Laudinella ABC
A hotel ABC full of stories big and small
Since winter 2025/26, the Hotel Laudinella has had a new look: modern, lively and as in love with culture as ever. A special booklet has been produced to accompany it:
L for Laudinella – A hotel ABC to complete yourself
It brings together charming anecdotes, surprising facts and short journeys through time from the past and present of our hotel – lovingly illustrated and enriched with many finds. A kaleidoscope of stories that takes you further into the world of the Laudinella with each chapter. As a small foretaste, we present individual excerpts here.
Do you have questions about the stories or are you interested in the entire book? Our team looks forward to hearing from you about the Laudinella ABC: marketing@lhg.swiss
Artists-in-Residence:
In May 1999, Laudinella launches a project for young artists from the fields of music, literature, painting, photography and design. The selection is made by the Laudinella’s head of culture in consultation with the management. The selected artists are invited to the Laudinella for a few weeks, where they develop a program that is presented to guests and the public at rehearsals, concerts, readings or exhibitions.
Library, the:
Like every decent hotel, the Laudinella also has its own library. Until the last renovation, it dozed away in the heart of the old Olympia metropolis, a smorgasbord in the happiest sense of the word: a collection of (often deliberately) abandoned books that hotel guests have dragged up to the Upper Engadine to read in the clear air, at least to browse through, or to forget them up here. From Gottfried Keller’s Green Henry to Vicky Baum’s People in the Hotel, from Erich Remarque to Johanna Spyri, from Nobel Prize winners to kiosk bestsellers – surrounded by church hymnals, geography books and Alpine picture books, not forgetting several linear meters of the Laudinella poetry album, in which enterprising souls stuck concert programs, evening notes of readings, lectures, podiums, even routes of hikes, mostly with handwritten additions, clarifications, autographs. In terms of interior design, the old library resembled a tiny opera house, as the Laudinella carpentry had built a balcony into the book room, a kind of second or third tier, from which – like from the cheap seats of the Vienna Opera – you could look down steeply onto the stage, where a poet might be reading from a poem from the summit. Incidentally, like all the other poets who have performed at the Laudinella in recent decades, their works could also be found in the Laudinella library, signed and often accompanied by major works by other greats, which Vera Kaiser (➔ Kaiser, Vera) acquired at the request of Laudinella’s Writers-in-Residence (➔ Artists-in-Residence). For good reasons, the little literary stadium had to make way for the renovation in 2025, if only to find a new home in the new Laudinella world in the “Albana” room, but without the oh-so-fondly consumed kiosk thrillers and the tearfully devoured romance novels, which guardians of good literature unfortunately eliminated before the move. Well, we are counting on the diversity of literary tastes of future generations of Holtel guests, so that they will do their best to leave fresh trashy literature in the new Laudinella library.
Codeword Laudinella:
Novel by Richard Reich (➔ Reich, Richard), written for the Laudinella anniversary in 2007 (➔ Anniversaries), illustrated by the illustrator Markus Roost. The episodic narrative is based on only slightly veiled portraits of legendary Laudinella personalities and interviews with members of the cooperative who met and later married in singing camps (➔ JUSILA). According to internal research, over a hundred such marriages took place at the Laudinella! One such couple, who later emigrated to Vienna, used the code word “Laudinella” together for all their needs (bank cards, online portals) throughout their lives.
Engadinerhof:
The hotel was built in 1888. The main building dates back to the former Villa Pidermann-Brugger. At the beginning of the 20th century, it was equipped with two turrets and gabled roofs. In the heyday of the Engadine hotel industry around 1910, the Engadinerhof was one of the largest middle-class hotels in St. Moritz-Bad with 200 beds. In 1959, the Laudinella Cooperative acquired the building, which had hardly been used since the hotel crisis of the mid-1920s. In the course of the renovation by architects Brogt (➔ Brogt, Ulrich) and Könz (➔ Könz, Iachen Ulrich), the hotel was given a geometric, sober character. In 1975, a separate building, a new dining room, is added to the hotel wing. See also the separate chapter “The building history of the Laudinella”.
Festival da Jazz:
The first concert with Pink Martini on July 26, 2014 in the concert hall of the Reine Victoria (➔ Reine Victoria, Hotel) was a great success. The person writing here was there. Pink Martini’s song Symphatique (Je ne veux pas travailler) has become known as a secret anthem in trade union circles. The Board of Directors agrees to expand its cooperation with the festival on the basis of contributions in kind.
Year-round operation:
From the second quarter of 1995, the Laudinella switches to year-round operation for the first time in its history. Hotel director Felix Schlatter (➔ Schlatter, Felix) hopes that this will result in more balanced fixed cost coverage and hall utilization, especially for local choirs, orchestras, etc. See also: The state of the business.
Hannes-Reimann-Saal:
In November 1990, the new Hannes Reimann Hall is inaugurated at the rear of the former reading room. Due to the poor use of the previous large reading room and the desire for a small concert hall at first floor level, this room is furnished thanks to a bequest from cooperative member Martha Fridöri-Bünzli, who died in 1988, and a Blüthner grand piano, a historic instrument dating from 1869, can be purchased. The books from the reading room are now housed in a writing and reading room with a gallery in front of the room.
Internet:
From December 1997, Laudinella is also present on the Internet at laudinella.ch. On its new homepage, information about the hotel and the cooperative, price lists, course programs and constantly updated special and last-minute offers can be called up.
Youth singing camp (JUSILA):
In 1950, the idea of organizing singing camps in the Engadin was born. From 21 July to 4 August 1951, the first Engadin youth singing camp took place at the Protestant Teaching Institute in Samedan under the direction of Pastor Hans Reimann (➔ Reimann, Dr. Hannes) and Edwin Nievergelt (➔ Nievergelt, Dr. Edwin). With the opening of the Kantoreihaus (➔ Kantoreihaus Laudinella) in 1956, JUSILA found its “nest” with ideal working and general conditions. Subsequently, the members receive accommodation and meals at the Hotel Laudinella for CHF 8 per day as a special offer. In the summer of 1960, the camp has to be held twice due to the high number of 123 registrations.
At the end of the 20th Engadin Youth Singing Camp, Hannes Reimann and Pastor Paul Walter (➔ Walter, Pastor Paul) announce their resignation as co-directors. Reimann thus resigns from his work, which has shaped the Engadiner Kantorei (➔ Engadine Choir) and the cooperative like no other.
Following the JUSILA in August 1972, the Aargauer Lerche ( Aargau Lark) of the Engadine choir is founded under the direction of Stephan Simeon ( Simeon, Prof. Stephan). At Whitsun in June 1973, the anniversary “25 years of youth singing camp” is celebrated. 2000 young people have taken part since 1948 and have given around 400 concerts. In October 1974, 75 JUSILA participants travel to the north-east of the USA for three weeks and give concerts at 15 different locations under the direction of Edwin Nievergelt and Stephan Simeon. From October 2 to 9, 1976, a nostalgia JUSILA is held under the direction of Hannes Reimann, Edwin Nievergelt and Paul Walter with 25 former participants from the early youth singing camps. On the occasion of 30 years of singing with young people and a planned concert tour to Israel in the fall, the JUSILA in July 1978 takes on a special significance. Hannes Reimann rejoins the team of leaders. The end of the concert tour in October 1978 marked the definitive end of his and Edwin Nievergelt’s work in singing with young people. Edwin Nievergelt is succeeded by church musician Monika Henking from Thalwil, who joins JUSILA for the first time.
In July 1988, the final concert of the JUSILA in the Catholic Bad-Kirche St. Karl forms the framework of the anniversary “40 years of youth singing camp”.
In March 1993, a journalist reported on the JUSILA concert on January 10, 1993 in the St. Johann church in Rapperswil, describing how beautiful the choir sounded. What can be achieved in one week and has now been achieved is unprecedented far and wide. Monika Henking and Stephan Albrecht have already enjoyed great success on concert tours in Northern Italy in October 1992.
In July 1998, “50 years of youth singing camps” are celebrated in the Laudinella with a final concert in the church of St. Charles. Unfortunately, there is an inglorious scandal after this evening. In an all-round attack, co-director Stephan Albrecht accuses the administration and hotel management of lack of understanding and incompetence in connection with the decision to cut the previous JUSILA subsidies from CHF 40,000 to CHF 15,000 per year. The former JUSILA directors Edwin Nievergelt and Stephan Simeon (➔ Simeon, Prof. Stephan), who were present, were just as dismayed by the unexpected attack as the two representatives of the administration, Madeleine Bacher and Werner Nef, and Urs Brütsch (➔ Brütsch, Urs), who represented the building and was responsible for the culture department. The following day, the two JUSILA managers are informed that, under these circumstances, the administration and hotel management are no longer prepared to continue the talks between the JUSILA management and a committee of the administration and hotel management that began in March 1998.
The JUSILA is therefore no longer listed in the 1999 course program. However, the name Engadiner Kantorei can continue to be used by the JUSILA. As a result, JUSILA participants found the Engadiner Kantorei association, which from 1999 continues to organize choir weeks with concert tours at the Academia Engiadina Samedan under the name Engadiner Kantorei. In 2000, Monika Henking steps down after 21 years of conducting JUSILA. In 2002, she is succeeded as co-director by Johannes Günther, who already conducts the Engadiner Kantorei’s Singkreis Bern, which was founded by Hannes Reimann in 1957.
Culture Department:
Hannes Reimann (➔ Reimann, Dr. Hannes)
designs the cultural programme until 1982. In 1977,
Laudinella:
The lark is called Laudinella in the Rhaeto-Romanic dialect Puter, which is spoken in the Upper Engadine. Pastor Hannes Reimann (➔ Reimann, Dr. Hannes) also chose this bird because in Christian symbolism the lark stands for the praise of God. As is well known, the lark flies high into the air when danger threatens the nest lying on the ground, and it begins to sing very melodiously and vehemently as a distraction. Its Latin name alauda is also interpreted as a reference to lauda deum (praise God). According to legend, all the larks in the area sat on the roof of Francis of Assisi’s hut and sang as he lay dying.
Laudinella, Hotel:
The hotel is officially opened on June 8/9, 1957. In November 1969, the hotel architect Ulrich Brogt (➔ Brogt, Ulrich) proposes demolishing the two upper floors of the Olympia-Métropole and replacing them with three new floors due to the poor condition of the walls, intermediate floors, walls, installations and roof. The costs of this conversion amount to CHF 1.7 million. The administration has decided to realize this project as soon as possible. This and other facts about the development can be found in the two chapters On the construction history of the Laudinella and On the location of the business. Today, the Laudinella Group is
Murütsch:
In December 1967, the Murütsch opens, a newly established cellar club with rooms for young people in the Kantoreihaus (➔ Kantoreihaus Laudinella). 1989 A pizzeria with a cellar bar is set up. After the Laudinella Nova project is completed (➔ Laudinella Nova project), the pizzeria and Murütsch Bar are reopened with a new look.
Nuno Helder, Pereira Da Silva:
The technician has been working at the hotel since July 2000 and is a jack-of-all-trades, he can solve all electrical and technical problems immediately – provided he is on duty . And always with a smile that is infectious and spreads good humor.
Orchestra:
The Laudinella was created thanks to singing, i.e. music. This genre has shaped the cultural program for a long time. Numerous orchestras have performed . Here is a small selection: Neues Zürcher Orchester, Musikgesellschaft St. Moritz, Kammerphilharmonie Graubünden, Jugendsinfonieorchester, The Zurich Ensemble, Kammerchor Chur, Orchesterverein Engadin, Gemischter Bündner Seniorenchor, Bündner Singkreis, Orchèstre de la Suisse Romande, Kamilla Schatz & Friends, Kammerorchester des Nationaltheaters Prag, Alphornensemble Engiadina, Salonorchester St. Moritz, Blazenka Brass Band, Lucerne Symphony Orchestra, Camerata Pontresina, Engadiner Salonorchester, Akademisches Kammerorchester Zürich (AKO), Bündner Senioren-Chor & Striichmusig Dobler, Barockorchester Capriccio etc.
Planzer, Josef:
Josef Planzer already worked with Felix Schlatter (➔ Schlatter, Felix) 22 years ago (at the Hotel Wedina, Hamburg, and the Schweizerhof, St. Moritz-Dorf). He has now been appointed Director of Hotel Operations at the Laudinella. The management unanimously appoints him to start work on February 1, 2003. He joins the team on December 13, 2002, when the opening of the new restaurant for the festive season is in serious jeopardy. Unfortunately, has to abolish the newly created position of Operations Director, which was held by Josef Planzer. Planzer is dismissed at the end of the 2006 financial year. This is in response to the persistent criticism of the then house bank Credit Suisse regarding the excessive personnel costs and is in addition to the measures introduced in 2005 to contain costs and general expenses. Felix Schlatter takes over the management and overall responsibility as CEO.
Sources:
In the immediate vicinity of the Laudinella there are several old and newer springs, both in use and disused : Surpunt spring, Paracelsus spring, Mauritius spring. According to the latest archaeological research, the Mauritius spring was already tapped 3400 years ago. The water in St. Moritz is characterized by a high concentration of ferric acid, which is particularly beneficial for patients with anaemia, iron deficiency, digestive and metabolic problems and circulatory problems.
Pure Victoria, Hotel:
Originally called the Hotel Viktoria and from 1960 the Reine Victoria, it is a prestigious
hotel building and one of the first grand hotels in St. Moritz-Bad. It was built in 1874/75 by Nicolaus Hartmann. The hotel was continuously enlarged (1879 extension of the west wing, 1881 extension of the hall,
1888 extension of the east wing, etc.). Architecturally
the building
is based on aristocratic palace buildings. Ceiling paintings by Antonio de Grada have been preserved in the adjoining dining room from 1881. In 2015, the Reine Victoria is leased by Laudinella after several negotiations with the operating company Atona. On December 5, 2015, the Hotel Reine Victoria opens under the management
Schlatter, Christoph Maximilian:
Christoph Schlatter quit his political science degree at
after two years at
and – against the advice of his
father Felix Schlatter (➔ Schlatter, Felix) – switched to the hotel business. During and after hotel management school in Lausanne, he often spent time practicing and training in Asia. This is where his love of
Far Eastern cuisine was born. In 2013, Christoph Schlatter applies for the position of Chef de Réception at the Laudinella, and his first day of work at reception is on
1 May.
Felix Schlatter steps aside when the Board of Directors decides whether to employ his son. In 2015, Christoph Schlatter is appointed Director of the hotel by the Board of Directors, while Felix Schlatter remains a member of the Executive Board as CEO. With the conversion to an AG in 2018, the Board of Directors elects Christoph
Terrazza, restaurant:
In June 1990, the Terrazza restaurant is opened in the garden next to the café. When the weather is nice at lunchtime, it becomes a popular alternative to the Stüva (➔ Stüva) and the self-service restaurant (self-service buffet).
Conversions, new buildings:
Since its construction in 1888 (➔ Engadinerhof, ➔ Olympia-Métropole), the Laudinella has undergone numerous structural changes. Not only have two houses been merged and a new one added, but houses have also been bought, sold or demolished, extended, etc. You can find out how these renovations were carried out in detail , with which architects they were built and which financial sources were used to pay for them in the separate article “The building history of Laudinella”.
Von Salis, Katharina (➔ Living in the Engadin):
Katharina von Salis is a widely traveled geologist with
a specialty in micropaleontology, who taught in Copenhagen (1968-1974) and Zurich (1974-1989) and also held lectureships in Amsterdam, London, Vienna and The Hague. However, it is not only microfossils that she knows a thing or two about; she has been campaigning for equal opportunities for women in the male-dominated
universities of natural sciences and
in sport ever since her time at ETH. She describes herself as an “Emanze from the
Walter, Pastor Paul:
Paul Walter bids farewell at the end of the 159th meeting of the Board of Directors on August 23, 1991. In 1953 he joins JUSILA (➔ JUSILA) as theological director , and from 1956, together with Hannes Reimann (➔ Reimann, Dr. Hannes, and Edwin Nievergelt ➔ Nievergelt, Dr. Edwin) formed the management team of the Engadiner Kantorei (➔ Engadiner Kantorei) and was a member of the administration of the Laudinella Cooperative (➔ Genossenschaft Laudinella) from the outset. In this role, he is recognized above all for his hinge function in the three-member team and in the administration.
Figures:
A few randomly selected figures from the randomly selected year 2001: Guests 72,687; employees 106, including 29 seasonal employees; cooperative members 2,743; grand pianos 4; harpsichords 3; uprights 5; timpani 2; music stands 60; books 2,000; courses 43; events 92; rooms 208; towels 5,400; detergent 6,000 liters; glasses 3,600; menu cards 14,000; wine bottles 19,000; non-alcoholic beverages 105,000 bottles; pizzas 54,519; Birchermüesli 2,797 kg; meat 7,300 kg; fish 5,475 kg; olive oil: 1,825 liters; cakes 4,745 pieces.