Partners and Benefactors
Collective action
helps everyone
We strive to build true partnerships with all of the people, enterprises and institutions that are important to us. We consider close personal relationships and mutual agreement on fair conditions to be especially meaningful. We seek active cooperation with all key tourist organisations both at home and abroad. We promote both inter- and intra-organisational cooperation.
Montreux Youth Hostel
Regional partnerships
The social and economic integration of any youth hostel in the region is promoted and supported by the membership of trade associations and regional and local tourist organisations, as well as by the procurement and use of regional products.
At a number of locations, the owners/landlords of our youth hostels are important partners, who enable us to rent the properties at moderate, sometimes symbolic terms. In the reporting year, these were:
Baden Municipality of Baden | Burgdorf Stiftung Schloss Burgdorf (foundation) | Klosters Political Municipality of Wallisellen | Kreuzlingen City of Kreuzlingen | Laax Political municipality of Laax | Lausanne City of Lausanne | Mariastein-Rotberg Stiftung Jugendburg Rotberg (foundation) | Pontresina Municipality of Pontresina | Rapperswil-Jona City of Rapperswil-Jona | Richterswil Municipality of Richterswil | Saas-Fee | Aqua Allalin Commune of Saas-Fee | Schaan-Vaduz Schaan-Vaduz Youth Hostel Foundation | Schaffhausen Municipality of Schaffhausen | Seelisberg Swiss Confederation | Sion City of Sion | Solothurn Municipality of Solothurn | St. Gallen Political Municipality of St. Gallen | Sta. Maria Municipality of Sta. Maria | Zofingen Municipality of Zofingen
National presence
Parahotellerie Switzerland
Parahotellerie Switzerland was founded in 2011 by the Swiss Youth Hostels, REKA Swiss Travel Fund, Interhome, TCS Camping and BnB Switzerland. The defined objectives of this cooperation are the strengthening of all partners, joint representation of political interests, improved public perception and knowledge sharing.
An extensive partnership for political lobbying was agreed with the Swiss Hotel Association. The lobbying cooperation takes place at all stages of the legislative process on the basis of open and transparent interexchange. The collaboration provides an opportunity to give more weight to the concerns and interests of the sector, and to represent the whole area of accommodation through a common presence in the political process.
Barrierefreie Schweiz (Barrier-free Switzerland)
In Europe, 15% of the population live with disabilities, which corresponds to 80 million people (EDF 2015). For these people, self-sufficient travel represents a major need. We are resolutely pursuing the expansion of offers and services for this guest segment. From 2013 to 2016, the extensive project “Holidays – access for all”, was successfully completed with the Denk an mich Foundation.
Immediately after this collaboration project, the project “Barrier-free Switzerland” was created. The support association Barrierefreie Schweiz (Barrier-free Switzerland) was founded in Zurich in 2016. The objective of the association is to highlight current travel information in a clearly structured manner and to make it broadly accessible for people with disabilities in Swiss tourism. The goal of extending the project basis to include additional tourist offers, and thereby positively influencing Swiss tourism in general, was achieved when the Barrier-free Switzerland Support Association (FVBS) was founded.
International cooperation
Hostelling International
The Swiss Youth Hostels have been a member of Hostelling International since their foundation in 1932. The objective of Hostelling International is to promote the education and upbringing of young people from all nations and in particular of young people with limited financial resources. These people are encouraged to learn extensively about – as well as to love and cherish – nature, and to appreciate the cultural values of small and large cities all over the world. To support these objectives, Hostelling International coordinates the mutual recognition of membership, develops and promotes national networks and associations, defines quality standards, coordinates marketing activities and maintains the booking portal www.hihostels.com.
European Union Federation of Youth Hostel Associations (EUFED)
It is the duty of EUFED to coordinate and cultivate cooperation and networking between European youth hostel associations on the basis of shared values. The Swiss Youth Hostels have been a full member of EUFED since 2018.
Positions / membership of committees
Janine Bunte, CEO Swiss Youth Hostels
- Parahotellerie Switzerland, Chair
- Cooperative discover.swiss, Vice President
- Association discover.swiss, President
- Association Schneesportinitiative, GoSnow, member of the Executive Board
- Advisory group for tourism policy, member
- Strategic Development Group of Hostelling International, member
Katharina Leu, Director Sales
- Working Group Future of HI Web Services von Hostelling International, member
Stephan Kurmann, former President, Swiss Youth Hostels
- Hostelling International, President
Memberships
Benefactors
2018 | 2019 | 2020 | |
|---|---|---|---|
TOTAL | 26,066 | 30,265 | 83,635 |
Municipalities/Cities | 16,400 | 16,100 | 16,850 |
Suppliers | 5,160 | 4,367 | 8,505 |
Private individuals | 4,506 | 9,798 | 58,281 |
The Swiss Youth Hostels recorded a major loss in earnings in 2020 due to the COVID crisis. In order to ensure that around 50 environmentally friendly and socially responsible youth hostels all over Switzerland can continue to offer reasonable prices and that around 500 staff members can remain in employment, a solidarity campaign was addressed to our members and guests. From this, we received contributions from benefactors in the amount of CHF 58,281 (previous year: CHF 9,798).
We greatly appreciate the support of our benefactors. As a non-profit organisation, we also owe it to our partners and benefactors to ensure that sustainable and social tourism has a future.
Benefactors
2019 | 2020 | |
|---|---|---|
TOTAL | 30,265 | 83,635 |
Municipalities/Cities | 16,100 | 16,850 |
Suppliers | 4,367 | 8,505 |
Private individuals | 9,798 | 58,281 |
The Swiss Youth Hostels recorded a major loss in earnings in 2020 due to the COVID crisis. In order to ensure that around 50 environmentally friendly and socially responsible youth hostels all over Switzerland can continue to offer reasonable prices and that around 500 staff members can remain in employment, a solidarity campaign was addressed to our members and guests. From this, we received contributions from benefactors in the amount of CHF 58,281 (previous year: CHF 9,798).
We greatly appreciate the support of our benefactors. As a non-profit organisation, we also owe it to our partners and benefactors to ensure that sustainable and social tourism has a future.
Jugendherberge Montreux
