In the Mirror Room Herbert Schrott scratches his forehead. The parquet floor won’t last much longer; it’s worn too thin after all these years. ”But we can fix it again for now,“ he says resolutely.

We’re always repairing things at the Laurin. That’s why it’s still a Grand Hotel in the true sense of the word: built in 1910, and impeccably maintained ever since. Our in-house cabinetmakers carry out more than 3,000 small repairs each year. Herbert Schrott’s son, Dieter, has been with us for 22 years too. The chairs wobble most, he says. ”Dainty feet, like all period furniture.“

During the major renovation in the 1990s, Laurin owner Franz Staffler decided to keep everything until something better could be found. So his cabinetmakers repaired all the windows and shutters, restored the furniture and repainted the old doors. ”We even made our own scrapers for the wood profiles,“ recalls Dieter Schrott. Often, he and his father work from a simple, handwritten note. When architect Boris Podrecca designed the new furniture, he often supplied only sketches. ”We built the prototypes from that.“

Herbert Schrott has also seen his share of photographs. The old boss, Max Staffler, was particularly fond of pointing out something he wanted on a picture. ”And then I’d have a go and build it.“. ”Nothing is impossible,” says Herbert Schrott, “we just experiment until we find a way.”

Anything else would be like letting down his own family. Herbert Schrott was just 14 when he came to the Stafflers as an apprentice. He still has his first payslip, he says proudly. And the Bianchi racing bike he bought with the first money he saved. Second-hand, naturally.