Engadin hotels confront staffing shortage after tourism boom

Winter tourism in the Engadin region grew from an 1864 marketing wager, but the hotel industry now faces a major staffing shortage, SRF reports.

Hotel tester and culinary expert Andrin Willi discussed the region’s tourism history from the lobby of the Kulm hotel in St. Moritz. He recalled how hotelier Johannes Badrutt encouraged his English summer guests to return in winter, promising to pay their journey there and back if they did not enjoy the experience.

Willi described the offer as brilliant tourism marketing and a good story. The initiative helped launch a new era for tourism in the Engadin, Graubünden and Switzerland.

From small guesthouse to luxury hotel

Badrutt initially leased the small Faller guesthouse in St. Moritz and gradually expanded it into the Kulm hotel. The Badrutt family became one of the pioneers of the region’s hotel industry and introduced new technologies in their establishment.

The family brought the first electric light to St. Moritz in their hotel, according to Willi, before Thomas Edison had invented the light bulb. Winter tourism later helped winter sports in the Engadin to boom.

Other historic hotels also shaped St. Moritz. The Palace was deliberately designed as a spectacular hotel, with towers, battlements and a location high above Lake St. Moritz. Its 1912 tennis hall is described as one of Europe’s earliest indoor tennis facilities.

The Steffani was the first hotel in St. Moritz to operate a restaurant open to local residents, making it a social meeting place as well as a hotel. The Crystal Hotel, built in 1962, stands in the village centre, unlike many luxury hotels located on the slope or beside the lake.