Kulm Hotel St Moritz Celebrates 150 years as the Cradle of Winter Tourism

  • September 10, 2014
Kulm Hotel St Moritz Celebrates 150 years as the Cradle of Winter Tourism
Tanned and full of enthusiasm, the British guests returned home the following spring (1865) and spread the word about their fantastic mountain winter at (what was then called) the Hotel Engadiner Kulm in St Moritz.

Current & historic views of the Kulm Hotel St Moritz
Previously, St. Moritz had only been a popular summer holiday destination: a place to which people, mainly British who comprised about 75% of the guests, flocked for relaxing spa and painting holidays. Badrutt, however, could see the potential to extend the holiday season through the winter and this he did with his wager, laying the foundations for the creation of Alpine winter tourism. The Brits returned year after year and soon found ways to entertain themselves in the snow: sledding from the Kulm Hotel onto the frozen Lake St Moritz (leading to the creation of the world-famous Cresta Run) and sliding down the mountain slopes on planks (the birth of downhill skiing).

Badrutt, a legend within the Swiss hotel industry, had always been something of a pioneer: the Hotel Engadiner Kulm had been the village's first hotel, thereby laying the foundations for the Swiss luxury hotel industry in the Alps, and in 1878 he had the country's first electric lighting installed in the hotel's ballroom as a novelty.

When the 2014/15 winter season opens on 5 December 2014, the Kulm Hotel St. Moritz will be celebrating 150 years since the birth of winter tourism.

Visit website: www.kulm.com