The CHF 485m (US$545m, €397m, £323m) Bürgenstock Resort at Lake Lucerne, Switzerland, is on track for an opening in Q2 of 2017.
The 400-bedroom resort with 68-suites, is owned by
Katara Hospitality, which is in turn owned by the state of
Qatar. Katara Hospitality Switzerland AG – a subsidiary of Katara Hospitality – is the developer and operator of the Bürgenstock.
Of 75 building permits, 71 have already been issued with the remainding three expected at the end of May. These are for the new Bürgenstock Hotel, the Lakeview Residence Villas and the Alpine Spa.
The 10,000sq m (107,639sq ft) Alpine Spa will feature 15 treatment rooms and three separate private suites. While product suppliers have not yet been chosen, the there will be an indoor pool, two outdoor pools, an infinity pool, alpine hot tubs, a large sauna and multiple wet and dry treatment areas. Therapies will include Ayurvedic massage and traditional Alpine treatments.
“This is truly a spa and beauty centre of the first order,” Bruno H Schöpfer, managing director of Katara Hospitality Switzerland told
Spa Opportunities. “It’s a place to celebrate wellbeing in a place like no other.”
A competition of architects and interior designers was held and the winners, now in charge of overseeing the resort’s completion are Patrik Dierks Norbert Sachs Architekten and London-based interior designers
MKV Design.The eco-friendly, car-free resort, has been constructed with sustainability in mind. For example, excavation material is recycled and then reused on-site to fill stone baskets – “gabions” – which are made into supports for the walls.
On 26 March, a stone-laying ceremony was held for each of the resort’s hotels – the Wald Hotel, the Palace Hotel, the Grand Residence Suites and the Bürgenstock Hotel.
Parts of the resort, which are already complete include the Panorama Residence Suites – which will open in Q3 of this year – the tennis courts, the mountain restaurant – Hammetschwand, and the recently renovated Taverne 1897.
Guests will have access to the 2,200sq m (23,681sq ft) meeting and event facilities, 12 restaurants, a horse stables and petting zoo, plus 700sq m (7,535sq ft) of retail services in addition to the hotel museum inside the Bürgenstock Hotel.
The resort also includes a nine-hole golf course, a curling rink for the winter season, a private cinema and over 70km (43.5 miles) of hiking and climbing trails around Lake Lucerne.
Katara Hospitality Switzerland AG’s current portfolio contains the Hotel Schweizerhof in Berne, which re-opened in June 2011, and the Hotel Royal Savoy in Lausanne, which is expected to re-open in Q3 2015.
