Verbier closes budget hostel
Wednesday October 7, 2009 - Email this article to a friend

Now we are not really a campaigning web site but Verbier is our base resort in The Alps, we know the people that work there and have got drunk/had powder days with many of the people that use it.

It is a real shame it's been closed down by the municipality and is due to shut forever on October 31^st.

It's under hereIt opened 10 years ago underneath the Sports Centre and a statement on the web site that runs it laments its demise.

"10 years ago, in 1999 THE BUNKER hostel opened for the first time its concrete-heavy-metal bunker doors. The first "atomic proof" hostel and the first budget accommodation in Verbier was born. In many other Swiss resorts our idea was copied and we are very happy and also a bit proud that our innovative - at the time rather considered as crazy - concept for budget accommodation was so successful. Since 1999, many thousands of guests had the chance to experience at very low cost the excitements of living underground, making new friends and sharing great moments in Verbier and elsewhere in Switzerland!"

On November 1st the municipality of Verbier will take over the management of the Verbier Sport Centre that The Bunker belongs to.

The decision has been taken to close down the The Bunker and the Summerhouse, which is its overground relation.

Those that run it are asking people to sign a petition to keep it open - now here at PlanetSKI we are totally objective of course so all we can say is send them an email - sleep@thebunker.ch - requesting it stays open.

Keep skiing and snowboarding within budget.

As mentioned above we know the guys and girls that work there and have had a few powder days with people that stay there.

The video below shows some of them, and one of those days.

We will try to find out what the resort is planning to do but it probably involves making more money.

On news of our story here on PlanetSKI one Verbier local has just sent us this message:

"Absolutely gutted that the bunker is shutting.

OK, it was never a great sleeping experience sharing dorms with random room-mates, but it was pretty much the only genuinely cheap accommodation that Verbier offered.

It meant that normal people could nip out without having to spend a small fortune - well, I say normal, in a loose sense that includes all sorts of people, some of whom (admittedly) might not have washed as is traditional and wandered around the place half cut in the early hours.

Worse still, when my mates come and visit they'll want to stay with me now."

It comes from Guy, who is an instructor with Performance and lives in Verbier year round.

For the spirit of the mountains.

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