Megaproject collapsed – initiator Mario Julen is in police custody: The Ritz-Carlton in Zermatt was put on ice

The reason: A partnership with real estate developer Acron, based in Zurich and Düsseldorf, collapsed. “It was decided on both sides that further cooperation would not be productive,” says the Julen Group.

Conflicts between parties

But now you realize that the two parties did not fit together from the very beginning: “On the one hand, a visionary, locally committed entrepreneur, and on the other hand, a mandated investment company at the near end. Some are building for the long term, some for exit,” he says in Zermatt. “In retrospect, it can be admitted that a lot of time could have been saved on both sides.” Acron does not want to comment on this. Now the project is starting from square one again. When you ask around the village You can understand that many Zermatt residents are not happy about this situation at all: Many people were skeptical from the beginning about the arrival of the first major international hotel group (Ritz-Carlton is part of the Marriott Group).

However, now the partnership signed with Ritz-Carlton in 2021 is also on shaky ground. Julen made disparaging comments about the band in a video interview with industry portal “Hotel Inside” at the beginning of January: “I’d rather go bankrupt and go bankrupt all the time than do it badly and give some people an instrument that makes money doing it.” “I don’t want to win, I want to give people a platform where they can calm down and realize their worth.” A Ritz-Carlton spokesman reacted coolly: “We are still legally obligated to honor our agreements, so the project must continue to run.” The Julen Group says they will reunite in the “foreseeable future.”

Client under police custody

The fact that Mario Julen threatened those around him with a knife at the end of January also makes cooperation with potential partners even more difficult. The cantonal police asked various members (the Julen tribe has large branches in Zermatt) to get to safety.

Shortly after, he took Julen into police custody. Although the events have been on the town’s agenda ever since, local media did not report on them or the collapsed project. Zermatt is holding together outside as always.