Hospitality · Luxury Retail · Spirits

Hans X. Baer

Hospitality shaped me and led me to luxury retail and premium spirits. What hasn’t changed is what I enjoy most: working with people from all kinds of backgrounds and cultures.

Born in Zürich Based in Frankfurt German & English

Portrait of Hans X. Baer in a pinstripe suit

About

From guest to host.

I grew up in Switzerland with Swiss and Asian roots. My surroundings, at school and at home, were always international. Growing up, I stayed in some beautiful hotels, and at some point I became more interested in the other side of the front desk: what it takes to be a good host.

That led me to study hotel management at Les Roches and to start out in hotel front offices in Frankfurt, Berlin, Munich and Gstaad. From there I moved into luxury retail, first at Montblanc in Zürich, then at Louis Vuitton in Stuttgart, and most recently to Diageo, where I looked after premium bars, restaurants and hotels in two territories.

Whether at a front desk, in a boutique or with a bar team, the job has felt much the same to me: look after people properly, and set the standard yourself.

Experience

A decade in hospitality,
luxury retail and spirits

- Full territory responsibility for trend-leading and luxury accounts: client management, new business and outlet prioritisation.
- Selected to build the Frankfurt territory, not actively developed for around four years; grew the account base in each territory, Frankfurt and Stuttgart, from 70–80 to around 110.
- Led both territories in parallel, each with its own budget responsibility.
- Segmented the portfolio by priority and volume; around 80–100 contract negotiations and regular brand activations.
- Led a team of 12 in a store of 20, with day-to-day responsibility for store operations.
- Conducted recruiting interviews.
- Assortment decisions, annual planning and client events.
- Stock, replenishment and regional VM standards.
- Deputy head of front office, guest services, valet and concierge, a team of 10.
- Five-star superior hotel with 57 rooms and suites.
- Regularly deputised for the store manager in a team of seven; responsible for rostering, boutique KPIs and onboarding.
- Raised the average transaction value by 40%.
- Local client share from around 70% to over 80%.
- Kempinski Frankfurt: Rooms Division Management Trainee.
- Radisson Blu Berlin: Front Office Agent.
- Steigenberger Munich: Shift Leader in the opening team.

Background

Education

Bachelor in International Hotel ManagementLes Roches Global Hospitality Education, 2012–2015

Exchange semesterGlion Institute of Higher Education, 2014

Languages

German and English, both at native level

Systems

Salesforce CRM, Opera PMS, Microsoft 365

Military Service

Sergeant, Swiss Armed ForcesSquad leader

Expertise

What I know best

Retail leadership

Leading a team on the shop floor: hiring the right people, setting standards and running the store day to day, as I did at Montblanc and Louis Vuitton.

Commercial strategy

Deciding where time and budget go. At Diageo I developed two territories, chose which accounts to prioritise and negotiated the agreements behind them.

Guest experience

Knowing guests well enough that they come back. It started at the hotel front office and still shapes how I approach clienteling and events.

Travel

Away from work

I was given the chance to travel from a young age, and much of it took me to Asia. That was more than twenty years ago, before the world felt as connected as it does now. For a European, Asia was still far away and far less familiar than it seems today.

Those trips shaped how I see things. What stays with me is rarely the sights, but the small things: how a city starts its day, how people host, what ends up on the table. I still travel whenever I can.