Stephan Seiler

The Seiler Hotelier Dynasty

How a Hotelier Family Shaped Tourism in Upper Valais

In 1852, Alexander Seiler, a soap boiler and candlemaker from Blitzingen in the Obergoms Valley, leased the only small inn in the then yet little-known mountain village of Zermatt, on the advice of his brother Christian, the local chaplain. Two years later, he purchased the modest twelve-bed establishment, laying the cornerstone of what would become one of Switzerland’s most celebrated hotel dynasties. By the time of his death in 1891, Seiler’s enterprise encompassed nine hotels with more than a thousand beds and seven hundred employees. Despite his remarkable success, the ambitious outsider remained a controversial figure in Zermatt: for eighteen years, the local community refused to grant him citizenship. His three sons — Joseph, ­Alexander, and Hermann — together with their six sisters, carried the legacy forward, expanding the family business to its dazzling peak in 1908, at the height of the Belle Époque, when it offered nearly 1,700 beds. The company endured two World Wars and numerous economic crises, a testament to the family’s resilience and vision.

Stephan Seiler, a great-grandson of the hotel’s founder, recounts this extraordinary 170-year saga of ambition, perseverance, and reinvention. As a graduate of the École Hôtelière de Lausanne (EHL), he built his career in the international luxury hotel industry before serving as an executive director for international medical associations organizing numerous global medical conferences. He lives in Wetzikon, near Zurich.

Pressestimmen

«Stephan Seiler, Urenkel des Hotelgründers, verfasste mit «Die Seiler-Saga. Eine Hoteliersfamilie prägt den Tourismus im Oberwallis» eine reichhaltig illustrierte Familien- und Hotelbiographie. Perfekte Lektüre, um mit dem Glacier-Express von Ilanz bzw. Disentis nach Zermatt zu reisen.» bergliteratur.ch

«Urenkel Stephan Seiler hat sich der Familien-Saga angenommen. Entstanden ist ein hochinteressantes Werk auch zur Walliser Tourismusgeschichte.» Stefan Eggel im Wallser Boten

«Alexander und Catharina Seiler setzen mit ihrer Art Gastfreundschaft neue Massstäbe im Tourismus. Wie keine andere Familie schrieben die Seilers Hotelgeschichte in Zermatt und in Gletsch.» Stefan Eggel im Walliser Boten