If anyone knew the colorful story of the Bernese Oberland resort of Gstaad and how it became one of the world’s most famous jet-set resorts, it was Hedi Olden. In fact, she played an active role as the owner of the Hotel Olden, which became known as the meeting place of the stars. During her 50-year career, Hedi Olden was hotelier and restaurateur to the Who’s-Who’s of the world of entertainment, business and royalty. She knew them all, from Frank Sinatra to King Hussein of Jordan.

In 1997, Hedi Olden decided to sell the hotel and go into retirement. But it was not an easy decision for her to make.

Bob Zanotti knew Hedi Olden (legal name Hedi Donizetti), and visited her on several occasions. Sadly, she passed away in October 2017, leaving a permanent mark on the history and development of Gstaad.

In a conversation with Bob Zanotti back in 2004, Hedi went down memory lane and dropped a lot of names, as she loved to do. But she also took a philosophical look at how things changed over the years.