Swiss hospitality traces its roots two
thousand years to when the Romans
ruled the territories of the Helvetii
(Helvetians) and influenced the
culture by building wellness bathhouses
by the natural hot springs. During
the dark ages, military travel across
the Swiss Alps (Hannibal in 218 BC)
was replaced by political and business
travel when the Holy Roman Empire
reigned supreme. During the Industrial
Revolution in Europe, when cities were
plagued with dark smog and diseases,
Thomas Cook organized his first
Grand Tour of Switzerland in 1863
and ushered in an era of tourism to
the pristine alpine regions. Grand
hotels and an infrastructure for
tourism were built. A year later,
winter tourism was born with again
British guests, in St. Moritz. It was
the Belle Epoque of the late 1800’s
and early 1900’s. Switzerland
was the world’s luxury innovation
birthplace with the first Palace
Hotels (1896) and the playground
for the nobility of Europe and
distinguished guests from afar. César
Ritz, the Badrutt, the Seiler, the Baur,
the Rey family, and others, built a
reputation for Swiss luxury hospitality.
In 1893, the first hotel school in
the world was founded in Lausanne,
Switzerland by entrepreneurial Swiss
hoteliers with the desire to develop
the next generations of hoteliers. The
global stage of luxury hoteliers became
dominated by legends who embodied
the Swiss hospitality touch: the
civilized genius and Swiss-born César
Ritz, “the king of hoteliers and hotelier
to kings” (Prince of Wales, King
Edward VII), who coined the saying
“the customer is always right” and lived
by the motto: “see all without looking;
hear all without listening; be attentive
without being servile; anticipate
without being presumptuous.”
A more modern legend in luxury hotel
management is Swiss-made Kurt
Wachtveitl, who lead the Oriental,
Bangkok for over 40 years. He
90 ILHA
believed that “to have a top hotel you
need three things: owners who believe
in you, staff who are behind you and
clients who see the details.” Horst
Schulze, one of the founders of the
Ritz-Carlton hotel company, inspired
generations with the idea “we are
ladies and gentlemen, serving ladies
and gentlemen.” Isadore Sharp, the
founder of the Four Seasons Hotel
Company lived by a simple motto:
TREAT EMPLOYEES
RIGHT SO THEY TREAT
CUSTOMERS RIGHT.
The Swiss Hotel Management
School follows in these traditions and
trains the future high-wire artists in
luxury hotel management with skills
to balance the art and the science
of the Swiss Hospitality Touch
(Immaculate Precision, Discreet
Discipline, Dependable Quality,
Practical Innovation, and Professional
Leadership). Today’s luxury guests
crave simplicity, wellness, and
convergent experiences that care for
the soul. How do the young hoteliers,
still in hotel management school,
imagine what their future in the
luxury hotel business looks and feels
like? We asked:
“Coming from the performing arts
as a former professional ballet artist,
I realize how much performing,
improvisation and problem-
solving skills are needed to deliver
exceptional service to guests and
solve conflicts with compassion and
grace.” - Bence
My dream is to
make Japanese
hotel industry
more open and
globally thinking.
And I would like to
continue to learn
different people and
culture and always
want to be open!”
- Yuka