Our History
The large farmhouse in Sils-Baselgia was built in 1906, and since the Courtin family also ran a farming business, it had a large cowshed as well as a typical hay barn; on the north side were the kitchen and simple rooms for employees.
In 1918, the son Andrea Courtin took over the business with his wife Ursula Fausch. The childless couple took in 1936, after the death of the biological mother, Mrs. Courtin’s two godchildren, Andrea and Verena.
Mr. Courtin died in 1939, and his wife ran the business herself until her remarriage to Christian Scherrer in 1942. After the marriage of their son Andrea to Waltraut (née Haussmann) in 1957, he took over the business and expanded the haulage company. In the same year, he opened the scheduled horse-drawn bus service to the Fex Valley, and at times more than 20 horses were in use.
In 1961, part of the building was converted through a first major renovation into a small guesthouse with guest beds, and the farming business was continued at the same location. In a second expansion in 1964, the farm with hay barn was converted into a hotel, and at its opening in June 1965, the Chesa Randolina was already able to offer 54 guest beds in a prime location on Lake Sils. The haulage business remained an important mainstay of the family at a new location.
In 1969, the private house was added, which has also been used for hotel purposes since 1980. In November 1969, Andrea Courtin died. His wife continued to run the hotel and the haulage business after her remarriage (1971) to Hans Clavadetscher. In 1974, the farming and haulage operations were discontinued. In the following years, further conversions and extensions were continuously carried out, so that today 70 modern and contemporary guest beds in the three-star superior category are available.
Since 1993, the hotel has been run by the son Tomas Courtin and his family in the third generation, and in the same year the hotel was supplemented by the Residenza Crastella, which has 8 luxury apartments for 2 persons each in a dream location overlooking Lake Sils.
Chesa Randolina comes from Romansh and means “Swallow House”. Barn swallows and swifts preferred the location of the house for many years to build their nests under the roof in summer and to return year after year.
