Imogen Foulkes
Geneva correspondent, BBC News
Badrutt’s Palace Hotel
Swiss hotels, like the Badrutt palace in St Moritz, attract the richest people in the world
The world is a very precarious place at the moment – conflicts, climate change and fears of the recession dominate the headlines. But for some people, things are going pretty well – the rich.
Despite global troubles, the number of billionaires around the world is increasing and the personal richness of each of them also increases.
So what to do with all this money? The growing trend for ultimate luxury experience is an indication of what very rich do with their money. For the tourism industry in particular, it is an opportunity.
In Switzerland, which has long cultivated a discreet luxury reputation, the number of five -star hotels increases faster than any other category. Many of them were built at the beginning of the 20th century – the Palais Epoques du Grand Belle serving a class of privileged and privileged tourists, mainly English.
Today, renovated according to the highest standards, these hotels leave no wishes of the guest. There are luxury spas, gastronomic restaurants and creators’ suites with a panoramic view of the Alps. Some offer “ski majordomas” to transport the guests to and from the slopes, wear skis and even help put their boots.
The main markets are the United States, Gulf States, China and Southeast Asia. American customers in particular, according to Swiss hoteliers, await full five -star treatment, including the 24 -hour room service, so that they can order food in the middle of the night.
Meanwhile, China and India are emerging markets, where the first groups to travel from these two countries are among the richest. Switzerland is very eager to start at the start of this trend.
But the five-star offer is delivered with a high price, so where does it leave those who are not billionaires? Markus Berger of Switzerland Tourism says that the strategy is not to focus only on high -end guests, but to take a hard look at the figures.
Stays in Swiss Five-Star hotels represent approximately 8% of nights, but guests contribute at least 25% of Total Tourism’s total income.
“The figures speak for themselves,” explains Mr. Berger. “The high economic importance justifies a commitment to luxury guests.”
In addition, he adds, Switzerland, with its high-cost economy at high prices, cannot compete with cheaper neighbors, especially that the Swiss franc is so strong.
“Switzerland has never tried to compete in prices,” explains Mr. Berger. “There is always a cheaper place.”
Tourism Swiss
The tourism industry of Switzerland has never contributed to Price says that Markus Berger
Instead, the emphasis is on quality, service and added value, such as these ski potatoes. In exchange, customers who come to five -star hotels also contribute a good deal to the rest of the economy, summoning sumptuously in Michelin -starred restaurants and shops which also become a characteristic in a certain number of Swiss Alpine stations.
But it is not an entirely win-win situation. In some of the most famous market stations in Switzerland, such as St Moritz or Zermatt, there are long -standing concerns that the emphasis on luxury is to leave the inhabitants of the market.
A common challenge is to find accommodation for the hundreds of members of hotel and restaurant staff necessary to provide five -star service.
They sometimes find themselves doing, late at night, when cocktail bars and restaurants have finally closed, long trips to other villages where accommodation is affordable on the salary of a server.
Monika Bandi, who directs the tourist research unit at the Center for Regional Development of the University of Bern, considers the land in Switzerland to high -end guests as a good balance. This is “quantity against quality”, she says.
No more tourists are not necessarily better, she believes. Instead, higher expenses by existing numbers can be positive.
And, she adds, Switzerland must pay attention to the “tilting point, where destinations really lose their character”.
Questions about a tilting point are currently being asked in the Wengen station, world -renowned for its ski race Lauberhorn, and its decades connection with British skiers – the highly appreciated of the ski club “Down Hill Only” celebrated its 100th anniversary this year.
And also this year, Wengen opens its very first five -star hotel, and there are also plans for a five -star hotel apartments with services. They will be sold to rich tourists who want a luxury holiday home in the Alps, and they can also be rented when the owners are absent.
Virgin region
Wengen has attracted tourists for generations
By calling the project a hotel, he exploits a flaw in the strict Swiss laws against the “cold beds” of the holiday homes. In theory, the law limits them to no more than 20% of the housing of a station.
The Swiss Heritage Society has officially opposed Wengen’s plans because, the spokesperson Simon Weiss, the project is not really a hotel. “It looks like a typical holiday home complex … There is no integration into the community.”
The public spaces required that a hotel would have – a restaurant and a spa – are planned, but they will all be underground. The priority of design fears Mr. Weiss, concerns private luxury apartments which can be occupied for only a few weeks a year. “The design is unacceptable,” he adds.
Some residents of Wengen also have their doubts. “It’s not St Moritz here,” said one to the other, adding “Wengen is not chic”.
Wengmüller’s tourist director of Wengen Rolf Wegmüller agrees with this evaluation, but says that the luxury accommodation trend will not change the character of the station. “We are not going that the guests are walking in suddenly fur coats,” he said.
Wengen, he underlines, is only accessible only train, therefore, unlike St Moritz, there will be no bentleys or Rolls-Royces taking parking spaces. Even if they could display their wealth ostentatious, Mr. Wegmüller believes that “our guests will not want to show what they have”.
Rolf Wegmüller
Shiterland winter tourism is highly focused on skiing
The complex also has visitors who return year after year, contributing to the integration that Mr. Weiss is worried about losing. “Some families have come for generations,” said Wegmüller. “The inhabitants know them, and that’s good.”
Among them, Brian Bollen, passionate member of the Down Hill Only club, who has been coming to Wengen for over 50 years. He loves it, but fears that part of “the charm has passed from the place … it is too built”.
But most of them in Wengen, like tourism in Switzerland, see investment in alpine and positive stations. These villages were not much more than a century, very poor. A 19th English guide to the Swiss Alps wrote that “most children are beggars”.
In recent years, global trade rules limiting agricultural subsidies have forced many small Alpine dairy farms to close. Tourism, winter and summer, is extremely important for the Swiss economy, especially for mountain communities.
And, as Mr. Berger in Switzerland points out, while the five -star sector is developing, three -star hotels are still the largest category. “We have one with five stars (in Wengen),” added Mr. Wegmüller. “It’s a good thing in a complex.”
And while people with unlimited money to spend on luxury trips can always be in tiny minority, their number and wealth are developing. The approach of Switzerland – no less expensive, but better, no more people, just richer – seems to bear fruit.
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