Fame Of Meeting Famous

Ernst Wyrsch, recently-retired director of Belvédère Hotel in Davos , has long mingled with the world's rich and powerful.

“I had tears in my eyes,” says Ernst Wyrsch. He wasn’t talking about last year, when he left his job of 15 years as director of the Belvédère Hotel above Davos, Switzerland. He was talking about 2006, when boxing legend Muhammad Ali visited the hotel. “We waited for him in the lobby, along with around 50 journalists and photographers. When Ali arrived, something unexpected happened. The photographers put their cameras down on the ground and started applauding.”

Wyrsch has probably met and lodged more government and business leaders, more show biz greats, than anyone else in Switzerland. Along with 70 Nobel prizewinners, the list includes 100 heads of state. Just a few of the names on it are Bill Clinton, Helmut Kohl, Tony Blair, Bill Gates, Chrysler and Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne and Deutsche Bank CEO Josef Ackermann – not to mention Angelina Jolie, U2 front man Bono and Robert De Niro.
Wyrsch has endless stories to tell, ranging from Clinton’s talents on the saxophone to the impact of being in the presence of Nelson Mandela, whose eyes were still so sensitive to light after years in jail that photographers were forbidden to use flashes.

As director of the Belvédère, Wyrsch became a central figure in Davos, where his hotel remains a favorite address of the world’s great and good. Wyrsch remembers taking up his position when the hotel was “very down” and there was talk of demolishing it or converting it into holiday apartments. Wyrsch put all his energy into keeping it functioning as a hotel. He made his number one priority the week in January when the World Economic Forum (WEF) meets in Davos.

Wyrsch also discovered that there’s a dark side to the glamorous lifestyle. “Some of these people want a separate entrance, or a red carpet, and when all the extra trouble you go to still isn’t enough – it was kind of a pain,” he says. He also remembers more than one big-time French business leader: “They compensated for the fact that they didn’t speak foreign languages with arrogance.” Sarkozy’s was an exciting presence, “but he took up an exceptional amount of room.”