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The traditional house will close for two years in early 2022. After a renovation, the Hong Kong luxury chain Mandarin Oriental runs the business.
After a renovation, it is now called “Mandarin Oriental Savoy Zurich”: the Hotel Savoy Baur en Ville
at the Paradeplatz in Zurich.
Photo: Keystone
After years of speculation, it is now clear: the Savoy Hotel Baur en Ville on Zurich’s Paradeplatz is losing its independence and is being taken over by the Asian Mandarin Group. In early 2022 the hotel will close its doors for two and a half years and will be renovated. The hotel’s board of directors has decided to extensively renovate the traditional hotel on the Paradeplatz in Zurich. The hotel will resume operations in mid-2024. Upon reopening, hotel management will move to Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group. From then on, the hotel will be called “Mandarin Oriental Savoy Zurich”. Credit Suisse, the hotel owner, confirms the relevant investigation at the request of the “Tages-Anzeiger”.
First Grand Hotel in Zurich
The Baur en Ville has a long tradition. It was opened on December 24, 1838 by Johannes Baur, a baker from Vorarlberg, as the first Grand Hotel in the city of Zurich, and was first renovated in 1857. A second major renovation took place in 1907. When it was opened in June 1908, the hotel had a total of 170 rooms. In 1975 the building had to be completely demolished due to fire protection. A conversion was not possible, so it was reopened in 1978. The facade was first dismantled and then rebuilt. The interior has also been completely redesigned and the rooms expanded. Since then, the Savoy has 104 rooms.
Family view of Paradeplatz – Construction site of the Hotel Savoy Hotel 1976.
Photo: ETH Zurich Library, image archive
This is what the Savoy Baur Hotel in Ville was like before it was demolished in 1960.
Photo: Getty Images
Gold dominates the interior of the hotel.
Photo: Nicola Pitaro
After the renovation that is now planned, there should be even less. The construction project plans to manage the hotel with 80 instead of the current 104 rooms in the future and completely redesign them. Therefore, Savoy guests will have fewer, but larger, rooms available. The interior work is carried out according to plans by the renowned Parisian interior designer Tristan auer. The meeting and event rooms on the first floor are also being renovated, preserving the structure of elements worthy of protection, such as the great ballroom or the union hall of the “United Guilds of Gerwe and Shoemakers”. The lobby and the catering concept will also be new.
The exterior of the hotel complex will not change this time, apart from the name on the building and a small adjustment in the entrance area on Poststrasse. With the takeover of the hotel management by Mandarin Oriental, the hotel loses its independence, but ensures access to the global network of the Mandarin Group. This is vitally important to surviving the competition in today’s luxury hospitality industry.
The Mandarin Oriental of London.
Photo: PD
The Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group operates hotels, luxury resorts, and apartment residences around the world. Has its origins in Asia, the group was formed in 1963 with the opening of Mandarin in Hong Kong. It is now present throughout the world and operates 44 hotels with more than 11,000 rooms in 25 countries. 20 of its hotels are in Asia, 10 in America and 14 in Europe, the Middle East and North Africa. One of the most prestigious is the Mandarin Oriental in London. Mandarin Oriental management will not change the ownership structure of the building; the hotel will remain in the possession of the existing shareholders, ie essentially Credit Suisse.
