Last Chance Hotel

Pre-Covid and Pre-Highflyer I gifted Mademoiselle a weekend in a part of Lower Austria that was pretty much "terra incognita" to me. She profusely thanked me and we fixed a date. Shortly before said date, she told me she would not be able to make it as her nephew's christening fell exactly on that weekend and she had only been invited at short notice. As I had booked a non-refundable rate, I could not ask for my money back, but got credit from the hotel and was asked to just tell them an alternative date whenever I had made up my mind. We settled for one and that one was in the first (of several more, but we did not know it then) nationwide lockdown and the hotel cancelled our reservation. Last year I wrote to them asking if our "voucher" had an expiry date and they told me it did not, but I was determined not to postpone it any longer and suggested this past weekend to Mademoiselle when I knew Highflyer would be in Germany for one of his son's birthdays. It was fine for her and we ended up going and spending a very nice weekend, making excursions and enjoying the hotel spa and the glorious autumn landscape. However, I did not know that the hotel would close down for the time being at the end of this month and it was more or less our last chance to book. Upon checkout we asked the receptionist if they were closing temporarily for renovations and she said that the group of owners were trying to sell, hinting that they had not been very ambitious in keeping it alive. We would have got our money back, but I am glad that I picked this date and that we got to experience the hotel and this part of Austria that I probably would not have been back any time soon.