Steigenberger Hotels and Resorts regularly play host to important societal occasions at their respective locations. The Steigenberger Grandhotel Belvédère in Davos in Switzerland is no exception in this regard, having acted as the venue for the World Economic Summit for no fewer than 48 years.
This year’s event took place between 23 and 26 January and saw around 2,500 participants arrive for the prestigious global gathering at the hotel. Visitors included 70 heads of state and government members, top managers from global corporate groups and international show business stars. This time, the Grand Hotel needed to coordinate around 320 separate functions behind its venerable walls. This necessitated the setting up of 68 temporary offices and numerous additional conference rooms. In order to expand capacities on an interim basis and create extra space, three multi-level constructions extending over a total area of around 2500 m2 were erected on the car park and on the hotel’s roof. The swimming pool was even drained to turn the health and beauty spa area into a conference facility. During peak periods, up to 80 different events were being staged simultaneously.
Director Tina Heide is the first woman to lead the Steigenberger Grandhotel Belvédère during the course of a 143-year history that is steeped in tradition. Now that the forum has come to a close, she is highly positive about what has been achieved. “I am extremely proud that we have been able to make an important contribution to such a distinguished occasion, as we have done every year since 1971. I would like to express my thanks to all staff members, whose indefatigable efforts have made such a successful outcome possible in the first place.”
An existing team of 100 employees was joined by 200 further colleagues from other hotels from Deutsche Hospitality to make sure everything ran smoothly. “The World Economic Summit is a particular highlight every year, but it also creates an exceptional circumstance which requires everyone to pull out all the stops,” stated René Baruth, Director of Operations at the Steigenberger Hotel Berlin, who was on hand to support the event on the ground. “It is rewarding to look back at what we were able to achieve by working so tirelessly and as a collective force. I consider it a great privilege to have been part of such a fabulous team performance.”
A further 150 persons were involved in the background to ensure that IT, technology, exhibition stand construction and other functions all went off without a hitch. The kitchen sent out 42,000 canapés and 150 kilos of beef fillet. 2,000 bottles of water and 6,000 bottles of soft drinks were served. Participants made their way through 2,000 bottles of wine and 1,000 bottles of champagne and consumed 1.5 tonnes of ice cream. 100 fridges also stored 120 kilos of butter, 730 litres of milk and 1,500 eggs. 70 coffee machines processed 250 kilos of coffee and 180 kilos of espresso beans. 40,000 glasses were polished, and the number of cutlery items used came to 280,000.
