Grand Hotel Bella Tola & St. Luc

After ¬initially difficult years, during which the canton, too, granted a tax exemption or two, the business began to flourish when it moved to a new building which opened in 1883 on the outskirts of the village, in a place with wonderful views. After just six years an ¬extension was added, designed by the well-known hotel ar¬chitect Louis Maillard (1878-1936) of Vevey (Grand -Hotels of Caux and Territet). The hotel at the edge of St-Luc still looks the same, an imposing stone edifice. Following WW II, a number of technical improvements were made. The guest rooms were equipped with running water, later some modern bathrooms were ¬added; in 1967, central heating and an elevator were ¬installed. Despite these renovations, the fourth generation of the founding family was no longer able to make a living from the hotel. In 1995, the hotel was sold to a developer. Historic hotels were not much appreciated at the time. It was today's owners who rescued the hotel. With great dedication and know-how, the two Lausanne Hotel School graduates made a success of the badly neglected hotel within a very few years. Ill-advised transformations of the past, such as that of the veranda at the front, have been corrected using historic models and elements. The guest rooms have been gradually returned to their original condition and have been equipped with valuable furniture. In 2001, Icomos named the mountain hotel Historic Hotel of the Year. The enterprising hoteliers(A.-F and C. Buchs-Favre) became founding members of Swiss Historic Hotels in 2004.