Until 1892 the Grindelwald village blacksmith shop stood on the same foundations as the present hotel. In August of that year it was totally destroyed by a fire which, driven by a strong wind, also destroyed most of Grindelwald. The rebuild in 1893 had to proceed as quickly as possible on a standardized basis. To the left of the façade the original saddle-roofed chalet that still carries the house inscription can be seen. After building the flat-roofed extension to the east in 1905, the hotel had twenty bedrooms and a dining room. 

Tourism in the Bernese Oberland grew rapidly until 1912. Numerous hotels were opened, as well as railways such as the Berner Oberlandbahn in 1890, the Wengernalpbahn in 1892, and the Jungfraubahn in 1912. Notable is also Europe's first gondola cableway up to the Wetterhorn, which operated from 1907 until 1914.

At that time the Schweizerhof was heightened by adding three storeys, so that by 1912 it looked more or less the same as it does today. Ever since then, this stately building has been one of Grindelwald's leading hotels. In the spacious hotel garden an ice rink was built for the benefit of hotel guests in winter, and with the village high street far enough away, the hotel brochure promised a peaceful, dust-free and spacious well-shaded location. Another attraction in those days was of course: electric lighting!

A lot was renewed and established:

• a Schindler passenger elevator
• genuine silver cutlery, today still in the same style and including some original items dating back to 1929
• a refrigerated kitchen pantry
• the hotelpark

The hotel was requisitioned by the army in order to serve as main pharmacy of the MSI (military sanitarian institution - main Swiss army hospital). Starting anew after the war proved to be a slow process. Only in the 1950ies the uplift began with first (re-)innovations as windows with a doubled isolation. At the beginning of the 1960ies Toni and Muggi want to withdraw fro the hotel and are searching for a new owner.

The Schweizerhof was then sold on May 1, 1962 to Lotti and Otto Hauser, who had managed the Hotel Du Midi in Lugano-Cassarate for ten years as leaseholders. They spent the next 17 years renovating and embellishing practically the entire Schweizerhof hotel.

Their daughter Barbara attended commercial college in La Neuveville, then after a year in England, the Lausanne school of hotel management. Not long afterwards she married Hannes Brawand of the Hotel Fiescherblick in Grindelwald. Their son Otto attended commercial college in Neuchâtel, then likewise the Lausanne school of hotel management. After completing his training, Otto travelled around the world with Holiday on Ice until returning home in 1979.

In 1980 Otto Hauser junior took over the Schweizerhof from his parents and was joined already one year later by his sweetheart, iceskating star Anneliese. They married in 1990 in Las Vegas, well away from the bustle of hotel business.

Modernization corner stones:

• December 1981: first computer
• 1983 1986: all rooms renovated
• December 1983: dining room extension
• May 1984: Valais Spycher hut installed in the garden & new parking lot
• April 1985: new main entrance
• December 1986: new gable with 15 additional suitesopened
• December 1986: new reception and Schmitte Restaurant
• December 1987: sauna extended with steam bath and relaxation room
• 1989: the Schweizerhof joins the Romantik Hotel Group
• April 1992: new hotel foyer
• April 1993: new main gate
• April 1994: restaurant extension
• 1998: founding of Swiss Alp Resort AG and start of construction planning

The idea of a resort first arose (in youthful exuberance) with architect friend U. Rückleben in 1982 when discussing Schweizerhof Grindelwald development concepts and plans for the next twenty years.

In 1998 the Swiss Alp Resort project finally took shape, but it was another ten years until construction could actually start. Despite all the problems of that difficult period, Anni and Otto Hauser never flinched from even the worst setback.

By 2008 the first chalets had been roofed over, and by 2009 everything was completed. It goes without saying that during all this time, extensions and renovations to the Schweizerhof "mother house" continued. And without closing the hotel, except for essential excavation and shell construction work during the summer season 2007. 

A new era was born: the Romantik Hotel Schweizerhof and the Swiss Alp Resort had both been transformed from a vision into reality!

We continuously are working to improve on the Schweizerhof in order to have it at up to date arcitectural, technical / technological and visual wise. Parallel to uncountable improvements in the background this includes a perpetual refinement and maintenance of the rooms and public areas.