Insights from Davos Sex Workers: Insider Scoop on Elite’s Secret Conversations and Views on the World’s Future

A high-class escort has spilled the beans on what happens behind closed doors, including what the wealthy really think about climate change.  

Salome Balthus, a 40-year-old escort and writer based in Berlin, has journeyed to Davos, Switzerland, to rendezvous with clients during the World Economic Forum (WEF).

During this visit, Salome connected with a client in Zurich, hinting that there was a possibility the client might attend the WEF. However, she chose to keep the details of the encounter confidential, highlighting the importance of discretion in her profession.

In an interview with MailOnline, Salome shared insights she has gained about the global elite through her experiences as a luxury escort, offering her thoughts and evaluations of these individuals.

Recently, the mood at the WEF had changed and ‘gotten more apocalyptic’, according to Salome. 

‘The elephant in the room is climate change. Everyone knows it can’t be prevented anymore,’ she said, adding that the ‘super rich’ could generally be split into two groups on the topic.

‘The one group thinks it only affects the poor, the “not-white race”, while the others fear that it could get worse but there’s no sense in trying to do anything about it so they just enjoy themselves,’ she told MailOnline.

‘The one half is in despair and the other, dumber, half is celebrating future mass deaths. It’s not just like that in Davos of course, but it’s concentrated there [during the WEF].’

Salome Balthus (pictured), 40, is a high-end escort and author from Berlin who has travelled to Davos, Switzerland, to meet up with clients during the World Economic Forum (WEF)

Salome said: ‘With the people I meet [at the WEF] I agree on special conditions that I can’t talk about’ (stock image of Davos, where the WEF is held)

Salome elaborated that some of the uber wealthy people fitting into the first group were saying that those in third world countries ‘might all die but us in the North, we’re fine’.

She said: ‘They say that in a democracy you have to sell it, to lie to people and tell them “we didn’t know better and didn’t think it would get this bad”, not admitting that they know.

‘Then there’s the other group that thinks it might not be so easy, maybe it will also affect us due to unforeseeable chain reactions.

‘But they say they can’t do anything against the others so they live following the mantra “after us, the deluge”. 

‘They say they will enjoy a few more nice years on earth and know that there’s no future. They are very cynical and somehow deeply sad.’

Salome said topics like this come up at a bar, sauna or hotel lobby, especially if people already had a few drinks.

‘Every now and then I tease this topic and they will comment, after which I can make my own sense of it. Of course, that only works if the person is drunk late in the evening and talking to someone at the bar, then that’s what happens. 

‘They are extremely proud of it [and therefore talking about it] or they just see me as an object and don’t think about the fact that I’m also thinking when they’re with me.’

This year, Salome met a client in Zurich who she said ‘maybe’ planned on going to WEF, but she remained tight-lipped about the circumstances of the meeting as discretion is valued above all in her line of work (stock image)

‘The public must know that that the enemies of the poor and the lower class are not the migrants but the super rich,’ Salome added. 

‘Tax the Rich etc. is a joke behind closed doors […] There’s a guy at the bar who shouts “Tax the Rich” with every new shot. They feel untouchable.’ 

Salome said client meetings are often about ‘the passion of erotica and the passion of power, although the latter so much more that it can even erase the former’.

‘It’s not the super powerful that do something like this [hiring an escort] – they are happy when they get a bit of time for their families – no, it’s the more the subaltern workers who are excited, maybe even there for the first time,’ Salome revealed.

The philosophy and German literature graduate said she doesn’t do parties, where she would be waiting for someone to pick her up. 

‘It’s more exclusive than that,’ she said, adding that she handpicks her clients who appear to value her not just for her beauty and discretion, but also her intelligence.

According to the website of Salome’s own feminist escort agency in Berlin, Hetaera, a weekend costs clients £5,000, while a two-hour tete-a-tete starts at about £850.

Salome said: ‘With the people I meet [at the WEF] I agree on special conditions that I can’t talk about and I only meet up with people that I like somehow. 

‘There’s obviously also some very intelligent people there and all I can say is they probably need a lot of alcohol right now [in light of the current state of the world].’ 

The majority of the about 3,000 delegates who arrived in Davos for the annual forum on Monday are wealthy men in business and politics

Stock image of a private jet at Engadin Airport during the 55th annual meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF), in Samedan, Switzerland, 22 January 2025

Prostitution is legal in Switzerland, with sex workers expected to pay taxes, register with local authorities and undergo regular health checks. And business is booming. 

The official line on escorts in many countries, not just in Switzerland, is that they are remunerated for their time and what they do with it is up to them. 

This laissez-faire approach has been credited with reducing violence against sex workers and human trafficking but, of course, those who work in the sex industry occupy every social and economic stratum. 

In Davos, sought-after escorts are smartly dressed in business suits, so they don’t stand out, and are often well-educated as well as fluent in at least two languages. 

The reason for that is the equally high-class clientele they are aiming their services at – the majority of the about 3,000 delegates who arrived in Davos for the annual forum on Monday are wealthy men in business and politics. 

According to an escort who goes by the name of Tiffany, ‘discretion is the number one skill for an escort – especially a high-end one’.

‘I wear normal clothes – a purple suit and a black coat – to make it look like I am actually part of the conference scene,’ she previously told MailOnline.