engelberg_magazin_nummer17_winter

Globi ist bei den Kindern ein gerngesehener Gast. Children are always happy to see regular guest Globi.

Susanne und Peter Kuhn unterhalten ihre Gäste ger- ne mit der Drehorgel.

Susanne and Peter Kuhn play the barrel organ to entertain guests.

The Edelweiss hotel, an imposing 111-year-old building in the art nouveau style, perches high above Engelberg. For the past 21 years, its managers have been Peter and Susanne Kuhn – passionate hoteliers renowned for their effer- vescent hospitality, exciting new ideas and commitment to nature. Peter Kuhn f irst became interested in Swiss tourism when he developed bronchi- tis as a boy and was sent to the mountains of Davos. The native of Aargau spent his last four years of school enjoy ing the hea lth benef its

Josef Tschopp-Mü ller. The hotel ’s most famous owner was pioneering hotelier A. O. Pau li, who ran it f rom 1927 to 1963. In 1939 he insta lled hot and cold running water on ever y f loor, and f it ted the f irst bathrooms. Old photographs in the seminar room give insight into life at the hotel during those days. Indeed, the hotel is f u ll of pic tures that tell stories. In recep- tion, children’s drawings reca ll happy holiday moments, and the stairwells are adorned with various colour f u l clowns. The third and four th f loors are decorated with hunting trophies

env ironment. Peter is proud that he and his wife are known as “eco” around the v illage. As well as separating rubbish and using energy- sav ing bu lbs and recycled paper, the couple a lso rely on a lternative energy. In 1999, the Edelweiss and the Brunni cableways became the f irst Engelberg businesses to produce energy with solar power systems. The hotel now supplements that with hydroelec tric- ity, meaning that its entire energy supply is green. The resu lts are remarkable: in the early 90s the hotel used 110,000 litres of heating

Hotel ”, for example, must have repair kits, wa ll racks for the bikes, pumps, a guest washing machine, and hoses to clean muddy f rames. The Kuhns are a lso ac tive outside the hospita lity sec tor. They are involved in the Care Team, in the board of the Erlenhaus care home, and in the loca l commissions for energy and the loca l economy. For many years, Peter was president of the loca l hoteliers’ associa- tion, and he still f ights for bet ter conditions in the industr y. Recently, the association negotiated a purchasing cooperation between

of the mountain climate. Af ter earning his business diploma, he headed straight for the Ecole hôtelière de Lausanne. He then worked in marketing and f inancia l management at interna-

shot in Namibia by Peter’s father, a keen hunter who was a great patron of the Edelweiss and is immor- ta lised in a large por trait. A ll the rooms of fer spec tacu lar v iews of Engel-

oil a year, now it uses on ly 36,000. In par tnership with the Bellevue Terminus, the Edelweiss has been receiv ing carbon tax ref unds since 2010. The Edelweiss appea ls to many target groups, as the

Engelberg’s hotels and a Swiss wholesa le company. And in the f uture, the hotels will jointly process credit card commissions, which will substantia lly reduce costs. The Kuhns are set to

Forty percent of the guests are regulars.

“It takes three to eight years to sort out a good successor.”

tiona l hotel chains such as Hilton, Westin and Steigenberger. He spent time in Germany and the United States, and earned a degree f rom Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. Back in Switzerland, Peter met his f uture wife Susanne, who was working in Davos at the Meierhof af ter completing her training at the Swiss Hotel Management Academy in Lucerne. Their f irst shared projec t was managing the Schatza lp in Davos. Peter’s most v iv id memor y of that time was the windstorm Viv ian in 1990, when they and 220 guests were cut of f f rom the outside world for a week: “When you’ve experienced that, there’s not much you can’ t hand le.” Peter and Susanne’s purchase of the Edelweiss was the f u lf ilment of a dream to run their own hotel exac tly the way they wanted. The Kuhns are the si x th owners of the Edelweiss. In 1901, Engelberg Abbey’s treasurer bought the land and star ted to build a hotel. While it was still under construc tion, he ran out of money and sold the whole projec t to

berg’s mountains, and there are eleven spa- cious family apar tments. Children stay ing at the hotel enjoy specia l priv ileges, as the Edelweiss is the on ly “Swiss Family Hotel ” to boast an integrated Globi Club. Four dif fer- ent play rooms feature such delights as Duplo for the lit tle ones and an X-box for teenag- ers. Childcare is available f rom 5 to 9 p.m. in peak season, and there are children’s menus in the restaurant. The hotel has three shut- tle buses to take guests to the destinations of their choice. Par ticu larly convenient for parents is the Globi Bus, which takes children to ski school in the morning and brings them back in the af ternoon. Peter and Susanne spend lots of time with their guests. They join them on hikes, show them the best bike routes and ski slopes, and organise conv iv ia l cha let evenings in the Flühmat t restaurant. This persona l touch has many guests com- ing back for more – 40 percent are regu lars. The Kuhns are a lso commit ted to the

Kuhns know that a lack of broad appea l can be the death of a hotel. Their strategy for success a lso involves cooperating with other busi- nesses. The good sense of that became par ticu- larly apparent with the Swiss Nationa l Bank ’s decision of 15 Januar y 2015 to discontinue the minimum exchange rate. When the num- ber of eurozone guests dropped as expec ted, the hotel simply accommodated more senior citizens f rom India. The Indian tour operator had been keen on a par tnership for some time. Prev iously, guests f rom India had to go out to one of the v illage’s Indian restaurants if they wanted a taste of home, but now the Kuhns have arranged a deliver y ser v ice with Saaed Khawar of the Tandoori restaurant in Ebikon. The Edelweiss’s biggest par tner is Switzerland Tourism, which has cer tif ied it as a “Family Hotel ”, “Hiking Hotel ”, “Bike Hotel ” and “Typica lly Swiss Hotel ”. It isn’ t easy for a hotel to achieve those designations; it must per form well in regu lar audits. A “Swiss Bike

retire in four years, and so are slowly sca ling back their involvement in day-to-day opera- tions. But they are not leav ing the f uture of the Edelweiss to chance. “It can take three to eight years to sor t out a good successor,” says Peter. The plan is to sell more than 90 percent of the share capita l to an investment company in Beckenried by 1 May 2016. The Kuhns will continue to run the hotel on lease until 2019, gradua lly bidding farewell to their many regu- lars. Peter is ver y pleased with this solution. It is impor tant to him that the hotel remain in Swiss hands. The same company has a lready purchased and renovated the Seerausch hotel in Beckenried. And the Kuhns wou ldn’ t be the Kuhns if they hadn’ t spot ted the potentia l for a par tnership. They are a lready cooperat- ing on purchasing, staf f training and spe- cia l dea ls – for example, the MonteLago bike package. The Kuhns are happy to have the Engelberg va lley stretch as far as Beckenried if it ’s in the best interests of the Edelweiss.

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hotellerie | thehotel industry

hotellerie | thehotel industry