Post 5. Hotel du Trift and Hotel National

The Hotel du Trift, a typical chalet made of larch, was built in 1891 by the “ Société de Zinal “ as a facility to replace the school, situated behind the Saint-Barthélémy chapel, which had become too small. It was nevertheless quickly rented out as a hotel.

“In the years 1940-1960, two classes of boys and girls from Ayer, Mission and Vissoie, were held at the Trift each winter for about a month in December-January. Children from more distant mayens even walked an hour to get to school.“ (Hélène Tscherry-Theytaz).

The Trift, like Zinal itself changed its vocation with the seasons : in summer it was a hotel, a hostel for young people and a school in the winter. It served as a post office after the construction of the road in 1957. Note in the photo above, the small white building at the rear of the Trift, which housed the first post office, and the second post office on the first level of the hotel.

“ La Société de Zinal “, owned the Trift as well as the chapel and other properties. This association, whose members are from several villages of the valley, has existed since the Middle Ages. Its first statutes date back to 1571. Of great importance in the past, the Society settled matters regarding the creation of routes with the right of way on private property, exploitation of meadows and forests, and ensured the maintenance of roads and bridges.

The National Hotel, built in 1908 by the Theytaz family from Ayer, was bought in 1953 by the Bonnard family, owner of the Hotel de la Poste. It was kept as a hotel during the renovation work on the Hotel de la Poste and converted into a grocery store in 1954–1955, a function that it retained until 1980. The particularity of the building, now a private house is its eight-sided roof.

> Next post
Follow the road up to the left to the chapel.