Last weekend the vicar of Freie Evangelische Gemeinde, the “English church” in the centre of the Swiss town of Davos was handing out the sacrament.
This Sunday holy communion is cancelled, because the church is one of more than a dozen Davos buildings that have been rented out to multinational companies for hundreds of thousands of Swiss francs during the World Economic Forum, the annual business “festival” which starts next week.
As more than 70 world leaders – including President Donald Trump, Theresa May and French President Emmanuel Macron – prepare to fly to Davos, the locals are packing up and leaving town.
In recent days, 20 Swiss workers have shifted the pulpit and built a stage. Danish online payments firm Tradeshift has transformed the church into “the sanctuary” – a place for world leaders, business executives and celebrities to “debate the biggest challenges and opportunities”. The company is tight-lipped about who will take to the stage, but last year speakers included will.i.am, Matt Damon and Forest Whitaker.
Christian Lanng, Tradeshift’s co-founder and chief executive, said the conference would benefit from “the quality of conversations that happen throughout four days in a tiny mountain village with global leaders and innovators.
I’ve connected with brilliant minds as diverse as [Alibaba founder] Jack Ma, Kofi Anan, Richard Branson and Matt Damon from every industry and nation, and look forward to doing so again this year,” he said.
Next door to the church, removal men are moving chairs and driers from the der Frisör hairdressing salon.
Hub Culture, a social network and digital currency firm, has rented the salon for the last eight years and converted it into an event space complete with a temporary “Ice House” structure on its roof.
“We were the first to take over a building in Davos for WEF, but now loads of companies take over shops, the library even the church for the week,” said Stan Stalnaker, the founder of Hub Culture.
He has brought a team of 35 people to run his events, including five chefs trained by Michelin-starred chef Alain Ducasse. “We will be holding events from 7am to midnight every night,” he said. How much this will all cost? “An awful lot,” he said. “But it’s not about the money. It’s about what we plan and hope to achieve here – to help change the world.”
So many businesses are moving out of Davos that traffic stewards are required to move on delivery trucks and help pedestrians negotiate construction sites. Lingerie store Blue Lemon is empty bar a few naked mannequins. Salesforce, a Californian cloud computing company, is moving in to host events.
An outdoor clothing store is being transformed into an office for management consultancy Accenture, a shoe shop is being used for HSBC events, and a knitting store will be used to promote India. Pizza joint and night club Remix will become “Crypto HQ” a venue promising “immersive talks, panels and engaging workshops with the world’s most cutting-edge thought leaders and innovators”.
One of the few shops not taking the cash and moving out next week is Stauble, the local purveyor of Rolex and Patek Phillippe watches. Manager Isabel Steinmann said she was “living in hope” of big spenders from the conference suddenly needing a new timepiece, or two. “Our watches are just the type that WEF people would like, we stay hoping they will pop in.”
A team of 11 men from Coventry are turning Guyan & Co estate agent into an event space for Wipro, an Indian IT company. “It’s more interesting to be working here than building a stand in the NEC [exhibition centre in Birmingham], But boy is it expensive, our bar bill last night was €300 (£265) and we only had four beers,” Barry Buxton of events production company Freeman, said.
Freeman’s foreman Rich Strutt said Wipro had spent a “frightening amount” on hiring the store and fitting it out. “The rent for here is SFr320,000 (£240,000), the rent for our apartments is £34,000 for 10 days – they are not luxury and we’re two to a room,” he said. “All in, it will cost [Wipro] more than £1m – they are happy to spend a lot.”
Strutt said there was a lot of media attention on Davos, but he questioned its purpose. “It seems like just a good excuse for a lot of rich people to hang out and drink champagne. Bill Gates will be here talking about climate change having flown here in a private jet.”
Adam Twidell, chief executive of private jet booking service PrivateFly, said he expected there to be more than 1,700 private jet flights into or out of nearby airports – the highest number ever. A flight to Zurich from London costs about £10,500, and a 40-minute helicopter ride to Davos costs another £3,750.
Facebook has gone one step further than rent a storefront, and built its own three-storey house to hold events hosted by founder Mark Zuckerberg.
Facebook is renting the land from the Kirchner Museum. Dolores Mark, the museum’s spokesperson, declined to say how much Facebook had paid, only that it was “a lot”.
While the WEF event brings in €40m to the local economy, some residents complain that the growing size of the event is putting too much strain on resources.
Reto Branschi, chief executive of tourism body Destination Davos, said: “It is difficult to have all the construction work, but on the other hand WEF gives us a huge media presence and economic impact. More than 80% of residents voted in favour of having the WEF in a poll last year.”
Hotel Belvedere in Davos
The town’s plushest hotel, Belvedere, is preparing for its biggest week of the year. Photograph: Robert Hradil/Getty Images
There is not a single available hotel room left in town, despite prices of up to five figures a night for rooms that cost a little more than €100 last week. Many locals have rented out their chalets and apartments for thousands.
Trump’s late decision to attend has prompted extra problems: “The US delegation rang this morning asking for more rooms,” said Tina Heide, general manager of the Grandhotel Belvedere, the fanciest hotel in Davos. “They’ll be lucky to find anything … They might be able to rent trailers in the car park.”
The hotel will be patrolled by some of the more than 5,000 Swiss troops drafted in to secure the town next week. “Security is paramount,” she said. “But so is our guests’ comfort.” To that end, the hotel has drafted in 200 extra chambermaids, waiters and cocktail waitresses who will have to share rooms.
More than a dozen heads of state will be staying at the hotel, together with “a lot of celebrities and other VVIPs,” she said. The WEF has block-booked the hotel, allocating rooms and informing the hotel who is staying on a daily basis to ensure maximum security. “Heads of state can be staying in a suite or a regular single room. They don’t care as long as they get to stay here, as it is close to everything.”