OutdooR beds iN swiss hotel
BERN: An overnight stay in a double bed “suite” in a field costs 295 Swiss francs ($306), but you do get a drink on arrival, breakfast and the services of a “modern butler”—typically a local farmer in rubber boots. He or she escorts guests to the site, provides weather reports and delivers local jokes through a brokendown TV set. Welcome to the “zero star” hotel, a conceptual art project that lets guests bed down in the wide open spaces with unobstructed views of Switzerland’s majestic landscape. Created by twin brothers Frank and Patrik Riklin and partner Daniel Charbonnier, the project aims to explode traditional approaches to hospitality in the wealthy country known for its luxurious top-star mountain and lakeside resorts. An outhouse bathroom is a three-minute walk away at a nearby Alpine hut that serves as a backup in case of bad weather, which wiped out 37 of the 60 available nights outdoors last year. ”Our artistic perspective is to go in the other direction. There is freedom in the zero to define luxury anew,” Frank Riklin said of the minimalist project that opened on Friday in the rolling hills of the Appenzell region.