My ingrained love for hospitality and the freedom and opportunity to pursue that love. Each hotel has a unique way of creating a sense of place, from its heritage to its people, and I’ve always been fascinated by this form of storytelling and the experiences that go along with it.

I can recall a specific moment when that struck me. I was 13 or 14, and on a trip with my parents to the Côte d’Azur. It was here that I first went fishing. I actually caught a fish and I remember the chef of this beautiful hotel – it was an old palace actually – coming up to me and saying: Christoph, let me take that fish and we’ll cook it tonight. And he did and we ate it for dinner, sitting on the terrace of this grand old hotel as the sunset. That was an unforgettable experience. And also, a lesson in what service can do to make a customer happy. It can create a moment of magic. I’ve been fascinated ever since.

What I see becoming a bigger trend in the near future is simplicity. And simplicity will help to create sustainability. By that I mean, hospitality will be increasingly about the experience, rather than the amount of stuff. The future of luxury lies in simplicity and this has been accelerated by the pandemic. How do you get people to travel again? By offering something they can’t get at home. For example, we no longer need to have a limousine service with big cars and tinted windows that block your view of the city. Instead, people might want to use bikes to get around so they can actually experience where they are. That’s something we’ve implemented at 25hours and it’s been a success.

I can’t tell you how to create empathy within a company, but I think you grow it by nurturing it. Our company was very small initially and it was founded by people who loved what they did and loved to communicate that with others. As we grew, we kept those values intact. Of course, it’s become more difficult because we are more spread out, but we do try our best. I believe empathy is the central ingredient to creating an unforgettable experience for our guests. In a way, it’s more important than technical skills. As long as you have empathy and put in the time, I think you’re well-positioned to be good at your job. You can learn the rest. When hiring for our company, we prioritise emotional intelligence. It lays the foundation for a certain philosophy, which guides all our actions. And the guests feel that. Because if you’re empathetic as an employee, you’ll know how to treat guests. Chances are, what makes you happy, will make your guests feel happy.

Yes, I’m always optimistic. There was no single moment since starting this company, in which I have not been optimistic. We may be experiencing a huge challenge right now, like everyone in hospitality, but I think our brand has the means to survive and to thrive. Thanks to our people and our philosophy, what we offer is much more attractive right now. As I’ve said, the incentive to travel is smaller than it used to be, so we really need to entice people. No one wants to stay in a standard, sterile business hotel. Hospitality is transforming and we are uniquely positioned because we’ve always been in the business of creating special moments instead of just offering a place to spend the night. Now, we have the opportunity to present an even stronger image of ourselves.

During lock-down, I took up alpine touring. You climb up a mountain with the skins on your skis and when you reach the top, you take the skins off and have this magical experience of skiing off-piste. I did that all of winter and spring until mid-May. I would recommend it to everyone because it’s a completely different way to be in nature. It clears your mind and is completely freeing.

If I want to die hiking a 4000-metre mountain, I need to be a person that has the curiosity to do that. That means I have to take care of my body, my spirit and my mind in order to be the type of person that wants to hike a mountain when I’m 95.