While it may be the plot of a few arthouse films or horror movies, most people can’t imagine having an entire beach, street, castle or hotel entirely to themselves. Now, those seeking both solitude and luxury are able to rent an entire hotel in Switzerland, with prices starting at just 890 francs a night.
Speaking to 20 Minuten, the Hotel Schloss Wartenstein in Pfäfers, Canton St. Gallen, confirmed that prospective guests will now be able to rent the entirety of the hotel for their personal use. The owners of the resort, perched above the famous spa and casino town of Bad Ragaz, will give you the keys to the whole place for just 890 francs a night.
For the fair sum, lodgers will get 10 fully ensuite rooms, a large winter garden that can accommodate 70 people, a private terrace and hunting hall (which doubles as a cinema room), a restaurant with a billiard room, table football, pinball and darts, a fully equipped kitchen and a replica of the Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro.
The hotel itself offers stunning views of the mountains and the wider Sarganserland region, with the swimming pools and blackjack tables of Bad Ragaz just a nine-minute bus ride away. What's more, the ski resorts and activities of Graubünden and Glarus are just a few stops on the train.
Speaking to 20 Minuten, hotel owner Walter Graf said that the quite lucrative offer has its origins in the COVID pandemic. After he bought the property with another investor from the Grand Resort of Bad Ragaz in 2020, the entrepreneur explained that amid heavy pandemic-related restrictions on the hotel trade, it made more sense at the time to covert the entire hotel into an Airbnb rather than run it with multiple guests and staff. From there the idea stuck.
After first being offered in 2020, the special offer has now been extended to stays in 2023. Graf noted that most rent the place out for birthdays, weddings, company events or large family gatherings, although anyone is able to rent it for any purpose - so long as a minimum stay of four days is booked.
The hotelier from Zurich concluded that instead of being for profit, their main goal, in the words of 20 Minuten, is to “get a little life up there.” Interested in booking your own private hotel in the Alps? Check out the official website.