Hosting an Event in Davos During the WEF: A Planning Guide
✨ Introduction
From 18 to 22 January 2027, the WEF brings around 3,000 business leaders, heads of state and heads of international organisations to Davos. Hosting an event in Davos that week takes more than a venue: permits, invitations, security and transport all need the same level of attention. Start by browsing our venues in Davos.
This guide works through the questions companies and delegations ask us when they plan a reception, a dinner or a round table alongside the World Economic Forum.
📅 Timing and permits
What to decide in November
With about ten weeks to go, the best-placed venues are going fast. Four decisions need to be made now: format, headcount, budget and venue. Invitations and production follow in December.
The Davos municipality rules
For WEF 2027, the Davos municipality has tightened its rules on temporary structures and on turning restaurants, bars or shops into event venues. Those projects needed a permit filed by 15 August 2026, and the total number is capped. Any advertising visible from the street also has to be declared, with a deadline of 30 November 2026. Our briefing on what's changed for WEF 2027 covers the detail.
Hotels, chalets and private dinners: the direct route
A hotel hosting an event in its usual function rooms, a seated dinner for a closed group in a restaurant, a meeting in a private chalet with no external branding: these formats sit outside the permit system. For an event planned in the autumn, that is the simplest route. Always ask the venue to confirm what its status allows.
🏔️ Choosing the format and the venue
Reception, dinner or round table
Start from your objective. A reception for 100 to 300 guests is about visibility and networking. A private dinner for 20 to 60 gives you real conversations with decision-makers. A morning round table followed by lunch works well for policy topics. Evenings are heavily contested during the week, so a breakfast or a lunch is often easier to fit into your guests' diaries.
What the venue needs to offer during the WEF
Look for in-house catering, a cloakroom, an entrance that is easy to control and a short trip from the Congress Centre.
Set above Davos Platz, this historic hotel is six minutes' walk from the station and two minutes by car from the Congress Centre. Its five rooms add up to 500 m² and hold up to 300 guests standing or seated for a banquet, with in-house catering and wifi. The mountain views and the architecture set the tone for an executive reception.
Historic hotel for a WEF reception in Davos
In Davos Dorf, this upmarket venue has two rooms of around 200 m² each: a lounge bar for 150 standing or 90 seated, and a studio for 100 theatre-style. That makes it easy to run a round table and drinks on the same day, with catering arranged on site and the mountains as a backdrop.
Upmarket venue in Davos Dorf for round tables and drinks
✉️ Invitations and the guest list
Define your audience
Start with three or four clear profiles: ministers and senior officials, leaders from one industry, people from international organisations. For institutional guests, outreach usually runs through your own networks, whether that's your embassy, your partners or your diplomatic contacts. An agency can help you shape the invitation strategy, but the relationship stays yours.
Send invitations at the right time
The WEF keeps its participant list under wraps until around 10 January. Send a save the date to priority guests in early December, then the full invitation before the holidays. Senior diaries fill up quickly, and every week of lead time helps.
Track RSVPs
An online registration tool makes it easier to track replies and dietary needs, and to pass names to security. Schedules change until the last minute during the Forum, so follow up the week before and send a reminder on the morning itself.
🎨 Branding and hospitality
Keep branding understated
For a senior reception, restraint works better than a big activation: tidy signage at the entrance, a discreet logo wall, well-made printed material. Anything visible from the street falls under the municipality's advertising rules, so have the venue sign off your visuals in advance.
Show your hospitality culture
A national delegation or a brand can turn hospitality into the message itself: a menu drawn from its cuisine, welcome drinks and rituals, music, table settings. Work with the venue's caterer and, for traditions, with specialists from your own culture. It's often what guests remember once the week is over.
🚗 Security, access and transport
Security zones and badges
During the WEF, the police and the Swiss army secure Davos, with controlled-access zones around the Congress Centre. Official badges are issued by the Forum itself. For your own event, send the guest list to the venue ahead of time, plan an entry check and bring in licensed providers for close security.
Getting from Zurich to Davos
Zurich airport is the main gateway. Allow about 2 hours 40 minutes by train, changing at Zurich HB and Landquart, or just over two hours by car for roughly 150 km. A helicopter cuts that to under an hour. Traffic is restricted in town during the Forum, so book drivers and shuttles for your guests now.
Plan for changes and VIPs
A guest arriving with their own security team, a minister moving their visit forward by an hour, snow delaying the shuttles: have a coordinator on site, a seating plan you can change and a quiet side room for private conversations.
🎯 Next step
One week, a handful of streets and 3,000 decision-makers: in Davos, the details matter. Send us your brief with your dates, format and headcount. We'll come back with venues available for WEF 2027 and put you in touch with our partners on the ground.