Studio Bruch transforms hotel heritage into a playful postal paradise

There’s something deliciously cheeky about a hotel called Post Post – as if the original name wasn’t quite enough, so they just... doubled down. But for Studio Bruch, this playful repetition became the perfect metaphor for a centuries-old Austrian hotel ready to shed its dusty skin. The Hotel ‘Old Post’ in Bad Hofgastein had been welcoming travellers since 1421, its walls steeped in Renaissance stories and adorned with paintings of mail coaches and post riders. Yet as the establishment passed to a new generation of brothers, it became clear that tradition alone wouldn’t cut it in today’s hospitality landscape. The identity felt as outdated as a handwritten letter in an Instagram world. “The old Post was in the middle of a transformation as it was passed on to the next generation,” Creative Directors Kurt Glänzer and Josef Heigl explain. “Its look and feel had also grown pretty outdated over the years. The challenge: there are lots of ‘Post Hotels’ in Austria. But this one carried almost a hundred years of tradition – something we didn’t want to just brush aside.” Their solution? Embrace the postal theme entirely, but with a thoroughly modern twist. The classic lone post rider – that tired visual cliché of so many Austrian hotels – evolved into something far more relatable: a couple setting off to explore the Gastein Valley together. Whether they’re carrying hiking backpacks in summer or ski equipment in winter, these contemporary travellers capture the spirit of arrival and adventure that’s always defined the hotel. This seasonal adaptability isn’t just clever branding – it reflects how the valley truly operates. “The Gastein Valley is incredibly popular with guests in both summer and winter, thriving on its two main seasons,” the duo notes. “We, of course, wanted to highlight that – and it also gave us a great opportunity to build some flexibility into the new logo.”