Inside the Hassler Roma’s Next Generation With CEO Veruschka Wirth

The third-generation hotelier talks about running Rome’s legendary Hassler with her twin brother, what she learned from her deaf father, and why the smallest details can make the biggest difference in hospitality.

For Veruschka Wirth, the Hassler Roma has never simply been a hotel.

She and her twin brother Roberto Jr. grew up there, watching their father, legendary hotelier Roberto E. Wirth, run the landmark property at the top of Rome’s Spanish Steps. Their grandmother had been involved before him. Today, Veruschka is CEO and Roberto Jr. is Executive President, carrying the family business into its next generation. They are also the sixth generation of the wider Bucher-Wirth hotelier dynasty.

But inheriting a hotel was never meant to mean simply walking into it.

Their father insisted both twins train outside the family business first. Veruschka studied hospitality at Glion in Switzerland, worked in Boston and London, and later returned to Italy. “Our dad was very strict about having experience outside,” she told me. “You can’t really run a hotel if you don’t have other hotel experience.”

Now, at 34, she is helping oversee one of the most significant transformations in the Hassler’s recent history, including refreshed rooms, redesigned public spaces and gardens with Jacques Garcia (Hotel Costes in Paris, La Mamounia in Marrakech and the NoMad in New York), new uniforms and amenities, and a two-level spa.

Yet talking to Veruschka, what stands out is how personal her approach to hospitality remains. She thinks about how an employee feels in a uniform. Whether a female guest has the right hair tools. What a luggage sticker says about a hotel’s personality. Whether someone on the team could use a compliment.

Her father taught her to notice everything. She is putting her own stamp on what happens next.

You grew up around the hotel. Did you always know you would eventually work there?

I did. Ever since I was a kid, I had this image of myself walking through a hotel, greeting people and working. It’s funny because I literally pictured myself doing what I do now.

We pretty much grew up at the hotel, so we saw our dad working all the time.

But he was adamant that we needed experience outside. I worked in Boston for three years, in London at Four Seasons and in Switzerland for a little bit. I went to hospitality school at Glion.

I think that outside experience is important. You can’t run a hotel if you haven’t seen how other hotels work.

What ultimately brought you back to Rome?

Part of it was personal.

My mom is older and I had been away for so long. I remember thinking, I want to be able to call her randomly and say, “Mom, let’s go for lunch.”

I didn’t want to miss that time.

She’s still involved with the hotel in her own way. For a very long time she did all the interior design, and she is incredibly creative. We still ask her opinion and give her projects because I don’t think people should ever completely stop doing things.

Your father, Roberto E. Wirth, was one of the best-known independent hoteliers in Italy. What did you learn from him?

My dad was deaf, and I think because of that he developed these incredible other senses. He noticed every detail. Nothing escaped him.

Even something as simple as smiling was a huge thing for him. When we were kids and visited other hotels, he would sometimes go up to employees and gesture at them to smile. I used to be so embarrassed! I would think, “Can you please stop? They don’t even know who you are.”

Now I tell the staff to smile. So clearly that stayed with me.

He taught us so much. He was also very strict, and as with any parent or leader, you learn what you want to carry forward and sometimes what you want to do differently.

Veruschka and Roberto Wirth

You and Roberto are twins. How have you divided the business?

It works well because we are quite different.

I follow more of the commercial side, the aesthetics and many of the guest-facing details. My brother is more focused on the property, architecture, maintenance and operations.

We’re similar in many ways, but our personalities are different too. Sometimes it’s almost good cop, bad cop.

It took me a little while when I first came back to find my place in the hotel. I tried different things. I started doing events, travelling and becoming more involved commercially, and slowly everything fell into place.

Now I know which areas are mine, and I love them.

The Presidential Suite at the Hotel Hassler Roma

The Hassler is in the middle of a major evolution. How do you modernise something with so much history without losing what people love about it?

That was exactly our concern.

We spoke with a number of architects and designers, and Jacques Garcia was the one who understood that we didn’t want to lose the identity of the hotel.

Instead of coming in and immediately wanting to make everything new, he asked to see the original designs from the 1930s.

I loved that.

We’re embracing that vintage Grand Hotel feeling rather than running away from it.

We’ve refreshed the rooms, removing some of the heavier drapery and carpets, redone the lobby and worked on the garden. We’re also redesigning the uniforms and introducing new amenities.

For me, it is about making things feel fresher while still feeling like the Hassler.

You seem especially interested in the small details guests interact with.

That’s one of my favourite parts of the job.

Because we’re owners, I can have an idea and sometimes make it happen very quickly. It might be something as simple as the hair tools we put in a room.

You have a hairdryer, but why not also think about a straightening brush or a flat iron?

When you stay at the hotel, I like the idea that you can tell there is a woman behind some of these decisions.

I’m also working on little pouches, face masks, luggage stickers, hats and other pieces. I love vintage luggage stickers, so we’re bringing some of those things back.

It sounds small, but all of those things build the personality of the hotel.

You’re also redesigning the staff uniforms. What are you thinking about there?

I put a lot of thought into how employees actually feel when they wear a uniform.

We’re working with a couture designer, Katia Minniti Berard, and I don’t want the uniform to only look beautiful. The person wearing it has to feel good in it too. That is very important.

For me, the creative side of the job is a great counterbalance to all the office work. I can leave my desk, walk around the property and think, maybe we should change this, or maybe something belongs over there.

I also have a great team around me. My sales and marketing team is all women, and they have so many ideas.

Rome has seen an extraordinary influx of luxury hotel brands. Does all that new competition worry you?

Not really. There are a lot of new hotels and chains coming into Rome, but I think that’s positive for the city.

And the funny thing is, many of us are actually friends. We talk. We recommend each other. One hotel might have something particularly good for one guest, while another is better for someone else.

There is enough business to go around.

The Hassler also offers something different because we are independently owned and family run. You’ll see me around the hotel. You’ll see my brother, sometimes with his little boy.

You feel that family side very quickly. For us, the hotel is a job, of course, and we get tired like everyone else. But it is also much more of a lifestyle. I think guests feel that.

What’s your leadership philosophy?

Be kind.

It sounds simple, but I think kindness is one of the most important things, and it’s free.

I also believe that when you notice something nice, you should say it.

If someone looks great that day, tell them. If somebody has done something well, say it.

You’re already thinking it. Why keep it in your head?

There are so many little things you can do that completely change someone’s day.

Are you one of those CEOs with a 5 a.m. workout and elaborate morning routine?

Absolutely not! I’m terrible in the morning.

My brother does the morning meetings and I tend to come in around 10, but I stay later. He has a young son, so he goes home earlier, and I’ll do more of the evening events.

A cappuccino is definitely necessary.

I live right at the bottom of the Spanish Steps, though, so I get a beautiful walk to the hotel every morning. That’s my routine.

What are you listening to or reading when you’re not working?

Audiobooks. I basically replace music with them. I listen when I’m driving, doing laundry or flying. I alternate between psychological thrillers and rom-coms, so nothing particularly hotel related!

And what are you most excited about at the Hassler right now?

The spa. It’s about 700 square metres over two levels, with four treatment rooms, two saunas, one steam room, an ice room, a Kniepp therapy area, a heated pool, a cold plunge pool and gym. We’ll also have an area that is almost like a mini spa with a private jacuzzi, sauna and steam room that guests can reserve for themselves.

a rendering of the new spa at the Hotel Hassler Roma

We’re working with Biologique Recherche, and the focus will be on longevity and recovery. It has been a big project, especially alongside everything else we’ve been doing at the hotel, so I’m excited to finally see it come together.

But really, I’m excited about this whole next chapter for the Hassler. We have so much history and such a strong identity. We don’t want to lose any of that. 

The opportunity now is to make it feel fresher and more relevant while still making sure that when you walk in, you know exactly where you are.