Laax Promotes Riders - Stylish Slope-Side Hotel

As we approach the 2022-2023 ski season LAAX is highlighting one of the most sustainable hotels in Switzerland.  Riders is designed for a diverse range of travellers, from friends to couples and families with older children/teens. 

This stylish hotel has its own on-site club with DJ nights, art exhibitions, the area’s first ever vegetarian only restaurant, a yoga suite and a videogame room, and is surrounded by 224 kilometres of mountain routes on its doorstep.

Entirely Plant Based Food Offering:

The Riders restaurant is the first of its kind in the area, offering an entirely plant-based menu, where the cuisine focuses on regional products that are carefully selected and prepared. Every week the expert chefs create a new vegetarian 3-course menu with dishes that reflect the changes with the seasons. The restaurant aims to promote a feeling of easy-going, light-hearted togetherness whilst offering experimental dishes that makes visitors forget the desire for meat-based meals.

Kitro food waste bins (a local invention of managing waste) are installed in the kitchens in order to strengthen the hotel’s commitment to zero waste and local talent. Kitro’s AI cameras are installed above the food waste bins, which accurately measure the food thrown away so that the next shopping trip can be done more effectively. This process has allowed the restaurant to recalibrate its breakfast buffet order month to month, ensuring items, such as their popular granola, are ordered precisely to hotel occupancy and demand.

 Keeping Entertained:

• Riders’ onsite club offers a wide-ranging programme from rap to electronic music, live concerts by popular national and international bands and DJ sets and exclusive film premieres.
• If, come evening, guests fancy a slightly more relaxed atmosphere, the vibe in the lobby is a little quieter: well-selected singer-songwriter concerts, readings and other cultural events ensure that there is always something new to discover for every age.
• During the afternoon, visitors can relax in the chill out zones with sofas and a PS3 on offer, wander around the Riders shop, enjoy a coffee at the bar, or pay the Riders Art Space a visit, which frequently exhibits photographs and works by carefully selected artists. The hotel also has a gym suite and spacious active area with classes including yoga and dumbbell exercises, free of charge for hotel guests.

Rooms:

The rooms take up the modern and contemporary style of the hotel and create a balance between design and nature in a special way. There are a range of room options available to cater for different party sizes, most of which are flooded with light and have picturesque views of the mountain landscapes. Made of locally sourced pine, each room is designed to feel like an extension of the surrounding forest.

Sustainability credentials:

Riders Hotel is LAAX’s first hotel to trial cutting edge solar tech. A green roof complete with solar panels produces 25,000 kWh solar energy each year. This pilot project’s special panels produce energy even when covered in snow, so can be used in winter, which is the hotel’s busiest season. The green roof also provides a habitat for insects which have been displaced due to the hotel’s construction, while also cooling the building in summer and acting as insulation from the winter cold, significantly reducing energy demands.

In order to be even more energy efficient, a water pump from the nearby lake opposite the hotel is used to heat the building, rather than fossil fuels or energy inefficient oil heating systems.

The Destination of LAAX:

There are nearby activities to keep guests entertained with a variety of trendy bars including Rockslounge, Camino bar and Riders lobby, and restaurants including Italian, Asian and antipasti style dining.

With over 224 kilometres of pistes in varied terrain, it is the ultimate playground for winter sports enthusiasts and come summer, becomes a hot spot for outdoor adventure activities such as cycling and hiking. Whilst temporarily rehomed in a circus tent provided by the Swiss National Circus, they also have a popular Freestyle Academy that is being renovated – this has trampolines, skate ramps and a parkour site where people can go to learn tricks and flips.

Sustainability has been a longstanding focus at the core of LAAX and they have been an industry leader in this agenda for many years. Whilst already covering 100% of its power demands with CO2-neutral hydroelectric power from Switzerland, LAAX is on a journey to become a completely carbon neutral, self-sufficient, destination by 2030.

Rooster Creative Limited, 207 Waterloo Road, London, SE1 8XD, United Kingdom