Car vs. hotel
Who wins? When you drive a brand-new super SUV like the KIA EV9 to an equally brand-new top hotel like the Postresidenz am See in Arosa, you have to do a comparison test. A tough one. Right? Everyone does that! No? Nobody does that? What? Then it's high time! Car vs. hotel. Good entertainment.
TEXT Thomas Senn PHOTOS Thomas Senn, Postresidenz am See | WALTER MAGAZINE
I hope my room in Arosa is bigger than the KIA. That was my first thought when the gigantic KIA EV9 GT-Line piled up in front of me before I set off on my business trip to Switzerland. I certainly already had hotel rooms that could have been hiding in the KIA. So off we went in the new electric luxury flagship from Korea to the latest luxury hotel on the Obersee in Arosa.
But that's where the comparison test actually starts. With its nominal range of 505 kilometers, the KIA has to come to Postresidenz by the lake because the Postresidenz didn't want to move a single meter away from the lake. But understandable: you don't give up the best location in Arosa. Nevertheless, the 1st point clearly goes to the KIA.
The first meeting between the two greats in Arosa is all about design. Wow. How beautiful is this hotel? Both are boldly designed in their areas, both the Postresidenz and the KIA stand out in their natural habitat with an unusual design. And in a very positive way. Both rely on an asymmetrical mix of edges and curves, both have a modern typeface, there can be no winner here. Both special, points for both.
Let's go inside - after all, we want to know whether the room is bigger than the five-metre-long super SUV (message to Wikipedia: super SUV is mine). As we were confronted with a general e-car problem when we got out (when is the car on, when is it off, why can't any manufacturer make this properly clear, why are the screens always on, regardless of whether they are on or off), we came across a user problem with the KIA door handles. Car on: Door handles off! So you can't just grab your bag from the back seat at the rear door and hand it to the hotel staff. The door handles only extend when the car is off. Or so we thought. After two days, however, we found a button that also releases the door handles from the inside. Our mistake, real handles would still be more correct. As with the first contact with the door of the hotel room: wonderful. Solid and beautifully curved designer stainless steel handle on a thick solid wood door. Ready to hand all day long. I feel at home here. Full marks for the Postresidenz. Full marks.
Now it's getting a bit unfair for the car: as the hotel has not given Mr. Publisher and me two single rooms as announced, but a shared splendid suite, the size comparison for the KIA is very obviously lost despite all its efforts. You can't beat an opulent 67 square meters, no matter how much the EV9 has been stretched. Another point for the hotel.
7 to 7 seats
Let's check the seats straight away. The hotel offers a generous five seats at the dining table and two on the comfortable couch. The KIA has five seats in the first two rows and another two-seater bench that can be folded up from the 828-liter giant trunk (which remains a standard SUV trunk even after the third row has been put up or can grow to a stadium-like 2,318 liters after all the seats have been folded down). But it's about the number of seats: 7 to 7, point for both.
Trunk space has already been mentioned: both luxury counterparts fit more suitcases than I have and could borrow from friends or neighbors. A draw here too.
The door comparison goes to the room: entrance door, two bathroom doors, two bedroom doors and a balcony door (the information applies to the room). 6 against 5 of the KIA, that was close.
In terms of windows, however, the EV9 clearly outperforms the suite in the Postresidenz . Three in the room have to give way to eight plus the panoramic glass double roof of the KIA. Even if the hotel's windows, some of which are floor-to-ceiling, are much larger: More is more - points for the KIA. And an extra point for the car: even if our three-room suite had a wonderful view of half of Arosa and the whole of Obersee, from the KIA you can see the whole world when you drive there. So double point.
In terms of materials, the KIA offers painted sheet metal, leather-like materials, plastic, rubber and glass. The Postresidenz holds its own with solid wood, expensive tiles, ceramics, glass and thick fabric. Warm wood beats cool sheet metal, feel-good point for the hotel.
When it comes to e-entertainment, the KIA beats the hotel at a run-up. Yes, the hotel's TV is monumentally larger than the screen in the KIA, but the EV9 has several and displays all sorts more. Of course, as with every e-car, there's a lot of useless, confusing and distracting stuff, but God knows that's no different with TV programs.
In addition, the 14-speaker system in the KIA sounds, as expected, more entertaining than the already very good room TV, and the car's cameras also show the surroundings to people with poor eyesight for whom the eight windows just don't seem to be enough.
When it comes to lighting, I would give it a draw. Yes, the KIA's dual LED light is days brighter than the one in the Postresidenz, but the more beautiful lamps there are dimmed appropriately. The stairwell in particular (why doesn't the KIA have a stairwell, given its size?) has beautiful designer lights. We like!
The topic of catering is a home run for the Postresidenz. Even if we were to leave the excellent in-house restaurant Luftpost out of the rating, the suite still has a tasteful kitchenette with dishwasher, washing machine, stove and coffee machine. As large as the interior of the EV9 is, as many sockets and spaces as it would offer for coffee machines and electric stoves: it simply doesn't have them, so we're left with butter pretzels on our knees, thermo mugs in the holders and one point for the hotel.
Wellness area. This is where it gets difficult. There are three great saunas with different temperatures of up to 85 degrees at Postresidenz. Even with the windows closed, it will be difficult for the KIA to achieve this after eight hours in the summer sun. And even if there was room for a whirlpool in the rear of the KIA, it simply doesn't have one. A narrow point for the hotel.
One-stopstrategy
We have to suspend our electricity consumption until the end-of-year statement from the hotel's local electricity provider in spring ́25. But we are pretty sure that this point would then go to the room. You can't use that much electricity even with all the lights on. Even though the KIA really surprised us with how easy it was to get around. A single short stop on the route from Arosa back to the editorial office in Erfurt. 99.8 kW/h battery, 800-volt technology and downhill driving made it possible. But out of the running for now.
When it comes to seating comfort, no hotel can beat the KIA, not even in Arosa. There is a reclining seat function for the driver and front passenger with ventilation, massage (ok, it's even available from humans in the hotel) and an extending lower leg rest (the reclining seat position for the front passenger can be activated from the driver's seat: "Darling, make yourself comfortable and slip into something comfy."), which even the best designer sofa can't compete with.
Even in the rear seats, the backrests can be reclined for a reclining function. Alternatively, you could also lie stretched out in the trunk safely, three next to each other and four on top of each other. EV9 makes the point.
Now we come to the price. Hmm. How do you calculate that? By the day? The point very definitely goes to the KIA. It can probably be leased for a month at an overnight rate and a half. Even when buying, the most expensive and luxurious KIA of all time is not the first choice for low-wage earners at a considerable 72,490 euros (our GT-Line from 82,380 euros), but you can't buy a suite in the Postresidenz for that money (suite purchase), probably not even a garage in a Swiss industrial area. Point for the KIA.
Who will win?
Before we start adding up, a few more impressions. Let's start with the KIA. People talk about it. People have never seen it before, but are attracted to it even in the car paradise of Arosa. Because it's so big? Yes. Because it has so much space? Yes. Because it has an unusual design? Yes. Because, despite its 2,700 kilos, it shoots off like a spring bar when a Swiss watch strap is improperly changed thanks to its 385 hp with 700 Nm of torque and all-wheel drive? Yes. One is astonished at the complete luxury of the car, even if the interior didn't have to be white, which is now apparently an international requirement. Not on the seat bolsters and certainly not on the key (which incidentally has more buttons and switches than the room). Is Europe the market for this super SUV? We'll have to wait and see. In any case, there is currently no alternative from anyone. In theory, however, there are plenty of alternative hotels in Arosa. There are as many beds as inhabitants. But the Postresidenz am See has the most modern ones. Everything is brand new. A fine establishment, really. And lovingly and enthusiastically run by an unusually young hotelier couple. Which is also noticeable in the most positive sense. Many things could have been done either way, but the Consanis, together with the owners, have always opted for quality and modern design. A beautiful mix of materials with very contemporary details. The suites can be rented or bought. On the weekend of the Arosa Classic, an enthusiastic guest from Sylt made such a purchase. He liked it there. Very much. We did too. Very much so. We're definitely not double room guests (who wants to stay in a hotel room with their boss or even me?) ,but honestly: easygoing. The solid wooden doors not only create a cozy atmosphere, they also erase snoring noises. Who did that? We won't tell you.
Let's get to the result (and I swear I didn't count while I was writing this or even come up with some Solomonic draw nonsense from the outset so that nobody would be offended). But: it turned out 10 to 10. So we didn't help you decide whether to buy a KIA EV9 or book a vacation at Postresidenz am See. We're sorry about that. You'll have to decide for yourself. We have also made a decision within the editorial team. One for the car, one for the hotel. No help either? Then try both.
