Fan Clubs, Iced Champagne and Unicef

The hotel has seen a flurry of sporting personalities lately with the Czech and the Spanish women’s teams staying at the Hauser for the Women’s World Cup Downhill event. Managed to get a lovely shot of Czech Klara Krisova as she cam back to chill - 

All these lovely young ladies milling about made an obvious impression with impromptu gaggles of fans springing up all over the place – such as young Swiss skier, Wendy Holdener’s very keen fan club!

The extreme cold has not managed to dent any enthusiasm either – although it did mean you had to guzzle your champagne down fast lest it froze in the glass and cigar smoking seemed like a good excuse to keep warm!

The Hauser pastry, cake and coffee stand was particularly popular during the White Turf event, in fact we have never sold as many hot chocolates as this season!

Amidst all this festivity, fabulous events and champagne popsicles there is a real sense too of giving back….this time it is Unicef’s Eliminate which takes centre stage…

Horse Racing, Art and music on the frozen lake

It seems as though the pace here in St Moritz only has one gear and it is the top one! Events keep getting more and more exciting. I barely have time to go for a decent ski these days – there is frankly so much going on.

From the jewel-coloured TESLA roadsters poised on the Hauser terrace luring us out for yet another test-drive through to the preparation for tonight’s Art on Ice. The frozen lake plays natural centre stage for most of the current activities. The breathtaking Art on Ice at which Hauser is hospitality host is swiftly followed by more White Turf Racing. Check out if you please the inside of the VIP tent erected on the frozen lake…

This is where some 800 guests will be welcomed by sponsors BMW and Credit Suisse….

And then there is the live music playing at the Hausers from tonight on through the weekend with Doc Fingers and Kim Nishikawara a professional multi-reeds player 

Tesla at The Roo Bar

There is no need to hump your skis onto your shoulder and stagger up the slope anymore…. I have been muttering about hiring a Sherpa for ages now – especially at the end of a hard day of skiing, often the last thing I feel like doing is lugging my skis back to the resort!  You can hold the Sherpa however, I fell in love with these tidy little Tesla’s the moment I clapped eyes on them – it was the way it looked SO good with my skis strapped to the back that did it.

Jonathan Fiol on the other hand – forerunner in last year’s famous Hahnenkamm worldcup downhill - is a man used to serious speed – so the Tesla’s cool 0 to 100 in under 4 seconds had him ditching his otherwise beloved skis for one test drive after the other! You simply couldn’t wrestle him out of the car once he was in!

As for me I loved the sleek and elegant lines, the sheer comfort, the fact that it is as green as you can get and – well OK – the colours…. I mean how could you resist!

Tesla comes to Hauser

We are getting ready to greet some very special guests who arrive tomorrow. These are without doubt some of the best looking and cleanest guests we have had for some time, although we don’t mean to be disparaging to all our wonderful guests, these are getting us quite keyed up!

Tesla Motors Switzerland are coming to St Moritz to offer free road tests to all enthusiasts. Best still they will be parking a couple of their elegant machines just off the Hauser terrace and offering free accompanied test drives for two afternoons next week between 16.00 and 19.00.

The Tesla Roadster ranks amongst the world’s most coveted sports cars. Unlike combustion engined vehicles, the Roadster’s electric motor can accurately and quickly moderate its linear delivery of torque – so says the press release – this means that it offers more precise handling and traction control in challenging weather conditions – which of course makes it very appropriate up here in our snowy paradise!

Whilst the boys will get excited by the fact that this little electric beast goes from 0 to 100km/h in just 3.7 seconds, I particularly like the fact that it has instant climate control without having to wait for the motor to heat up – that and the fact that it has zero emissions and really is quite a looker!!

Some live footage will be following in the next blog so keep an eye out for it!!

White Turf Racing

I grew up with horse racing in the blood – my father designed the first ever set of starting stalls for horse racing – so I consider myself a bit of an expert when it comes to the sport.

I have been to almost every race course imaginable from Happy Valley in Hong Kong to Chantilly in Paris – but I have never, ever seen such a wonderful display as White Turf Racing in St Moritz.

It has a lot to do with the improbability of all those sleek – yet heavy – horses racing across the very lake we sailed on and watched the Match Race last Summer. Are they sure that ice is thick enough to support an entire race course? Well it seems so. The noise, the spraying snow and those brave skiers being pulled along behind the horses is truly awe-inspiring!

Jazz and icicles

I was thrilled to hear that the Jazz Festival I so enjoyed last Summer is making a revival in Winter here too.

There are so many others things happening here at this time of the year that I had kind of presumed they might shelve the music until the Summer!

So what a treat the other night, sitting in the Miles Davis Lounge of the Kulm Hotel listening to Anna Kaenzig‘s haunting voice. These jazz nights at The Kulm are scheduled to run Thursday’s to Saturday’s, are free and have an awesome line up of national and international artists. The Miles Davis lounge is a wonderful setting – a blend of sophisticated Switzerland meets New York chic – the room wafts whisky fumes and cigar smoke – yes it is one of the few places you can smoke indoors – you truly feel you have stepped into the very soul of jazz as it was meant to be – all this on the very roof of the world!

I will never insist on 4 star hotels again

…. these are the exact words some of my fellow guests recently wrote in a TripAdvisor review - having always aimed for top quality hotels they were blown away by what the Hauser’s offer! I just recently wrote a blog on perks hotels offer and how these need to be spontaneous and genuine, so was delighted to read that what made a real difference to this TripAdvisor couple was the fact that Markus took time out to drive them to a party on New Year’s eve so the lady guest’s heels wouldn’t get ruined in the snow…. that and the fact that they felt they were staying with really good friends highlights my point that hotels need to look beyond mere ‘perks’ if they want to create standout.

Still on this topic, not all major corporations can have a Markus and Marinda at the helm to be on hand to look after each and every guest. That is not to say that those who interface with the public on a daily basis can’t show some heart. RAK is an excellent example of how corporations, big and small have taken to the idea of offering surprise acts of kindness, for no return, they expect nothing back, just to bring a smile on your face. The payback of course is that the story of what they have done gets shared and passed around like wild fire – take KLM’s story as one great example!

All that to say that keeping your customers’ at the very centre of everything you do makes everyone feel good – the rewards are authentic because everyone enjoys the experience!