Klaus, Bernard and Stéphane Wartner, hoteliers

I could also have added Anne, Klaus’s wife, and Alexandra, Stéphane’s wife, as they all work together. Klaus is a third-generation hotelier while Bernard and Stéphane are of the fourth generation. Hoteliers’ genes must be in their DNA !

Klaus :

I love this job, because we have so much contact with people and there’s a lot of human interest. Even if the job is hard, this contact is pleasant. No two days are the same : the job is so varied.

In this trade, when you’re young, you never have to worry about not being able to find a job. What’s more, the door is always open for travelling.

Bernard :

I am grateful to my father who has shown me everything. I am now the « maître d », responsible for the restaurant in our hotel.

For me, it’s like theatre, which I love. It’s like performing in a theatre with a restaurant for the stage, I adore that.

Stéphane :

Not having been forced into it, being able to work together as a family is a real pleasure. Before this, I was lucky enough to work abroad and to have different experiences, such as in Thailand, Austria, and England, and also in Baur on Lake Zurich here in Switzerland, amongst other places. What’s more, it’s thanks to the hotel industry than I met my wife !

Apart from obtaining training, how you would advise young people wanting to take up this career ? What do they need ?

The family answer :

To have a good level of schooling and the widest possible general knowledge, to be able to talk about everything without being a specialist, to be interested in all subjects and to speak many languages.

In our job, you are everything : doctor, psychologist, psychiatrist, and you must know how to calm the atmosphere even if clients are stressed, unhappy or loaded down with problems. After all, you want them to come again !

Eurotel Victoria

1865 Les Diablerets

024 492 37 21

lesdiablerets@eurotel-victoria.ch

Translation : Gordon Douglas