Last week, delegates from across the globe descended upon Davos, Switzerland, once again for the annual World Economic Forum.
For the first time — that I have seen at least — we got a sneak peek into what life was like for attendees during the week of the event in the Swiss Alps mountain resort. Not that this is anything comparable to the infamous Fyre Festival, but I'd like to see a documentary on the prep of World Economic Forum: the atmosphere, the less desirable happenings such as a lack of bathrooms and lodging, and a sneak peek into the parties that go into the early hours.
The Wall Street Journal published this article: "Bad Hotels and Not Enough Wine: A Week With Billionaires"
As someone who covers the hotel industry, this headline grabbed my attention. I thought, how could a town that has been hosting this high-profile event since 1971 have bad hotels and a lack of meeting spaces?
WSJ reports that one Hilton Garden Inn became the most sought-after spot for attendees, given its prime location in the security zone of the event. It was so heavily desired that having the right connections was among the only ways to get a spot in the hotel.
I dug a little further to see what other hotels and aparthotels were in and around Davos, both in walking distance and driving distance from the Congress Center. According to this map, there are 45.
But according to WSJ, officials of investment firm KKR were holding meetings in the spa area of the Steigenberger Icon Grandhotel Belvédère, Davos. They swapped out a massage table for a meeting table.
An executive of the London Stock Exchange Group held his meeting in a hotel kids club. At the Hilton Garden Inn, people were paying about $170 per hour for a table to hold meetings. And its 146 guestrooms sold out quickly.
"Accommodations were so scarce that some attendees accepted beds in makeshift hotel rooms. One executive arrived at her hotel up the mountain in Davos — not the Hilton Garden Inn — only to be given a flashlight. Her room, which contained beds set up in what is typically an exercise space, didn’t come with its own bathroom; the flashlight was to navigate to a shared restroom down the hall," the news outlet reports.
When it came to listening to speakers during sessions, attendees were crammed into makeshift auditoriums and overflow spaces peeking through glass doors.
Reading the WSJ article made me realize what goes into successfully hosting a large event, the importance of the right infrastructure to support the volume of attendees and the right staff to care for attendees. It gives me a new level of appreciation for the conference organizers of hotel industry events such as NYU International Hospitality Industry Investment Conference, Americas Lodging Investment Summit, Hotel Data Conference, Lodging Conference, Hunter Hotel Investment Conference, CHRIS/HOLA, International Hospitality Investment Forum, CHICOS, Indie Lodging Congress, Boutique & Lifestyle Lodging Association, and many more.
I know there's something to say for the fact that these conferences are often held in major cities with lots of infrastructure and not in the Swiss Alps, but regardless it has the basics: plenty of lodging accommodations, transportation, food, public bathrooms, staffing, meeting spaces and conference ballrooms.
You can see just how sour these events could go if there's not the right tools to host it. But maybe that's part of the appeal to World Economic Forum attendees? Maybe it's the stories they get to carry with them as they leave Davos and await next year's event? I imagine among all the deal-making and prognosticating, there's a great deal of bonding up in these Swiss Alps.
And unless we ever find ourselves on the inside of this event as flies on a wall, we shall let it remain a mystery.
Send me an email or connect with me on LinkedIn.
The opinions expressed in this column do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Hotel News Now or CoStar Group and its affiliated companies. Bloggers published on this site are given the freedom to express views that may be controversial, but our goal is to provoke thought and constructive discussion within our reader community. Please feel free to contact an editor with any questions or concern.