Our position
The casino at Kaiserhof Alpen is one room in a hotel. Its whole purpose is an hour of something to do once the plates are cleared: a game you have never tried, explained properly, or a drink at the gallery rail while other people play it. What it is not, and will never be dressed up as, is a way out of a money problem.
Our casino hosts are trained to notice the moment an evening stops being enjoyable for somebody, and to step in rather than look away. A host who sends a guest home early has our backing, even if that guest is a regular and even if they complain to the manager the next morning.
It is worth saying clearly: this website carries no gambling at all. There is nothing to play on these pages, nothing to stake, no account to open and no payment to make. Everything described here happens inside a building, in front of a dealer, during opening hours.
Strictly adults only
- Admission to the Adlersaal begins at 18, or at the higher age where local rules require it.
- The doorman reads a document at every single entry, whatever a visitor looks like and however many winters they have been coming up here.
- Three things get you through the door: a passport, a national identity card, a licence with your photograph on it. A picture of any of them does not, and turning up with somebody else's ends the conversation on the spot.
- Guests under 18 may sleep in the hotel, eat in both kitchens, use the Felsenbad at family hours and ski all week. They may not cross the casino threshold, even accompanied by a parent who is standing right beside them.
- The Kaminbar becomes adults only at 21:00, because the route to the casino stairs runs past it.
What a casino host can arrange
- A time limit. Tell a host how long you mean to stay and they will come and find you when that hour arrives. They will say it in front of nobody else.
- A spending ceiling. Say the number out loud before the first hand and the floor team keeps you under it all evening, cash desk included.
- A cooling-off period. Have the door refuse you for seven days, for a month, or until the season closes. We write down the dates and nothing else.
- Self-exclusion. A written agreement for a fixed term, kept in confidence at the cash desk. We do not shorten it on request, however reasonable the request sounds on the night, because that is the entire point of signing it.
- A quiet word. If you are worried about somebody you came with, speak to a host. They will not repeat where the concern came from.
Kaiserhof Alpen gives no credit to anybody, at any hour. The floor has no cash machine on it, the casino bar settles in cash or card and never against a room, and no member of staff will lend a guest money or take an object as security for a stake.
Signs worth taking seriously
- Breaking the limit you set yourself, on time or on money, and doing it most evenings rather than once.
- Going back to the table to win back money that has already gone.
- Playing with money that was meant for rent, bills, fuel or the people you live with.
- Borrowing, selling or quietly moving things around to keep playing.
- Lying about how much time or money has gone, including to yourself.
- Feeling restless or short-tempered on the days you do not play.
- Choosing the casino floor over sleep, over work the next morning, or over the people you arrived with.
If two or three of those sound familiar, that is enough reason to speak to somebody. Talk to a host or write to one of the organisations below. Nothing you say to our staff is entered in a guest record or discussed with anyone who does not need to know.
Independent help
These three services are free, confidential and completely independent of Kaiserhof Alpen Casino Hotel. We have no commercial connection to any of them.
- Gambling Therapy – moderated groups, one-to-one help and a chat window that is staffed in more than one language: gamblingtherapy.org
- Gamblers Anonymous – meetings run by people who have been through it, held in rooms and on screens almost everywhere, free and unregistered: gamblersanonymous.org
- Gam-Anon – built for the family standing next to the problem rather than inside it, including children: gam-anon.org
The nearest local helpline is written on a card kept in the reception drawer. Ask for it once, take it, and nobody will raise the subject with you again.
Our staff and their training
Nobody works a shift in the Adlersaal until they have been through the training: how the door check runs, how limits are recorded, and what to say to somebody whose evening has clearly turned. It is repeated twice a season, and dealers sit through it alongside the hosts, because a dealer reads the hands and the faces long before anyone else does. New staff also spend one night at the door with the doorman, which is the fastest way to learn why a refusal there is never argued over.
Talk to us before you arrive
Anything you would rather have settled before your first evening, whether that is a ceiling, an exclusion or just a host briefed to keep half an eye on you, goes to [email protected], addressed to whoever is running the Adlersaal that week. Nobody else opens it, and nothing about it reaches your bill.