First in a two-part series on the upswing in luxury hotels

Crans-Montana, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The global economy is in a morose state, with Switzerland predicted to join the recession in 2009. November figures for the hotel industry released 16 January show it may be starting to feel the impact: figures were down overall by 6.8% compared to 2007. The figures hide a number of discrepancies, though, one of which is that Valais was the only canton to show an increase, possibly thanks to good early snow. Geneva and Zurich showed the largest fall, but moderate-price hotels may have been hit harder than others.

The Swiss luxury hotel business is still counting on enough people having money to keep top hotels busy. Geneva’s palaces and niche luxury hotels have been busy investing in improvements, while in resorts, construction work continues unabated.

The latest place of charm and comfort to open is a boutique hotel in Valais, LeCrans, which is taking reservations for the end of January. This is a large chalet with extraordinary views, a mere seven rooms, six suites, a chic restaurant at the edge of the Cr d’Er piste and a managing director who was formerly the sales and marketing director at the Lausanne Palace.

The first question everyone asks is “how can you make a hotel viable with so few rooms?” The second question is always, “Are there really enough overnight guests to keep these hotels going?”

Mirza is quick to say no to the second question, which provides the answer to the first. “In cities like Paris or London you have to protect guests from all the noise and busyness outside, so these big hotels make sure they can provide everything inside.

“But in Switzerland, and in smaller cities, you can’t do this. You need to bring people in.”

From the guest’s point of view, a hotel that invites in the rest of the world is livelier, more friendly and not a rich ghetto.

From the hotel owners’ point of view, the restaurant, bar, nightclub and spa business that comes from guests who are not staying at the hotel creates atmosphere, but they also make all the difference to profit. According to Mirza, a successful city hotel of this sort can do twice as much business from its non-rooms side.

The boutique concept pushes this idea to its limits. The rooms are not, of course cheap at the new hotel, which is a member of the Leading Small Hotels of the World: they start at CHF800 a night and go up to CHF9,000 a night for what most families would consider a very comfortable and beautifully decorated three-bedroom, 100m2 apartment – with services. The apartments are 200m2, with one for rent and the others for sale.

Even the bathrooms on the inside of the apartments manage to have windows that offer spectacular views of the 4,000 metre peaks on the south side of the Alps.

Unusual in this high-altitude part of the world: the spa leads to a cozy outdoor swimming pool which has a view of Alpine sunsets or the moon over the snowy peaks.

Mirza says the hotel will offer special introductory prices during February, partly to encourage people in other parts of Switzerland to discover the hotel.

LeCrans will have local competition for the niche group of luxury hotel guests. The resort has two five-star hotels already and the Ambassador re-opens later in 2009 as a five-star hotel with a spa; a second boutique five-star, the Guarda Golf, opens near the golf course in the summer of 2009. If all goes according to plan a new luxury resort will be built by Russian developers starting in 2010 nearby in Aminona. For Crans-Montana’s director of tourism, Dominque Fumeaux, this is all part of a larger, necessary expansion of the resort’s overall offer.

Fortunately for the resorts, this is turning out to be an excellent winter for skiing.

It’s too early to say how well the boutique formula will work. Friday afternoon the hotel was filled with construction workers hanging lamps and checking wiring while the 45 employees were welcoming journalists and serving early visitors to the restaurant.

But the hotel clearly has appeal, with designer Christophe Decarpentrie apparently given free rein to create a collection of highly individualized rooms – something for every taste.

The restaurant is a happy mix of elegant and comfortable – skiers can come straight to the door, where they will be given a pair of booties to wear to the table while their boots are heated gently. Prices from chef Nicolas Bergeat’s kitchen range from CHF24 for a mesclun and quail salad starter to CHF125 for a giant roast langoustine brochette with spicy guacamole or CHF73 for an Alpine saddle of lamb roasted in Guinness. A magnum of Château DuCru-Beaucaillou is available for CHF1,530, or if that isn’t in your budget, a glass of one of the local specialties – Valais has a multitude of prize-winning wines – probably will be.

Technology should help bring in local traffic. The wine cellar, for example, is managed by a system that will allow LeCrans to offer up to 40 open wines – affordable and with the richly varied local wines, a real plus.

Technology also adds real value to the rooms, with each equipped with a small monitor box that is easy to use and regulates at a sophisticated level all the lights, the music, the television – including the wanna-have flat screen televisions at the foot of the bathtub.

The view outside, the TV inside, a hot soak: not bad at the end of a day on the slopes.