six hotels, six stories, one soul - A family's commitment to an exceptional heritage There was nothing to suggest that the Sandoz family and their Foundation were destined to become famous in the hotel business, except their innate business acumen coupled with a keen awareness of their responsibility towards heritage. They now run six remarkable establishments which, each in its own area, each in its own spirit - and thanks to an ethical and long-term understanding of the word investment - proudly fly the flag for the typically Swiss tradition of hospitality, authenticity and excellence. A tradition which is in keeping with the spirit of openness and commitment of the pioneers, and one which the Foundation seeks to continue despite changing fashions and the vagaries of the market. Could the industrialist Edouard Constant Sandoz (1853-1928) ever have imagined that the Lausanne Palace, where he lived, would one day belong to the family? And that the Beau-Rivage Palace, to which he used to invite his family to enjoy the lake in summer, would be the last home of his son, the artist Edouard Marcel (1881-1971), and a few years later one of the jewels in the Foundation's crown? Stories of meetings and friendship, like those which prompted the Sandoz family to undertake a project in Riffelalp, 2,222 metres up in the Zermatt mountains, to convert a mountain inn into a heavenly 5-star hotel or, for the National Exposition of 2002, invest in the Hotel Palafitte, another exceptional hotel whose sleek design harmonises perfectly with the romantic mists of Lake Neuchâtel. And also stories of a social conscience, which prompted the Foundation to rescue one of the gems of Old Lausanne, the Hôtel Angleterre & Résidence, just as several decades earlier they worked to prevent the overdevelopment of Ouchy, where the Château d'Ouchy is now a landmark.