The Seiler Hotelier Dynasty: How a Hotelier Familie Shaped Tourism in Upper Valais

In 1852, Alexander Seiler, a soap boiler and candle maker from Blitzingen in 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 become one of Switzerland's most celebrated hotel dynasty. 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 c ontroversial 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.