Florian Steiger

We are not born entrepreneurs; we become them. Our influences and choices define the path. Florian Steiger fell into entrepreneurship when he was young, as his family’s day-to-day revolved around hotels in Engadine and businesses in Schwyz and Bâle. Their lives were peppered with stories and challenges — many of which were shared when they gathered for general meetings. In the summer, young Florian, who is German and lived with his parents in Fribourg, would return to central Switzerland for the holidays. It was a chance to reunite with his 14 cousins at his maternal grandmother’s large chalet on the shores of Lake Sihl. One day, the children found the key to their grandfather’s old factory, which “made for an epic playground”, Florian recalled.

A deeply rooted love of music
Whether in Schwyz, the Bernese Alps or Grisons, Florian made sure he stayed close to the mountains as he loved to ski and snowboard. But, as a teenager, his biggest draw was pop and rock music. The radio industry was in full swing, with DRS3 and Couleur 3 at the helm. Then came Radio Sarine/Saane, the first Fribourg-based station, where the young man volunteered to host his own music show.

Needing money to buy the records he wanted to play on his show, he took a job at a record store. His family’s DNA bubbled to the surface: rather than deal with manual lists, he developed a software to manage the store’s inventory. His achievement was recognized by La Placette (what is now Manor), who offered him a job managing a dozen of aisles of CDs and DVDs throughout French-speaking Switzerland, even though he was barely an adult. His plans to study architecture passed by the wayside. When he was 19 years old, he opened his own record distribution company.

An unexpected career change
Florian met with success for the next 15 years, but, as technology evolved, he sensed difficulties ahead. In the early 2000s he sold his part of the business. He was in his 30s now, his daughter had just been born, his wife was pursuing her goal of becoming a cardiologist, and his future was a blank slate. Freed from managing his own company, Florian rediscovered his love for the mountains and the joy of pushing oneself to the limit. He was drawn to Valais, hiking and mountaineering.

What happened next was pure coincidence. One of Florian’s friends, a real estate agent, had a client looking to build a chalet in Verbier. An opportunity to realize that there was a lack of service-oriented companies offering to fully manage projects like this from start to finish. As demand for this service grew, the music specialist found himself transformed into a mountain real estate specialist... a throwback to his 18-year-old self, who had wanted to study architecture.

The boom of mountain real estate
True entrepreneurial genius is said to be a matter of being in the right place at the right time. In Verbier, Zermatt and Crans-Montana, demand was skyrocketing, leading to a rapid development of what would become Steiger&Cie. So, what’s Florian’s secret? “Knowing how to build talented teams that are heavily invested in their jobs”. Thanks to that perspective, a truly unique real estate company took shape: rather than offering brokerage services, Steiger&Cie takes full responsibility of a project, handling every step of the development and management of mountain real estate assets, freeing property owners and investors from the most tedious taks. The entire lifecycle of the project is taken care of from A to Z. It’s a holistic approach that, little by little, has grown to include other offerings like tax and administrative services (which are in high demand by non-resident property owners). Steiger&Cie has also developed partnerships with the Sion-based architecture firm Comina and Sotheby’s International Realty — which greatly increased their visibility.

As bold as always, Florian invested in two entities specialised in short-term rentals of the large, luxurious chalets that had sprung up in the mountains (Bramble Ski, Haute Montagne), developing five-star hotel services for his clients that include a concierge, chauffeur and in-house chefs. This also led to the creation of a specialized travel agency, Leo Trippi, which won the World’s Best Ski Travel Agent award for the 10th consecutive time in 2023. Today, Steiger&Cie is involved in every aspect of luxury mountain real estate. What’s more, these businesses — which manage hundreds of properties throughout the Alps — have become leaders in their field, propelled by the impacts of Covid, the shift towards remote work, and increased migration to places that offer healthy and safe living.

Ambitious, large-scale projects
The exceptional process developed by Steiger&Cie is evident in the company’s latest project in Crans-Montana: the FENDI Private Residences. The project was born in partnership with the family owners of the former Hôtel Alpina & Savoy and the Italian fashion brand Fendi, who will spearhead the interior design. Their ambition is to “redefine luxury living in harmony with the surrounding environment, seamlessly blending nature and architecture”.

Expected to be completed in 2026, the FENDI Private Residences are composed of a dozen residential units and several hotel suites, housed in three buildings inspired by chalets, built into the landscape. The contemporary and sophisticated aesthetic embraces tradition, merging carved Valmalenco stone and floor-to-ceiling oak wood panelling, designed by Marco Costanzi, who previously developed the FENDI Private Suites in Rome. Of note are the panoramic spa, the concierge services and the in-house, private chefs.

Other projects in Verbier and Zermatt are being developed in parallel, which involve repurposing two former hotels. Yet another indication of the fundamentally entrepreneurial character that drives Florian Steiger and the company he has dedicated his life to building.

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