Enlarge image
Hotel One: Beatrice
and
Daniel Rogger
in front of their renovated
"
Manor House
"
in the west of Scotland.
Friends attested them a
"
great tit
"
.
Photo: Oban Times
Anyone who gets lost in the small town of Oban on the west coast of Scotland usually sits a few days later on one of the many ferry boats to visit the popular Hebrides archipelago. But Oban also has charm (whiskey distillery, McCaig's Tower), albeit a typically rough one, of course.
The most striking proof of the area's special charm is
Daniel Rogger
(53). After all, the Swiss gave up a life of luxury for Oban. Rogger was active for Swatch and Richemont, most recently he tried to bring order back to the Faber-Castell pencil dynasty, as the first non-family boss ever. Then, in March 2020, he got out and bought a hotel with his wife Beatrice at the very top left of Europe:
"
The Manor House
"
in Oban, built in 1780. Rogger has been carrying suitcases, repairing taps and serving as a waitress since April of this year.
manager magazin: Mr. Rogger, you represented brands like Silhouette, A. Lange & Söhne or Jaeger-LeCoultre, earned millions and let thousands of people work for you. You are now carrying suitcases. Has something gone wrong?
Daniel Rogger:
Absolutely not.
I loved my job.
But in the end I just worked out, restructured, globalized, digitized so many strategies that nothing new would have come up.
I could have continued to do this, but it wouldn't have given me anything.
I wanted a change.
But the whole world is changing and so is the CEO's job.
You always have to question yourself critically and consider where you stand and where you will see yourself in ten years.
I'm now 54 years old; at 64, still sitting in the executive chair would not be a good idea.
At some point you have to make room for younger people.
As a top manager you inevitably see many hotels from the inside, but do you have to run one straight away?
Two of our best friends work in the restaurant business and asked each other directly whether we had a great tit.
But my wife and I have been interested in hotels and restaurants for a long time.
We have traveled a lot, like to eat well, and like to cook.
We had the feeling that we knew a little about it, even if we quickly realized that it was a mistake.
Because behind the scenes it looks very different.
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