Restaurant Walhalla was already established in the twenties and thirties at the corner of Sihlquai 9 in Zurich’s district 5. Hermann Trümpy took over took over the restaurant in 1944, and later bought the whole building complex composed of three properties on the corner of Limmatstrasse/ Sihlquai. Over time, he converted any flats that became free into hotel rooms. In the sixties, Hotel-Restaurant Walhalla (55 beds Sihlquai 9) and Hotel Trümpy (100 beds, Limmatstrasse 5) were still listed as separate entities in hotel directories.
In 1988, the Marti AG building company took over the building complex at Limmatstrasse/ Sihlquai and the Jumbo Bar at Konradstrasse 13 from the Trümpy family who continued running the hotels for several years as leaseholders. In 1991 the hotel was leased to hotelier Peter Vogel who gave it a new identity as “Arc en Ville”.
In 1996 Fred Tschanz, a visionary and well-known restaurant owner in Zurich, bought both buildings. Only planned as a pure investment, the hotel was fully renovated in 1997, including the fifth floor which had previously been used as a manager’s apartment. Walhalla Hotel was re-opened on 1 November 1997 while the former Walhalla Restaurant was subleased and run by Bindella as Restaurant Latini. Walhalla Guest House on Konradstrasse was renovated in 2007 and was one of the first hotels to be fitted with walk-in shower enclosures.
The following year the leasing contract with Bindella ended and the former kitchen premises on the 1st floor were converted into conference rooms and a breakfast restaurant. Starbucks opened one of its first branches in Zurich on the ground floor. As part of the hotel’s repositioning, the hotel rooms and bathrooms were renewed between 2010 and 2014.
In 2013, Walhalla Hotel was the first hotel in Switzerland to replace traditional guest information folders with an electronic tablet. This didn’t go unnoticed for long and in subsequent years was promoted by Zurich Tourism as part of their “Digital City” strategy, with other hotels encouraged to follow suit.
Walhalla Guest House was fully renovated in 2015 and repositioned as a 2-star Superior Hotel. Walhalla Hotel & Guest House have undergone a remarkable change of image in recent years – from a conservative 2-star and 3-star railway hotel to a modern, lively and innovative hotel project in a prominent location. In 2016, this strategy led to the hotel’s classification as a 3-star Superior Hotel.
Further projects followed – like the transformation in 2017 of iMotion rooms on the 4th floor of Walhalla Guest House into budget hotel rooms. Walhalla Hotel also submitted a building application to build a terrace at first floor level in the courtyard, a project that has now been successfully completed. Both projects are further milestones in the history of Walhalla and we certainly aren’t finished yet.
