Swissôtel retreats back to Europe

Swissôtel, the luxury hotel chain of the SAirGroup, is moving its headquarters from New York back to Zurich. The company, which relocated to the US in 1996, said its future lay in Europe.

It has offered the 30 people employed in the head office in Manhattan the option of relocating to Switzerland.

“The future of our business lies in Europe. That’s why it makes sense for our headquarters to be in Europe as well,” says Andreas Meinhold, president and chief executive officer of Swissôtel.

Ironically, it was a similar belief – that the United States was a more promising market – which caused the company to move to the Big Apple in 1996.

“Back then, 75 per cent of the value of our real estate was in the US and we were convinced that our US companies couldn’t be managed from afar but that we had to be there”, explains Meinhold.

“We moved to the US on account of the success our hotels were having there and to better exploit them. Our acquisition of the Swissôtel in Washington resulted from this, for instance,” he explains.

However, real estate property in Atlanta, Boston and New York was sold to interested investors.

Since then, the hotel chain’s activities have gained momentum, particularly in Europe. The existing network of nine hotels has grown by new houses in London, Berlin and Frankfurt (under construction).

Meinhold explains that the situation in the US had become more difficult with tough competition to find locations that are both lucrative and prestigious.

The move of the headquarters will not take place until June next year, giving employees time to decide whether they want to relocate to Zurich or continue their careers with a different employer.

swissinfo with agencies