Alpine ARTtime”. This public exhibition was for the first time on display at Gurgl Carat during several weeks last summer. Also the cultural summer, this year in a new edition as Gurgl Music Forum, was taking place for 3 weeks at Gurgl Carat. Not only art and culture, but also science is attracted to Gurgl. A university closing conference lasted 10 days at Gurgl Carat.

The starting conditions for Gurgl Carat were anything but easy. At the end of January 2020, the first event took place. Just under 7 weeks later, the covid pandemic had also arrived in Austria - ski resorts were closed, all gatherings prohibited, travel was completely stopped. For about two years, everyday life was characterized by minor and major restrictions: the event industry in particular was subject to severe regulations. Nevertheless, events still took place during this time, such as the "Ötztaler Abend” press event, of course in compliance with all the protective measures valid at the time.

Given this start, the number of events to date is all the more impressive. Around 300 events have taken place at Gurgl Carat over the past 3.5 years. That's an average of 7 events per month, even though the pandemic brought months of bans on events. While physical meetings were reduced to the bare minimum during the corona period, digital gatherings boomed. Gurgl Carat can host both hybrid and digital events. The event with the largest "behind-the-scenes" crew to date was the Audi Talk in February 2022. Around 40 employees worked behind the scenes on the concept, organization and implementation.

We also took a very close look when it came to catering and compiled some exciting insights for you. So far, around 9000 bottles of mineral water and 6000 fruit juices of all kinds have been consumed at the catering events of Gurgl Carat. This does not include the fresh Gurgl spring water which is available in carafes or water dispensers on the buffet. Coffee specialties such as regular cups, espresso or cappuccino were also extremely popular. Around 7000 cups of black gold were both soul warmers and pick-me-ups for our guests. At countless evening events there was also one or the other alcoholic drink. 4000 bottles of beer changed hands and 3000 glasses of wine (1/8 l) were served. Of course, sweet and savory snacks must not be missing during the coffee breaks at Gurgl Carat. A good 12000 pieces of cake, puff pastries, fruit skewers and muesli bowls were prepared internally or by catering partners and offered at the buffet.

There are 80 steps from the foyer on the ground floor to the hall level on the second floor. Around 100 steps are covered on these stairs. During a major event, the team of Gurgl Carat walks up and down these stairs an average of 30 times: that alone adds up to 6000 steps and several altitude meters. But also in horizontal direction, further steps are added during a long event day. It is not unusual that the fitness tracker displays 15000 or even 20000 steps in the evening. In total, Gurgl Carat has over 500 m² of conference space on the hall level and more than 500 m² of exhibition and catering area on the ground floor. The largest hall, Schalfkogel, covers 456 m² and a screen surface of over 100 m². The smallest seminar room, Hangerer, has 41 m² and can accommodate up to 14 people. The entire building features 6 entrances and exits, 3 staircases and 2 elevators. The digital infrastructure was also considered. WiFi at Gurgl Carat can be increased to a speed of 1 Gbit/s for uploads and downloads.

Watch out: now there are even more facts paired with a large portion of fresh mountain air. Because Gurgl Carat is located at the heart of the mountain village of Obergurgl at almost 2000 m above sea level. Over 30 different sports, culinary and cultural side programs are available to conference guests in Gurgl. Many programs last a maximum of 3 hours and can therefore be ideally integrated into your conference or meeting.

The incentives at Gurgl Carat include, for example, e-mountain bike tours, “Kaiserschmarrn” (scrambled pancakes) cooking courses, avalanche awareness training, photo hikes, via ferrata tours and a lot more. The entire village is involved in the sporty or entertaining side programs and activities. The nearly 420 inhabitants of Gurgl support the Carat team, especially at larger events. 10 hoteliers from surrounding accommodations served and helped at events last year.

Lara Brunner is a freelance copywriter and specialist in content marketing. As a studied Germanist, she writes about all topics related to Gurgl Carat in the Carat.Blog. The Tirolean-by-choice seeks and finds inspiration for her texts amid unspoilt nature in Gurgl. That is why she spends most of her free time in the Ötztal mountains. With hiking boots or on skis, she prefers to explore the many three-thousand meter high summits in the immediate vicinity of Gurgl Carat.