From the Prince of Tonga to the emirs: on the slopes by helicopter, reserved snowmobiles and front row seats for the key events. And finally, the gourmet dinner at the Verona Arena
There are those who, these days, aren’t too worried about the traffic on Germany, i parking lots away from the slopes, the shuttle for ten euros with the driver quick – if you don’t pay – to drop you off in the snow. He is the super rich man, with residence in Chamonix-Mont-Blanc, France, who has already made it known that he will get there on the slopes with the helicoptercoming and going comfortably during the day. An expense, do the math among the specialized sites, which can cost from 10 to 20 thousand euros per daydepends on the type of helicopter which, in this case, is not known. Indeed, among the protagonists of the Great Olympic Event there are also the Big Spenders of the Arabian Nights, fans who are not satisfied with “seeing” the Olympics, they want them “live», enjoying very special attention, private experiences, settings even more enchanting than the Ampezzo Dolomites already are.
More and more exclusive events
To obtain them, they turn to an American company, On Locationwhich does exactly this by profession: making events that are already unique in themselves even more special, from Super Bowl from football to the World Cup, from the US Open in tennis to the All Star Game in basketball, passing through the Coachella Music Festival and the Ryder Cup in golf. The IOC has reserved an On Location 10% of tickets on sale for Milan-Cortina, dedicated precisely to satisfying the «premium clientele», as the experts call it. Among the names filtered in recent weeks, the prince of Tonga and the emirs of Qatar, while the identity of the mysterious group from Chicago, forty people, arriving with a Boeing 737 executivewho after a couple of dinners in the Palladian villas of the Vicenza area, will spend the Carnival in Venice and then move to Cortina. By helicopter, it goes without saying. «Sales are progressing well – explains the CEO of On Location Italia, Emilio Pozzi – in particular for hockey competitions, thanks to the return of the NHL champions, men’s and women’s skiing, the quintessential challenges of the Winter Olympics, and “big air”, i.e. free style jumps on skis and snowboards. The surprise is it skimski mountaineering which makes its debut in this edition. Figure skating, on the other hand, is a bit below expectationsprobably due to the absence of attractive names known to the general public”.
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The sample packages
Pozzi knows the Cinque Cerchi environment very well: the debut was just eighteen years oldin Los Angeles 1984, a volunteer like many but favored by multilingualism, living in the States, the son of an Italian and a Swede. «The gold Olympics of the Abbagnale brothers, with Galeazzi’s commentary» he recalls. Then Turin 2006 like managing director of Coni and, before arriving at On Location, a visit to the Milano Cortina Foundation. We were therefore talking about “taylor made” packages, tailor-made: the most coveted is the “Lindsey Vonn», which includes dinner, aperitif, a chat and the inevitable selfies with the immortal champion from Minnesota, especially on Valentine’s Day; then there is the «Giorgio Rocca», which allows you to ski together with the slalomist who won the World Cup and to follow with him some races of the specialty that made him famous; «but there are solutions for all needs and they are not necessarily hyper exclusive and expensive – explains Pozzi -. They range from 100 euros for the preliminary stages of hockey to 10 thousand euros from the closing ceremony at the Arena but it must be said that, at the express request of the IOC, all hospitality areas guarantee the same qualitythe same look and the same comfort.” There are 16 lounges, each with an Olympic torch and the Games mascots for the usual photos. The Cortina Club house is in the restaurant 5 cut.
Dedicated snowmobiles and gourmet menus
The details are hidden in the 9,900 euro difference mentioned above: the transfer to the race venue (not trivial, given the moonlight on car parks, cable cars and shuttles), the reserved entrances and quick to the venues (in short, the “skip the queues”) in some cases reached thanks to dedicated snowmobiles, the gourmet menus developed by renowned chefs (in Verona the dinner will be at the Gran Guardia), le privileged positions to follow the competitions (a stone’s throw from the biathlon target, for example), gifts designed specifically for the event, such as the personalized “puck”, i.e. the hockey puck engraved with the day of the challenge, or the uniform of your favorite team: just let them know before arriving and you will find it in the hospitality area at the kick-off, ready to be worn. «The greatest requests are coming from North America, Canada, Northern Europe – continues Pozzi -. Italy is between fourth and fifth place. There are no Russiansdue to the sanctions and the absence of the national teams, while the Chinese and Middle Eastern teams are quite average.” Super rich people of the globe, unite. And when they leave, what will remain of such sparkle? «The real return for Cortina and the Venetian mountains will be the next day – concludes Pozzi –. Once the Olympics are over, they will come from all over the world to see where they were celebrated and to “relive” them firsthand. You want to put skiing on the trail of Sofia Goggia e Mikaela Shriffin?».
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