SPECIAL REPORT
Baur Au Lac deluxe suite
United States turned out to be very beneficial as in the early-90s the European luxury hotel market was starting to have more of an Anglo- Saxon culture with the growing U . S . banking industry , and the investment companies and private equity firms coming to Zurich .”
GUIDING PRINCIPLES Kracht certainly benefits from two rules that guide the family ’ s business : only one family member actually runs the business and profits are continually invested back into the hotel .
Today , General Manager Christian von Rechenberg , only the fifth in the history , handles the day-to-day and the family focuses on the big picture surrounding its investment .
Hiring the right management is always the biggest decision , Kracht says , and only having a handful over more than 175 years creates a consistency of service delivery that can ’ t be matched . “ A consistent product is essential because we have built-up clients across generations , and they come all the time ” Kracht says .
Among the other challenges Kracht and the team have faced included the complete refurbishment of the property in the 1990s , which at the time created a lot of worry because it was a four-year project that was filled with surprises and way over their budget . “ The investment was totally crazy , out of hand ,” Kracht recalls . “ I thought it could go totally wrong , but it really saved us for the coming 30 years . Although we are a traditional building , our product is very solid and behind the scenes modern and well-functioning .”
Of course , the other big challenge for Kracht has been the past three years and all the uncertainty surrounding the pandemic . Again , a steady hand , a great location and stellar reputation for delivering the very best service carried the day .
The Baur Au Lac never closed during the pandemic and pretty quickly rebounded to 30 % to 40 % occupancy to manage its budgets . Its affluent guests tend to be international and very mobile , and even as early as 2021 performance was at record levels . Kracht says another record is project for 2022 .
THE LEADING YEARS Perhaps one of the biggest highlights of Kracht ’ s career has been his association with luxury representation firm The Leading Hotels of the World , where he remains a shareholder .
He began his run with Leading
60 hotelsmag . com September 2022