The jury of the Prix Montagne has nominated six companies that contribute in an exemplary manner to the diversification of economic structures in mountain regions. One of the nominated companies is the local IG Hotels Gstaad Saanenland.

Six projects from different mountain regions of Switzerland have been nominated, selected by a jury from 59 projects submitted. Decisive criteria for the nomination were, among others, the economic efficiency and the model character of the projects.

Nomination for IG Hotels Gstaad Saanenland
The Saanen hotel businesses, which formed an interest group out of the hoteliers’ association in 2015, have also been nominated. The IG is made up of 20 hotels in the region, from family-run guesthouses to five-star establishments. But they are all based on similar operational processes.

“We were convinced that we could all work more efficiently and react more flexibly to changes if we pooled our resources for processes, certain administrative work and purchases,” says IG president Christian Hoefliger, describing the original motivation of the interest group.

According to the Prix Montagne jury, this pooling enabled the hotels to take a significant step in their development, from which the region as a whole can also benefit today. The latter, i.e. the positive impact on the entire region, is rated particularly highly.

Convincing values
Although IG Hotels Gstaad-Saanenland is not the only association of hotel businesses in Switzerland, its basic values are more convincing in comparison to other similar associations. According to Hoefliger, it is not only price optimisation that is important, i.e. buying cheaper together.

“For us, a strong focus is also on improving internal processes, increasing added value in the region and sustainability.” Jury member Roland Schegg sees the strength in this: “The model of cooperation cultivated by IG Saanenland is currently unique in Switzerland. The joint projects promote knowledge transfer and exchange between the hotels and strengthen the trade of an entire region. I am convinced that other mountain regions will also be inspired by this.”

According to the jury, all six nominated projects show that forward-looking concepts can also be realised outside the economic centres. The projects are from varying language regions of Switzerland and from different sectors. They range from adventure trails to co-working spaces, from yoghurt producers to ski manufacturers, from market traders to hotel networks.

Online voting
In addition to the Prix Montagne, there is a public prize worth CHF 20,000 to be won. Anyone interested can vote for their favourite project on the Prix Montagne website. Voting closes on 19 August. Both the winning project Prix Montagne 2021 and the Audience Award will be announced at the award ceremony in Bern on 7 September.

BASED ON AVS/SONJA WOLF

www.prixmontagne.ch