The Badge System
What each one gets you, and what doesn't.
You can spot the Davos hierarchy from fifty meters away.
Not by the suit. Not by the entourage. By the color of the badge hanging around their neck.
The WEF runs a visible caste system. Different colors. Different doors. Different rules.
Here is the breakdown.
White Badge vs Hotel Badge
| White Badge | Hotel Badge | |
|---|---|---|
| What it does | Full access to Congress Centre. Official programme. Panels with heads of state. | Access to secure zone around Congress Centre — the four high-security hotels where private meetings and dinners happen. |
| Cost | Cannot buy one. Full partnership starts at CHF 250,000/year. Elite white badge costs CHF 27,000 on top of membership. | Approximately CHF 1,000–1,300. Non-refundable. |
| Who gets it | WEF partners, members, guests. Heads of state. Corporate CEOs. | Anyone with a confirmed meeting inside the secure zone. |
| How to get one | Invitation only. You are invited to hold one. | Applied for by a registered event host through the police platform. |
| Issued by | WEF | Cantonal Police of Graubünden |
| Valid | Full week | Full week |
Prices are approximate and change year to year.
The reality: you cannot easily get a White Badge. You can get a Hotel Badge.
The White Badge requires a relationship with the WEF and a six-figure commitment. The Hotel Badge requires a meeting inside the secure zone and someone inviting you to submit your name.
The other badges
There are at least ten different badge colors, each with different access rules.
- Orange — Journalists. Limited access to Congress Centre.
- Blue — WEF staff. Dark blue permanent. Light blue temporary.
- Brown — Executive assistants and delegation support.
- Green — Other support personnel.
- Red — Drivers.
- Grey — Spouses and partners.
- Purple — Medical personnel and technical staff.
What each badge actually feels like
Reuters ran a badge-color explainer a few years back that was funnier — and more honest — than anything official. Paraphrased here, credited where it's due.
- White, with hologram — Senior government policymakers and a very select group of WEF employees
- The most coveted badge on the mountain. The hologram gets you into the informal, invitation-only gathering that people quietly call "Davos-within-Davos."
- White, with blue line — Official delegates
- "I got invited to Davos."
- White, with blue line and dot — "Strategic partners" paying CHF 500,000 or more
- Access to a secret elevator that leads to a secret VIP room — which turns out to look exactly like every other room in the centre.
- White, plain — "Spouses"
- "I feel important and ignored at the same time."
- Orange — Working press
- Chasing CEOs to ask what "the mood" is this year, while being told you're barred from every place you actually want to go.
- Orange, with purple line — Technical crews with reporters
- Following the reporters who are following the CEOs, while getting a camera and tripod through security five times a day.
- Dark blue — WEF permanent staff
- Prioritising requests from heads of state and everyone else with a blue dot.
- Light blue — Volunteers working with permanent Forum staff
- A high-intensity week away from your partner. What happens in Davos stays in Davos.
- Purple — Technicians working behind the scenes
- Standing on a roof for hours in freezing temperatures, pointing a camera at men in suits doing five-minute interviews.
- Green — "The entourage"
- Friendly enough with a head of state — or Bill Clinton — to get a Davos badge without ever being invited.
- White with blue line, Promenade photo in red and yellow — "Minions"
- Can't get past security, but allowed into the hotels to serve their master.
Source: Reuters.
Vehicle stickers
Cars also need credentials to enter the secure zone.
Vehicle stickers are issued by the Cantonal Police alongside Hotel Badges. You need one if you plan to drive into the secure zone during WEF week. There is a separate application process and fee.
Without a sticker, you are stopped at the checkpoints. Drivers and passengers need matching badges to pass.
How much time that actually costs you, and what it does to a schedule built around walking instead of driving — see our ground intelligence guide.
Moving between venues with a hotel or WEF badge is also how a lot of unplanned conversations happen — see The Serendipity Shuttle.
The real question
Do you need a badge at all?
Most of the week happens on the Promenade. Houses by Country. Corporate pavilions and cafés. unDavos. Receptions. Private dinners. Hundreds of side events running alongside the official programme.
You can walk without a badge and check your luck — everything is possible.
And a hotel badge can bring you a longer way.
Get invitations, and RSVP beforehand — the real currency of Davos always is the person who invites you.
For the full strategy on building a week around exactly this — timeline, which doors are already open, and what needs arranging months out — see How to Attend Davos Without Official WEF Accreditation. Hosting a dinner instead of just attending one? The badge rules above decide which venues you can even get near — see where the real rooms are. And a badge is only one layer of access — for how the actual invitations to those rooms get decided, see How Davos Invitations Actually Work.
Davos Access does not issue, sell, arrange or influence official WEF accreditation, and is not affiliated with or endorsed by the World Economic Forum.
Do you sell badges?
We do not sell badges. Official WEF and hotel credentials are tied to specific vetted individuals and institutions. They require ID, photo, and police registration, and are issued by hotel and WEF security. They cannot legally be bought or sold by a third party. If someone offers to sell you one, that is not us, and it is not legitimate.
A shortage of real hotel badges left people outside in January 2026 — see what went wrong with badges in 2026 for how the allocation works and what to check before you travel.