Hoteliers in a holiday resort in the Austrian Tyrol have reacted angrily to the owner of a guesthouse who turned a family away because they were Jewish.

The family of five were told they could not book rooms at Haus Sonnenhof, in the resort of Serfaus, because the hotel had had "bad experience" with Jewish guests in the past.

The owner, Irmgard Monz, has confirmed that she sent the family a letter saying: "Based on our past bad experience in 2008 with Jewish guests, we no longer want to put them up."

When the Austrian press contacted her, Monz refused to elaborate, saying only that she reserved the right to host whomever she wanted.

The mayor of Serfaus, Georg Mangott, defended Monz's right to refuse guests, and said the incident should not be interpreted as antisemitic.

But other hoteliers and tourism representatives in the resort town, which has become a popular destination for Orthodox Jews in recent years, are up in arms about Monz's response, made public when the family reported the incident to the Jewish cultural committee in Vienna.

"This is not acceptable," said Joe Margreiter, head of promotion for the Tyrol region, adding that the incident had the potential to undermine the efforts of recent years to attract new groups of tourists to the region.

Orthodox Jews have travelled to Serfaus and surrounding resorts in increasing numbers in recent years, drawn by the area's clean, mountain air and its child friendliness, as well as hoteliers' efforts to cater for their dietary and other religious needs. Chefs have learnt to cook kosher food, and at least one local bakery produces kosher bread.

The man who tried to book the holiday said he now had no intention of going to Serfaus. "I don't want to take my holiday in such a racist nest," he told the Tiroler Tageszeitung.