.png)
At the Post Lech, Sandra Moosbrugger Is Carrying a Powerful Female Legacy Forward
- Emily Goldfischer
- 2 hours ago
- 7 min read
When you spend time at the Post Lech, it does not take long to understand that its legacy is not only about skiing history, royal guests, or old-world glamour. It is also about women.
The story began in 1937, when Erich and Irma Moosbrugger bought a small inn in Lech with 20 beds, a farm, and a general store. Erich had arrived as a young ski instructor. Irma, who came from the Innsbruck hotelier family Skardarasy, brought hospitality pedigree and an early instinct for the village’s potential as skiing began to transform the Arlberg.
That instinct, and that female lineage, would shape the hotel for generations. During the war years, Irma kept the farm and family going while holding onto the foundations of the business. Later, Kristl Moosbrugger helped transform the property into one of Lech’s landmark luxury hotels and, after the sudden death of her husband Franz in 1988, carried it forward alone. In 1990, she became the first woman to be named Hotelier of the Year in Austria.
That female lineage still runs through the Post Lech today.
Sandra Strasser arrived in Lech in 1994 to work at the hotel’s front office, the same year Florian Moosbrugger returned to the family business after international training, including at École hôtelière de Lausanne, now EHL Hospitality Business School. A year later, they fell in love. In 1999, they married and took over the Post Lech together.
Today, Sandra is part of a remarkable line of women who have helped build, sustain, and shape one of Austria’s most beloved five-star hotels. But she is not simply preserving a legacy. She has made it her own, bringing a style of leadership defined by warmth, detail, and a kind of personal hospitality that is felt everywhere, from the weekly cocktail reception to the flowers, the linens, and the gracious way guests are welcomed and looked after.
The next chapter may already be taking shape. Sandra and Florian’s two daughters are now in their 20s, and their younger daughter, Violeta, who announced at age 10 that she wanted to one day take over, is now studying hospitality at EHL.
While visiting the hotel last week, I sat down with Sandra to talk about legacy, leadership, motherhood, marriage, and why real luxury still comes down to people.
How did you first get into hospitality, and what made it feel like the right fit for you?
I started young. At that time in Austria, there were vocational-style high schools, so I began hotel management training at 14. It gave me a strong foundation in structure, quality, and reliability, and I learned the profession from the ground up. We were taught to respect every role, to expect long days, and to lead by example.
What really made me realize it was right for me was the internship part of the training. As soon as I started working, I felt immediately that hospitality was my place. The most important thing for me was always being with people and working with people. That human connection was what made me feel this was the right world for me.
You married into one of Lech’s best-known hotel families. What was it like joining the Moosbrugger family and becoming part of the story of the Post Lech?
I came to Lech in 1994 and applied for a position at the front office. One year later, Florian and I fell in love. He was actually very brave. Before we had even kissed, he told me he wanted to spend his whole life with me. Looking back, I still think that was very brave.
Joining the family felt very natural. I knew Irma, and she was a great personality. When she realized Florian had fallen in love with me, she was incredibly warm and kind. She supported me in a very quiet way, not by telling me what to do, but by giving me small pieces of advice and helping me understand what mattered here.
How do you define your role at the Post Lech today? What parts of the business are most yours?
You are not sitting in front of a top manager. You’re sitting in front of a woman who is running a big household.
My main responsibilities are taking care of the guests, managing the restaurant seating plan, welcoming and seating guests in the evening, and looking after many of the details that shape the atmosphere of the hotel. That includes flowers, decoration, purchasing glassware, porcelain, bed linen, tableware, silver, and all kinds of decorative items. I also take care of the garden in summer.
Another very important part of my role is supporting the staff. Many of them are far away from home, and that human side matters a lot to me. But the most important task, really, is paying attention to every small detail that makes a guest’s stay unforgettable.
How would you describe your leadership style?
Leading by example is the key. I think it is very important to be here, to see what people are doing, and to show clearly what your expectations are. You cannot lead from far away in a place like this.
At the same time, it is important to empower people, to create room for them to grow, and to uphold professionalism. That combination matters a lot.
The Post Lech has such a strong female lineage. What have you learned from the women who came before you in the family, especially from the legacy of Irma and Kristl Moosbrugger?
Irma was a role model for me, and she still is. She had such a warm personality and cared for the guests in a very genuine way. She taught me to always follow up on what has been delegated, to check everything, and to bring your own little sense of hospitality into every room each day. To be focused, to be present, and to be attentive. She was also very pragmatic.
Kristl was very focused and very disciplined. She had an incredible strength. She carried so much responsibility, especially after my father-in-law died, and she continued with great determination. Both women shaped this place in different ways, and I learned a lot from both of them.
In a family business with such a strong history, how did you carve out your own voice and identity as a leader?
I always had a clear vision of how I personally want to be treated in a luxury hotel. For me, luxury is conveyed through warmth, not through formality. That has always been very important to me.
You can go to many hotels that are very chic and very high class, but nobody is really open to the guests. For me, the most important thing is that guests feel understood. They want a connection to the place, to the environment, maybe to other guests, and to the hosts. They want a personalized and authentic experience. I think that is the real luxury today.
You work so closely with your husband. What is that like day to day, and how do you make that partnership work?
Honestly, it has always been great. We were colleagues first, and maybe that helped. We have a very deep understanding of each other, and we separate our areas. I can do what I want in my part, and he can do what he wants in his part. If I have a question or problem, I can ask him, but I would never interfere too much in his area, and it works the other way too.
We also share the same project. This hotel is our life’s work, and it is a special thing to build something together and also to share the successes together.
How was it raising two daughters in such a deeply hospitality-focused family?
We were very conscious about that. We raised our children without pressure and without expectation. When they were small, I worked in the mornings, then stopped in the afternoon to be with them, and later in the evening Florian took over at home and I came back to the hotel. We shared things in our own way.
What mattered to us was that they did not grow up feeling they had to perform for the hotel. They were not put in front of the guests in a staged way. They had the freedom to choose their own relationship to this world.
Your younger daughter is now studying at EHL. What has it been like watching the next generation begin to shape its own place in the family’s hospitality story?
It has been very natural. Violeta told us when she was 10 that she wanted to take over one day. At the time, she was also a very good ski racer, so I thought perhaps she might go in a completely different direction. But she stayed with the idea.
She has made her own path step by step. She worked with chef Anne-Sophie Pic for a period, then improved her English, and now she is studying hospitality. She chose the longer program because she wants more experience, and she wants to travel more, maybe to Asia, before coming back. I think that is very important. If one day she joins us here, it should be with her own experience and her own ideas.
How do you balance protecting the legacy of the Post Lech with keeping it fresh and relevant?
We listen. We talk to guests a lot. We talk to other people in hospitality. We read. We stay in contact with people from other professions and think about what they want from a holiday and what makes people feel well looked after today.
The hardest thing is finding the right balance between tradition and innovation, and also between human connection and technology. That is the real challenge now. But I think if you are authentic, and if you really listen, it becomes easier to know what matters and what does not.
For me, it always comes back to the same thing: warmth, attention, and human connection. That never goes out of style.
