As I eavesdropped on a conversation at the Grand Hotel Les Trois Rois, it felt almost too cliché.
Perched on red velvet chairs and sipping top-shelf cocktails, a group of hotel guests discussed a friend’s upcoming art show. He was heading from Switzerland to New York City to display his latest installation, where the work was expected to sell for about the median price of a US house.
The guests chatted, tossing out names I didn’t know. If I were anybody in the art world, I’m sure they’re names I would have recognized.
The conversation shouldn’t have phased me. I was at the Grand Hotel Les Trois Rois, the ritziest hotel in the Swiss town of Basel, an area known for art.
The property has welcomed royalty, celebrities, art fanatics, and the ultrawealthy in its three-century history. It’s a hotel that oozes luxury, and for one night, I soaked in every detail — from the down …