Cycas Hospitality continues to drive forward its ambitious expansion programme, having this month signed its first Swiss hotel.
The 119-room Holiday Inn Express & Suites Sion will be operated by the award-winning pan-European operator under its first lease agreement with an investment group of Credit Suisse Asset Management.
When it opens in autumn 2024, the new-build property will offer a combination of 95 classic Holiday Inn Express rooms and 24 suites with kitchenette by Sion’s railway station, plus an on-site ground floor restaurant to take advantage of its vibrant location within the new Cour de Gare district and by the new concert hall. Guests will also be able to take advantage of a 24/7 gym and meeting room.
Sion’s growing economy
The hotel will be at the heart of a major commercial development intended to capitalise on Sion’s position as the region’s economic and commercial hub and link the dynamic city centre with the old town.
The new Cour de Gare project, led by Comptoir Immobilier, will bring together over 10,300m² of offices, 300 apartments and 5,700m² of retail space. The complex will also incorporate one of the largest concert and conference halls in the Valais canton – attached to the hotel – plus underground car parking for 625 vehicles.
The hotel is also well placed for the EPFL Valais Wallis scientific research institute – a centre of excellence with over 400 staff – which includes its Energypolis School of Engineering campus.
Gateway to the ski slopes
As the capital of Valais – one of Switzerland’s most popular tourist regions – the new hotel is ideally located for taking advantage of Europe’s best-known ski resorts. The Four Valleys, Switzerland’s biggest ski area, is currently just a 30 minutes’ drive, but could be even more accessible within a few years of the hotel opening if a proposed new cable car project goes ahead providing a direct 20-minute connection from the neighbouring station to the slopes.
Sion is also within an hour’s reach of Zermatt, Verbier, Chamonix Mont-Blanc and Portes du Soleil; the largest interconnected ski area in the world.
Sonia Romano, Property Asset Manager at Credit Suisse Asset Management, said: “With Sion’s wide range of market drivers, from manufacturing and finance to tourism and research, there is an opportunity to introduce a new accommodation option to the fast-growing town. The Cour de Gare development with the Holiday Inn Express & Suites Sion is well placed to meet Sion’s evolving visitor needs.”
Asli Kutlucan, Chief Development Officer at Cycas Hospitality, said: “We’re proud to be building on our long-standing relationship with IHG Hotels & Resorts and to be working with Credit Suisse Asset Management on this fantastic new property.
“Sion has historically been a strategically-important trading location, so it seems fitting that this new hotel represents Cycas’s very first hotel in Switzerland. We’re excited about the opportunities the new Cour de Gare present for us and are delighted to be cementing our reputation as a preferred hotel management company for international hotel groups and investors alike.”
The hotel becomes Cycas’s second IHG Hotels & Resorts property under the Holiday Inn Express & Suites brand, having signed a lease agreement in February 2020 to help develop and manage the first new Holiday Inn Express & Suites concept in Europe; a 99-room property in Deventer (The Netherlands).
