02The story

01

Chetzeron was a working building long before it was a hotel. The top station of a gondola line above Crans-Montana, it became a restaurant in 2009 and a hotel in 2014, and the conversion had the confidence to leave the concrete exactly as the engineers had poured it. Stone and oak were added in the manner of the region’s mountain huts. Almost nothing else was.

The result stands alone on the alpage at 2,112 metres, reached by the ski area in winter and by meadow paths in summer, with the Valais Alps filling windows that run the length of the building. Bedrooms take their names from the peaks in front of them. An outdoor heated pool, a cold plunge, a sauna and a hammam are kept for residents, so the terrace empties of day visitors at dusk and the whole address becomes private for a night at a time.

02

A machine turned into a hotel

The bones are industrial and remain visible: shuttered concrete, the scale of a structure built for cables and machinery, long horizontal windows that once watched for arriving cabins. Stone and oak soften it in the way the region’s huts have always done, without disguising what it was. Few conversions are this disciplined. The pleasure of the interior comes from restraint on one side of the glass and enormous mountains on the other.

03

Bedrooms named for peaks

Each room takes the name of a summit, and the naming is not sentimental: the mountain is generally in the window. Oak, stone and unfussy furnishings keep the foreground quiet, and at this altitude the light changes hour by hour and season by season without any help. Junior suites add a sitting area with a sofa bed, which children and long stays both make use of. Orientation matters more here than square metres do.

04

Warm water, thin air

The heated outdoor pool is the reason to come back early. Steam lifts off it into cold air, the valley falls away below, and a cold plunge stands ready for anyone who wants the full Swiss argument. Sauna and hammam follow, and the entire wellness floor is reserved for residents, which above a busy ski area counts as a considerable privilege. Afterwards the lobby takes the aperitif and the restaurant takes the rest of the evening.

03Highlights

What sets it apart.

The signature moment

The last skiers have gone down and the terrace belongs to the hotel again. Steam rises off the outdoor pool into air several degrees below comfortable. The Valais peaks turn pink, then grey. Inside, a fire is lit and the first glasses appear on the bar.

01Former gondola station at 2,112 metres
02Concrete, stone and oak interiors
03Rooms named after Alpine peaks
04Resident-only heated outdoor pool
05Ski area and summer alpage

04Design Hotels Collective

Here, as a preferred guest.

01
Breakfast for two, every morning
Breakfast for two each morning, at the hotel’s own table: the first privilege of the day and the one most worth taking slowly.Breakfast beside the Ionian or beneath the Matterhorn, at whatever hour the house lays its table.
02
A hotel credit to spend
A credit held in your name at the hotel, to spend as the stay suggests: a table, a treatment, an evening at the bar.A credit for the hotel’s own restaurant, bar or spa, whichever the house does best.
03
A room above your booking
An upgrade to the category above, so the room you return to each evening outranks the one on the confirmation.An upgrade chosen for light and outlook as much as for size.
04
An earlier arrival
Check-in before the house’s usual hour: the overnight flight lands, the car draws up and the first day begins in your room.The room ready ahead of the hour for the traveller who arrives with the morning.
05
A later departure
Check-out after the house’s usual hour, so the last morning is spent as the first was: at the table, by the pool or simply in the room.The last morning kept for a swim from the room or coffee in the mountain light.
06
Known before you arrive
VIP recognition as a guest of the house: your preferences and the occasion known to the hotel before the door is opened for you.The hotel’s own team knows who is arriving, and why, before the car turns in.
07
Offers for preferred guests
The offers a programme keeps for its own preferred guests, extended to a Dip Needle booking and shown beside the rate for your dates.Collective offers falling on your dates, shown beside the rate before you decide.