Every journey hides a question behind it: how will I view (insert any city name here) after so many years without returning? Will I enjoy reconnecting with my university friends? Will sleeping in a cabin in the middle of the forest scare me? Will Alaska be as I imagine it? This grand trip had its own question, and it was twofold: can hospitality be taught? And kindness, its main prophet?
To answer them, one had to fly to Geneva and then take a very punctual train that traced the shoreline of Lake Geneva, a sight impossible to miss photographing, since we are people from countries with lakes that aren’t exactly spectacular. We had to climb some impossible slopes and arrive at two places: one, Glion, at the very top of a city filled with flowers, Montreux, and the other, Les Roches at the summit of a mountain, in Crans-Montana. This is the brief and incomplete story of a trip to two schools where hospitality is taught, that quality that forms the backbone of the travel world. And where it has been carried out in an elevated way for decades. Perhaps the director of that hotel we liked so much in Mexico trained there. Or the owner of that little Menorca lodging that enchants us.
Switzerland has a long tradition of teaching hospitality. Here, as discreet as one would expect, are the institutions where executives begin their studies by turning down beds. Those who graduate leave with several (and good) job offers tucked in their pockets and a network of contacts on which to lean and not stumble. But that level of impact goes beyond what many hospitality schools strive for worldwide; a place like Les Roches aims for more: “Here we change people,” declares Carlos Díez de la Lastra, the Spaniard who acts as CEO and stands as one of the sector’s global authorities in hospitality. He explains it to me in a room with windows looking out at the peaks of Valais: “Students come from privileged backgrounds, this university is a privilege and they will work in a place of privilege, they go from privilege to privilege and money is earned by taking good care of people. Universities must teach how to be good people, skills aren’t as important.”
This point is underscored by the affable Finnish Jacquie Lutz, Head of Career and Alumni Services&Industry Relations: “Here we seek critical thinking, a mental framework, the application of references…” And this applies to anyone aiming to work in hotels, on cruise ships, sporting events, fashion and beauty brands, or haute cuisine, because in these schools, luxury and hospitality intersect. Glion, with views of Montreux that take your breath away, was the first to implement a program with this focus in 2013.
