Page 48 - Special Issue QTM 2021

P. 48

Sven Flory (Director of Sales – The Bürgenstock Selection):

“ The ultimate Switzerland holiday
itinerary with Bürgenstock Selection ”

Anative of central Switzerland, Sven Flory graduated from the prestigious Swiss Hotel
Management Academy (SHL) in Lucerne. While a student, Sven was appointed to a leadership
role as Sales and Marketing Manager at the historic and award-winning Art Deco Hotel Montana
in Lucerne. Always fascinated with travel and different cultures, Sven was selected for a rotating
hospitality placement within the renowned Fuchun Resort in Hangzhou and the celebrated T8
Restaurant in Shanghai. During this assignment at the Fuchun Resort, Sven was on the team lead-
ing the implementation of “The Leading Hotels of the World” standards as the property joined the
LHW collection. He also designed and developed new luxury concepts within the property, includ-
ing their Spa and F&B enhancements. Sven was The Director of Sales and Marketing for the launch
of The Chedi Andermatt, Switzerland from 2015-2018 where he led the sales and marketing initia-
tives during the opening of the hotel – which included brand and sales strategies, promotions and
partnerships resulting in year-on-year revenue growth as well as accolades such as being named
“GaultMillau Hotel of the Year 2017”.
From 2018-2020 Sven served as Regional Director of Business Development for the Giardino Hotel
Group, with 5-star luxury properties in Zurich, St. Moritz and Ticino. During his tenure, Sven suc-
ceeded in elevating the brand within both European and key overseas markets, attracting and
retaining repeat loyal clientele.
Sven in now Director of Sales & Marketing at the iconic Bürgenstock Resort and for the
Bürgenstock Selection, he oversees sales for the luxurious city hotels – Schweizerhof Hotel & Spa
in Bern as well as Royal Savoy Hotel & Spa in Lausanne. Al Bayan Magazine met Flory on the side-
lines of the Qatar Travel Mart and conducted the following interview.

* What was the effect of Covid-19 on the where visitors can go from Lucerne to Bern and
tourism and hospitality sector in Switzerland? Lausanne by car, train or helicopter and we did an
- In Bürgenstock Hotels & Resort Lake Lucerne, amazing summer party at the Bürgenstock Resort
we performed extremely well because we are a and it was fully booked. We work very closely with
resort so people want to come and forget about the Switzerland Tourism so for us it is important to
Covid, they enjoyed the spa and the amazing din- see which markets open up, we are very active in
ing we offer so the resort itself profited actually and the Middle East with paid campaigns and social
of course we didn’t have the same volume of busi- media, we did a lot of online marketing. Also, we
ness as back in 2019 but nevertheless we actually are traveling to many fairs to meet our clients and
did very well. With respect to our property in Bern this summer we had an amazing business from the
and Lausanne, which are city properties, the situa- Middle East especially from Qatar and Saudi
tion was challenging especially that corporate busi- Arabia.
ness is missing and there wasn’t any kind of inter-
national tourism coming to Switzerland. * Are you optimistic for 2022?
- We definitely have to adapt to
* What will be your strate- what is happening especial-
gy for 2022? ly that Covid numbers
- We used really the are going up again
pandemic to see now. Nevertheless,
what the trends when we look at
are, we developed the pickup for next
new packages and year, it is already
we created a better than this
package where year so I expect a
visitors can experi- very good 2022
ence Switzerland with because everybody is
The Bürgenstock Selection desperate to travel particu-
so it’s one-stop-shop solution larly luxury tourism.

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