In Innsbruck travelers do not seem to stay long, so there is a fast turnover and, almost always, a room to be had. Some travelers opt to set up their base not in town but overlooking it, on the Hungerburg Plateau to the north perhaps, or in one of the nearby villages perched on the slopes to the south. In any case, the official Innsbruck Reservation Center, online at www.innsbruck.info or www.ski-innsbruck.at, offers a booking source for Innsbruck and the surrounding villages.
Book in advance if you’re traveling in the region, especially Vorarlberg, in the winter high season and in July and August. Room rates include taxes and service and, almost always, a breakfast buffet. In the resort towns dinner will be included. Halb pension (half-board), as plans that include breakfast and dinner are called, is usually the best deal. Hotel rates vary widely by season, the off-peak periods being March–May and September–November. Most hotels take credit cards. Note that at the most expensive hotels in the resort towns of Zürs/Lech, Kitzbühel, St. Anton, and Sölden, rooms can reach as high as €450 a night (or sometimes more). If you're out for savings, it's a good idea to find lodgings in small towns nearby rather than in the bigger towns or in the resorts themselves; local tourist offices can help you get situated, possibly even with accommodations in pensions (simple hotels) or Bauernhöfe (farmhouses). It's worth remembering that in Austria, cheap accommodations can still be of a very high standard, with large en-suite rooms of sparkling cleanliness.
Keep in mind that in hotel saunas and steam baths, nude people of both genders should be expected. Other patrons and management will often take great exception to guests who enter a sauna wearing a swimsuit. Children under certain ages are usually not admitted.
