Aint's It Grand

A centenary is certainly a milestone worth celebrating, if ever there was one. Diana Khoo speaks to Dona Bertarelli Späth, owner of the Grand Hotel Park Gstaad, to find out just what to expect from one of Switzerland’s legendary grande dame hotels when it finally unveils itself this month, after an exhaustive nine-month facelift.It’s hard not to fall in love with a village like Gstaad.

Nestled amidst mountain peaks and verdant valleys, it exudes a genteel, rarefied air that has enchanted visitors for over a hundred years. Certainly, for the most part of its history, its fans comprised only the nobility or the worldly rich, although frissons of Hollywood glamour permeated Gstaad when luminaries like Her Serene Highness Princess Grace of Monaco, David Niven, Sir Peter Ustinov and Audrey Hepburn chose to spend their vacations in this alpine playground. And while it is enough of a privilege to be able to holiday exclusively in Gstaad, the unsurpassable pleasure of owning one of the town’s most legendary hotels is known only to a select few.

Among these include Dona Bertarelli Späth, the lissom owner of the Grand Hotel Park Gstaad and scion of the famous Bertarelli family, which founded the pharmaceutical company Serono and is sister to Ernesto, the billionaire entrepreneur and founder of the yachting syndicate Team Alinghi.

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