THERE’S an alternative universe at the World Economic Forum, where panel discussions are swapped for private meetings with bankers, and the scent of scotch wafts through the air beginning in the early afternoon.
The venue for the parallel world is the Steigenberger Grandhotel Belvedere, reached after an eight-minute hike from the Congress Centre in Davos, Switzerland.
In the lobby, billionaires mingle with executives, many of them flanked by bodyguards, press handlers or assistants. Some head to the Audi Lounge, where they can check out a prototype of a grey sedan featuring a three-dimensional dashboard.
“There are some top guys – heads of state, billionaires, chief executives – who come here for a specific meeting or two, and they want privacy for those meetings,” former professional hockey player and venture capitalist Richard Stromback, 46, said on Thursday at one of the sponsored bars. “The other Davos exists because it’s so hard to find private spaces.”
In the hallways on the first and second floors, financial companies such as Goldman Sachs and Deutsche Bank keep small offices so bankers and their clients can meet behind closed doors. The New York Stock Exchange and information technology consulting firm Infosys have rooms on the second floor. Further down the hall is Sberbank, the Moscow-based bank that was sanctioned by the US and EU in September in response to Russia’s incursion into Ukraine.
Clients waiting for meetings on Thursday sat on sofas on a landing between floors. Aloke Lohia, the chief executive of Bangkok-based polymer and yarnmaker Indorama Ventures, roamed the hallway mid-morning on his cellphone.
The Belvedere is also where politicians, celebrities and the wealthiest collide. Bill Clinton, Angelina Jolie and Bill Gates have been spotted there in previous years, and some of the week’s best parties are held at the hotel. It’s one of almost a dozen hotels the forum rents space from for events.
Former UK prime minister Tony Blair, surrounded by two bodyguards, was in the lobby on Thursday evening, as was Glencore chairman Tony Hayward.
Makeshift lounges, hosted by consulting firms, are spread across the hotel. Art is also sponsored, including a piece created for Deloitte composed of blue and green Post-it notes that decorates the entrance hallway.
PwC’s lounge is located on the basement level of the Belvedere. It has several semi-private areas roped off for guests, some wearing bespoke suits and ice boots, if they want to have meetings.
“Deals that get done in Davos happen because the people who come here need trust that is only made eyeball-to-eyeball,” Walter Schindler, the founder of venture capital firm SAIL Capital Partners, said on Thursday. He had struck a deal earlier that day at another hotel.
“The reason I come to Davos is because I can meet the people I want to do business with,” Schindler said. “I don’t need to go to the conference to do that.”
Languages spoken in the PwC lounge included English, German, Italian and Mandarin, and discussions overheard focused on current events such as the European Central Bank’s quantitative easing policy and the Swiss National Bank’s unpegging of the franc to the euro.
Another front-burner topic: which parties to attend. Consultant McKinsey held its annual fete on Thursday night. The previous evening, SABMiller had hosted a party that featured cocktails.
Upstairs at the Wipro bar, bottles of Johnnie Walker Blue were on display along the entire left side of the bar. The first scent of whiskey could be detected at about 2pm.
Stromback said he had been coming to Davos for a decade. He rented a penthouse apartment close to the Belvedere, where he hosted a space-themed party with Henry Ross Perot jr and Richard Branson.
Not everyone wants to have private meetings at the Belvedere. Billionaire Rahul Bajaj, the 74-year-old chairman of India-based Bajaj Auto, was at the hotel to attend a private reception held by Britain’s Prince Andrew. He loved Davos because he never did business there. – Bloomberg