People yodel and paddle here
A very personal annual review and outlook for the new year 2021 from Angeli and Christian Wehrli, the hosts of Santo Stefano House
Actually, with our Casa Santo Stefano, we would be in our so-called “winter sleep”, that is, during the break of the season. Instead of lingering in beautiful Ticino, we would be traveling somewhere in India or Thailand, but maybe we would now be visiting our daughter on the East Frisian island of Juist.
We will spend this winter - like probably many - very differently
However, since we didn't forge any travel plans this winter due to all the restrictions and also wanted to "compensate" financially for the spring lockdown 2020 with additional income, we decided to keep our hotel open in winter with a so-called "opening light". Fortunately, in Switzerland, to which our beautiful Ticino belongs, hotels are still allowed to stay open in compliance with strict hygiene concepts.
A breakfast basket provides our guests in the "Opening light"
In one of our creative phases we invented something new, namely overnight stays for self-caterers with a “breakfast basket”. During the three winter months, our guests can simply prepare their own breakfast with our products and cook for themselves in our typical and cozy Ticino kitchens, as the restaurants are currently closed.
So we design a “work soft variant” for ourselves by making everything ready for our guests, also checking that everything is right now and then, but not always having to be present. We have thus created a short break from the intensive guest operations and at the same time created a "win win" situation for our guests.
Our “opening light” is a win-win situation for everyone
Surprisingly, this offer was and is accepted by many guests who are happy to be with us in our historic hotel, the Casa Santo Stefano, and at the same time to be able to relax in the nature of Ticino, let go and live a bit of normalcy.
We want to start our courses again in February
We really start again from the end of February with some yoga & fasting courses as well as many yoga & hiking holiday courses. Since last year we couldn't fill the courses with 15-16 participants as usual due to the restrictions, but only with 12 participants, we got the idea to design and offer so-called “individual topic packages”.
Since our courses were booked out very quickly, these packages came at exactly the right time, as our individual guests (from 2 people) now, in parallel with the courses, between offers such as yoga & relaxation with private yoga lessons & massages, hiking & relaxation or biking & relaxation Select and book private hiking or biking tours.
A couple newly in love provided inspiration for new packages
Due to the great demand, we have also added 3 new "packages" to our offer this year: Qi Gong & Relax, Stand Up Paddle & Relax and Stand Up Paddle Yoga & Relax. The idea for these new offers came from a couple who were newly in love and who happened to stop by on a hike a few months ago. During the conversation we found out that she works as a SUP & yoga teacher and he as a Qi Gong & Tai Chi teacher. The sympathy was great and it was natural to ask if you would like to work with us this year and voilà ... you wanted and we have something new on offer!
In addition to the packages, there are also new courses in the Casa Santo Stefano
We also have some innovations in our courses: “Yoga, hiking & time-out à la carte” is the name of the new offer! These courses are similarly designed with yoga and hiking as well as massages, except that the guest is simply given individual time on a free day to choose something from the variety of leisure activities.
If you want, you can yodel your frustration with us
Otherwise, we have a completely new course in our annual program for 2021: “Yodelling, Jeute and finding silence”. Yodelling is of course very well known in Switzerland and is practiced in many groups and clubs! Jütze is one of them and by the way means shouting! The course instructors found us “by chance” and booked three courses at the same time and they have a lot of supporters ... in any case, we are excited!
We look positively into the future and hope for many carefree moments in 2021
For the New Year we would of course like to have many guests again for the new season, but above all, normality again! We hope that people can enjoy life easily and carefree again. This also has positive effects on our work! Then everything will be more relaxed and easier! However, as always, we are confident and positive and ready to take on the challenges.
To the entire range of individual packages the Casa Santo Stefano is here
To the annual program 2021 You can get to Casa Santo Stefano here
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