The Kulm Hotel St. Moritz ( www.kulm.com ), renowned for its avant-garde stance, yesterday (1 December 2014) – together with Ibex Media – launched Enjoy St. Moritz ( www.enjoystmoritz.ch ), an innovative TV channel dedicated to promoting the world-famous resort and the surrounding area of the Engadin.

The Kulm Hotel has been at the forefront of the tourism industry for 150 years, ever since 1864, when the then owner of the Kulm Hotel St Moritz, Johannes Badrutt, made a bold bet: he promised the last departing summer guests 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 (the traditional holiday season at that time). Tanned and full of enthusiasm, the guests returned to England 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, marking the birth of winter holidays.

Badrutt, a legend within the Swiss hotel industry, was something of a pioneer. When he created the Hotel Engadiner Kulm, it was 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. The creation of Enjoy St. Moritz builds on the hotel's ground-breaking history under the guidance of the CEO of the Kulm Hotel St. Moritz and Grand Hotel Kronenhof, Heinz E. Hunkeler, whose life has been inextricably linked with the Kulm Hotel, ever since he was born at the property when his father was the hotel's General Manager.

Enjoy St. Moritz will be based at the Kulm Hotel, which is one of the three main sponsors, alongside sister hotel Grand Hotel Kronenhof (www.kronenhof.com) and the Olympia Bob Run.  The channel will promote all the news, activities and events in the region, including world-class events such as White Turf (horse racing on frozen on Lake St. Moritz) and the St. Moritz City Race (when skiers race down the streets of the resort at the start of the season), both of whom are secondary sponsors.

An experienced team of journalists and multimedia experts will update the site on a daily basis with words, podcasts and video content, with a view to promoting the “Engadin Spirit” – its richness, diversity and unique spirit – to the world. To appeal to an international audience, third party content, such as video on demand, will also be integrated into the programming. The channel is linked to Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Google+ and Youtube, so that the global audience can engage with the St. Moritz community by sharing their comments, likes and posts in response to the published content.

Regular content will include:

• St. Moritz to do – weekly happenings and unmissable events
• The Chat – an interview with a different guest to the Engadin each week
• The London Call by VeloREC – the best House Music and latest musical trends
• Moving on up! – Adrenaline-filled sports and activities  

Enjoy St. Moritz will be available at www.enjoystmoritz.ch, www.enjoystmoritz.com and www.enjoystmoritz.tv, with live streaming available via www.estm.tv. Thanks to a collaboration with Livestream.com, viewers are able to access the streaming signal in the highest HD quality on computers, smart phones and tablets, as well as the newest generations of smart TVs. The Enjoy St. Moritz channel will also be exclusively available at the Kulm Hotel St. Moritz and Grand Hotel Kronenhof during the 2014-15 winter season.

In its 150th winter season, the Kulm Hotel St. Moritz is open from 5 December 2014 to 5 April 2015, rates start from CHF575 (approx £375) for two people sharing a double room on a half-board basis.  For more information, please visit www.kulm.com.

***

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 and, as a result, the hotel, resort and Switzerland itself celebrates 150 years of winter tourism in the 2014/15 season.

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 Engadin 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