PRESS RELEASE

Award-winning waterRagazer thermal water receives international recognition to round off 2015 anniversary year

Bad Ragaz, 12 November 2015 – This autumn saw the Grand Resort Bad Ragaz scoop three international awards, with the spa resort’s Blue Gold and the extraordinary and authentic spa experience offered at the five-star resort and the Tamina Therme Bad Ragaz all being recognised as a benchmark in the industry. In Bad Ragaz, everyone is thrilled to have received these accolades to complete the anniversary year “Bad Ragaz celebrates 175 years of thermal water”.

From left to right: Thomas Bechtold (Hotel Manager), Dr Josef Konrad (World’s Leading Swimming Pools), Evelyn Kalberer (Thermal Spa), Peter P. Tschirky (Chairman of the Executive Board of Grand Resort Bad Ragaz AG), Roland Widrig (Head of Thermal Water and Pool Technology) and Daniel Grünenfelder (Managing Director Tamina Therme AG) at the presentation of the World’s Leading Swimming Pools™ award.

For 175 years, healing, body-temperature thermal waters have flowed from the spring in the Tamina gorge to the Bad Ragaz spa resort in Eastern Switzerland. In the Grand Resort Bad Ragaz, the water serves as a unique source of health and wellbeing and the basis for Europe’s Leading Wellbeing & Medical Health Resort. This was recognised with three international awards in autumn 2015: the quality label World’s Leading Swimming Pools™ was followed by two further prizes in November, as the resort was named “Best in Switzerland” and included in the global “Best for Hot Springs” category at the international Spafinder Wellness Travel Awards in London. Speaking about the awards, Peter P. Tschirky, Chairman of the Executive Board of Grand Resort Bad Ragaz AG, said: “These three accolades are testament to our extraordinary and authentic spa experience, the outstanding quality of our water and the level of commitment to our guests this demonstrates. I am particularly delighted that we are receiving these awards at the culmination of the 175th anniversary of our Blue Gold in Bad Ragaz.”

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Wellness Travel Awards 2015 – Switzerland’s leading wellness hotelThe Grand Resort Bad Ragaz had already received recognition in June this year when it was awarded the title of “Best Wellness Hotel in Switzerland” by the SonntagsZeitung. Now, this title has been confirmed at an international level: the Spafinder Wellness Travel Awards 2015 in London recognised all those hotels around the world which offer outstanding wellness experiences and make positive changes to the health and wellbeing of their guests. The Grand Resort Bad Ragaz offers all this and more in the exclusive 36.5° Wellbeing & Thermal Spa, the public Tamina Therme spa and the world-renowned Medical Health Center Bad Ragaz. Competing against over 500 nominees, the resort not only excelled among the Swiss hotels as the “Best in Switzerland”, but also ranked among the top global competitors in the special category “Best for Hot Springs”. Following an initial selection process conducted by an international panel of experts, the final result was determined by votes taken from over 10,000 guests. Further information can be found at www.wellnesstravelawards.com.

World’s Leading Swimming Pools – five-star Ragazer waterNot all water is alike: although water hygiene in many places can only be upheld by resorting to chemicals, guests at the Grand Resort Bad Ragaz enjoy top-class and absolutely pure thermal water. This has now been recognised internationally. In autumn 2015, the international quality label “World’s Leading Swimming Pools™” was awarded to the Grand Resort Bad Ragaz for its outstanding water quality and its excellent move to integrate water into its vision of hospitality. For Dr Josef Konrad, the man who established the quality label, the Grand Resort Bad Ragaz and the Tamina Therme are “an example par excellence of a responsible, sincere understanding of hospitality and of making guests feel welcome with water”. When presenting the award, he reiterated “that the water here does not just meet all the required standards – it is an absolute pleasure to swim in.” The qualified microbiologist and water quality scientist carried out a thorough study of the inner properties of the Ragazer thermal water and took a detailed look behind the scenes at the resort in order to carry out extensive tests on the technology employed in Bad Ragaz. Dr Konrad declared that “this award is a visual representation of all the examined factors contributing to hygiene and wellbeing for the guests.” This makes the Tamina Therme and Grand Resort Bad Ragaz ambassadors for swimming pool quality in the international hospitality industry. (Note: further information about World’s Leading Swimming Pools can be found at the end of this press release.)

Beyond wellnessHere, on the site where bathers were first lowered into a wildly romantic gorge to take the waters in the thirteenth century, beats the heart of the Grand Resort Bad Ragaz: the inexhaustible spring that for centuries has given forth the healing, body-temperature thermal water. The Blue Gold connects wellbeing and health in Bad Ragaz in a completely unique way. The four-kilometre water pipeline from Altes Bad Pfäfers to the Hof Ragaz was opened on 31 May 1840, and the 36.5°C body-temperature water has flowed directly to Bad Ragaz ever since to be the basis of

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Europe’s leading Wellbeing & Medical Health Resort. At the Grand Resort Bad Ragaz, it contributes to the wellbeing of our guests in many different areas. In order to guarantee this continues in the future, a new pipeline running from the source to the spa resort was opened to mark the 175th anniversary, to the tune of CHF 5 million. The pipeline secures the future of the resort, ensuring guests will be able to enjoy the Blue Gold of Bad Ragaz for years to come. In 2015, the spa village and the resort invited its guest to experience the anniversary “Bad Ragaz celebrates 175 years of thermal water”.

Experience Blue GoldFrom now until the end of 2015, the Blue Gold anniversary special is offering the chance to follow the trail of the thermal water and to discover this source of inspiration and wellbeing: the offer consists of 3 nights including a generous buffet breakfast, the 36.5 wellbeing package, a thermal-water welcome drink, daily 4-course lunch or dinner in the Restaurant Bel-Air (15 GaultMillau points) or in the Restaurant Olives d’Or, a thermal-water massage (50 min.) and a thermal-water farewell gift. From CHF 327.– per person and per night in a Comfort Room. For further special offers, please see www.resortragaz.ch/packages.

About World’s Leading Swimming Pools by Dr Josef KonradDr Konrad was born in Augsburg, Germany, in 1959. He studied at the Technische Universität München (TUM), where he received his doctorate in biofilm research, while also working as a research diver for the Bavarian State Ministry for the Environment and Public Health, as part of a project to improve the water quality of lakes in Bavaria. This included the campaign to achieve drinking-quality water in the Starnberger lake. In 1994, he founded a business development company in Phuket, Thailand. Dr Konrad has 15 years’ experience in managing Swiss and Germany companies in Asia in the areas of environmental analysis, wastewater and swimming-pool technology. In 2011, he organised Asia’s first international swimming pool and spa trade fair, the POOLASIA EXPO, including the conference “Tourism & Healthy Water”, in Phuket. Since 2011, he has created a five-star categorisation system for hotel swimming pools and set up a hotel booking portal for water lovers and swimming-pool owners in sunny, tropical holiday destinations with high quality standards. The website www.leadingpools.com will go online in 2016. His book TROPICAL POOL, scheduled to be published in 2016, is designed to arm travellers with the necessary know-how to assess swimming-pool quality – and to serve as a call to action for the tourism industry.

Media contact:Martin Leiter, Director of PR & Corporate CommunicationsGrand Resort Bad Ragaz, CH-7310 Bad

Downloads:Images & Word doc of the press release: http://bit.ly/1PpJ2qj Images of the Grand Resort Bad Ragaz:

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RagazTel.: +41 (0)81 303 27 16, mobile: +41 (0)79 226 73 36E-mail: presse@resortragaz.chFurther information: www.resortragaz.ch/medien/

www.resortragaz.ch/download/(username: presse, password: resort7310)All images © Grand Resort Bad Ragaz AG.

About the Grand Resort Bad RagazNestling amid mountain scenery, the Grand Resort Bad Ragaz is situated in the Heidiland holiday region of Eastern Switzerland, just an hour’s drive from Zurich. Europe’s Leading Wellbeing & Medical Health Resort was awarded the accolade of “Winner Best Medi Spa” in 2013 by the Spa Guide published by the prestigious travel magazine Condé Nast Traveller (UK). The resort, which dates back to 1242 when a body-temperature thermal source was discovered and which has been honoured as “Switzerland’s Best Wellness Hotel” (SonntagsZeitung, 2015), offers an extraordinary and authentic spa experience in the 36.5° Wellbeing & Thermal Spa. Together with the Tamina Therme public spa, this 12,800-square-metre wellness oasis is one of the biggest spa complexes in Europe. The resort also offers evidence-based medical treatments at the internationally renowned Medical Health Center Bad Ragaz, a byword for diagnostics, preventive care and rehabilitation of the highest order, as well as the Swiss Olympic Medical Center. In 2014, the outpatient medical facilities were expanded to include an inpatient rehabilitation clinic. The health resort offers 267 luxurious rooms and suites for guests. Six restaurants, a bistro and a café provide a huge range of culinary diversity. In addition, the resort also boasts two golf courses, the Kursaal Business & Events Center, a broad range of cultural activities and its own casino. In 2015, the resort and Bad Ragaz celebrate 175 years of thermal water at the spa resort.

175 years: a blue-golden jubileeOn 31 May 1840, the four-kilometre-long water pipe was put into operation to channel the thermal water from Altes Bad Pfäfers to the Hof Ragaz. The healing, body-temperature water has been flowing directly to Bad Ragaz ever since, making the resort a unique source of personal wellbeing and health. It is thanks to this “Blue Gold” that Bad Ragaz enjoys a worldwide reputation as a spa resort. In 2015, the village celebrates this jubilee.

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