Dietmar Müller-Elmau, Hotelier of the Year 2012

Dietmar Müller-Elmau is anything but a typical hotel director. And just that is presumably his recipe for success. Born in 1954 in room number 54 of the Schloss Elmau, he soon felt constrained by the rigid conventions of the traditional hostelry. He lived for a time in India and Israel, studied business administration, philosophy and theology and got a masters degree in computer science in New York. Back in Germany he founded a software company and earned millions with it. Not until his family put him under pressure did he commit himself to the ageing hotel. After a major fire in 2005, he used the opportunity to make a completely new start. He has turned the slightly down-at-heel protestant hostelry into a luxury spa. As an exclusive program of events he organises classical music and jazz concerts for hotel guests, as well as readings and lectures on philosophy. Dietmar Müller-Elmau is married to his second wife and has six children.