With the summer season at the Kulm Hotel St Moritz (www.kulm.com) coming to an end, it was at this time 150 years' ago that the then owner of the property, Johannes Badrutt, made a bold bet: he promised the last departing summer guests of 1864 a free stay from December to the following spring, if their winter holiday in St Moritz was not as sunny and as pleasant as it had been over the summer. 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.

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. We look forward to a season of exciting events and innovative packages, inspired by the innovative spirit of Johannes Badrutt. Stay tuned!

Notes for editors

Kulm Hotel St. Moritz was the first hotel to be built in St. Moritz. The Kulm Hotel opened its doors in 1856 and immediately became popular for summer spa and painting holidays, particularly among the British who comprised around 75% of the hotel guests. The owner of the Kulm Hotel, Johannes Badrutt, initiated winter holidays to St. Moritz from 1864.

Since the 19th century, the Kulm Hotel has changed considerably through expansion and renovation, but the fabulous location at the heart of St. Moritz with views over the Lake remains the same. A member of The Leading Hotels of the World, Kulm Hotel St. Moritz has 173 rooms, five restaurants (offering formal dining, French fine dining – the Gourmet-Restaurant the K awarded 15 points by GaultMillau, Italian, local Engadine specialities and Japanese with 13 GaultMillau points), the extensive  Kulm Spa St. Moritz (with a 20 m indoor pool with underwater music, various saunas and steam room, a Jacuzzi, a fully-equipped gym and treatment rooms, all with stunning views over Lake St. Moritz) and six conference rooms, with capacities ranging from 50 to 500 people.

Entertainment and sports facilities include the 9-hole Kulm Golf Course St. Moritz, three tennis courts, a natural ice rink, a curling field and the Marmotta Club for children. The Kulm Hotel St. Moritz is inextricably linked to the Cresta Run through the Sunny Bar, where tobogganing pilots have congregated for decades; the walls are lined with trophies and images of famous people who have hurled themselves down the infamous ice track.

Awards in 2013 for the Kulm Hotel St. Moritz include a place in a list of the top ten best holiday hotels in Switzerland compiled by renowned Swiss newspaper SonntagsZeitung and the top ten most welcoming luxury hotels in the country list put together by Switzerland Tourism.

In 2012, the Kulm Hotel's gourmet restaurant the K received 15 GaultMillau points and, in the latest ranking list of Switzerland's best winter hotels, Kulm Hotel St. Moritz ranked at number 4 in the category of five star hotels as 'one of the best managed and most excellent hotel in the Alps with immaculate consistency'. In January 2014, the Kulm Hotel was named one of Switzerland's favourite lakeside hotels by HolidayCheck.

Both the Kulm Hotel St. Moritz and its sister property Grand Hotel Kronenhof are owned by the Niarchos family.

For more information, please contact:
Sue Heady
Director
Heady Communications
T: 01608 651 692
M: 078 5595 0705
E: sue@headycommunications.com