The Swissôtel Zürich, formerly known as the Hotel International Zürich, was a luxury hotel in the

Swiss Swiss most commonly refers to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Swiss may also refer to: Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina * Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses * Swiss Café, an old café located ...

city of Zürich Zurich (; ) is the largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The urban area was home to 1.45 mi ...

. The hotel was located in the Oerlikon quarter of the city, directly opposite

Zürich Oerlikon railway station Zürich Oerlikon railway station () is a railway station located in District 11 of Zürich. It is one of the two major nodes for local and regional public transportation in the northern part of Zürich, the other being the railway station at Zur ...

, and roughly halfway between the city centre and

Zurich Airport Zurich Airport is the largest international airport of Switzerland and the airline hub, principal hub of Swiss International Air Lines. It serves Zurich, the largest city in Switzerland, and, with its surface transport links, much of the rest o ...

. The hotel was part of the chain managed by

Swissôtel Hotels & Resorts Swissôtel Hotels & Resorts, commonly known as Swissôtel, is a Swiss chain of luxury hotels owned by Accor, which acquired FRHI Hotels & Resorts in 2015. The corporate offices for Swissôtel are located in the Prioria Business Centre on the pro ...

, which is based in Zürich and is part of the

FRHI Hotels & Resorts FRHI Hotels & Resorts (previously known as Fairmont Raffles Hotels International) is a global hotel management company that is based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. FRHI is the parent company that manages three brands of hotels: Fairmont, Raffles ...

group. It had 350 guest rooms and a height of , making it the tallest hotel in Zürich. As well as hotel and conference facilities, the hotel contained a bar and restaurant (''Le Muh''), a branch of the

Starbucks Starbucks Corporation is an American multinational List of coffeehouse chains, chain of coffeehouses and Starbucks Reserve, roastery reserves headquartered in Seattle, Washington. It was founded in 1971 by Jerry Baldwin, Zev Siegl, and Gor ...

coffee chain, a hairdresser and a confectionery shop.

History

The hotel was designed by Fred A. Widmer and built by Karl Steiner AG. It opened in 1972, as the Hotel International Zürich. In 1980 a management contract with

, founded by

Swissair Swissair (German language, German: Schweizerische Luftverkehr-AG; French language, French: S.A. Suisse pour la Navigation Aérienne, stylised as swissair) was the Flag carrier, national airline of Switzerland between its founding in 1931 and ban ...

and

Nestlé Nestlé S.A. ( ) is a Swiss multinational food and drink processing conglomerate corporation headquartered in Vevey, Switzerland. It has been the largest publicly held food company in the world, measured by revenue and other metrics, since 20 ...

, was signed. Since then, the hotel has officially been called the Swissôtel Zürich. On

St Valentine's Day Valentine's Day, also called Saint Valentine's Day or the Feast of Saint Valentine, is celebrated annually on February 14. It originated as a Christian feast day honoring a martyr named Valentine, and through later folk traditions it ha ...

(February 14) of 1988, there was a major fire in the hotel, which resulted in the deaths of four guests and two members of staff. The fire originated in the Panorama Grill on the 31st floor of the hotel, and was caused by self-ignition while refilling an alcohol-fuelled food heater. The consequences of the fire were made worse because the fire disabled the fire lift, forcing the fire brigade to hand carry all their equipment up to the seat of the fire. After the fire, the restaurant was replaced with meeting and event rooms. In 2011, the restaurants ''Szenario und Dialog'' and the ''Edison Bar'' closed down after more than 20 years of operation. After a three-month renovation period, the new ''Le Muh'' restaurant opened. In November 2014, the hotel's main lobby was renovated with a new modern-inspired design On August 26, 2013, the building was put on the inventory list of Zürich's city council for historic preservation. The hotel closed in November 2020, due to the economic impact of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

and was converted to student dorms.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Swissotel Zurich Hotels in Zurich Buildings and structures completed in 1972 Hotels established in 1972 Hotel buildings completed in 1972 Skyscraper hotels