Swiss army officers account for 121,000 hotel stays in 2022

Only for soldiers: a glimpse inside an army barracks near Geneva. © Keystone / Salvatore Di Nolfi

Officer-level military staff largely sleep in hotels rather than barracks, leading to significant costs, the NZZ am Sonntag newspaper reports.

Some 121,000 such hotel stays were made by officers last year, the paper wrote on Sunday. The cost was CHF8.5 million ($9.74 million), about 40% of the total accommodation costs of the troops.

In 2023, the figure is set to increase by CHF3 million due to a boosting of the army’s daily expense rate for accommodation – from CHF70 to CHF100 for officers and senior non-commissioned officers.

+ The Swiss army: your questions answered

According to the NZZ am Sonntag, the army thus accounts for more hotel stays in the country than Japanese tourists; the hotel association Hotelleriesuisse even advises its members on how to get the most out of army guests, the paper writes.

Political surprise

The practice was criticised by left-wing parliamentarian Franziska Roth, who told the NZZ am Sonntag she was “very surprised” by the extent of it. Roth said it’s not clear that the expenditure is in the interests of security, and that something should therefore change.

+ Government plans budget boost for Swiss army

Her centrist colleague Lorenz Hess – a former army colonel – told the paper however that “[officers] have always stayed overnight in village boarding houses” and that “it is proper that they are housed separately from troops”. It’s a question of esteem, he said.

That said, even Hess was surprised by the “impressive” figure of 121,000 nights.