Where ski butlers unclip your boots: Is this Europe's poshest ski hotel?

More recently, swish hotels and upmarket cruise lines have called certain members of staff 'butlers', as a means of getting across their luxury credentials.

And now we have 'ski butlers'. At least we do at the Rosa Alpina Aman in the Italian village of San Cassiano in the heart of the Dolomites, where rooms start at around €1,775 a night, rising to €18,000 for a two-bedroom suite.

The role of these particular butlers is to fetch and carry skis rather than plates. They help put on your boots in the morning and take them off again in the evening; they whisk you back and forth to the gondola in Succession-style black vans - and I dare say they would, if asked, accompany you up the mountain just in case you might require something at altitude.

It's all a far cry from when skiers rented chalets hosted by posh students on their gap year, who made spaghetti bolognese and pointed you in the direction of the slopes before rushing off to snog a French ski instructor.

Come to think of it, this is all a far cry from when the Rosa Alpina was, well, the family-run Rosa Alpina, with deer antlers on the walls and furry rugs on the floor.

Then, post Covid, the Aman group came knocking and Hugo Pizzinini, whose grandfather launched the hotel in 1939, opened the door to a unique partnership whereby the family remains the senior shareholder but Aman manages it.

Smoke seems to be coming from beyond the 7m high, floor-to-ceiling windows when we arrive. Are we on fire?

'Don't worry, that's just steam rising above the outdoor pool,' says Signor Pizzinini, who lives with his wife in an apartment at the top of the hotel.

Massive photographic tapestries by the South Tyrolean artist Brigitte Niedermair hang in the lobby; there are fireplaces (some real, some fake) everywhere (they come standard in all 51 rooms); and the forest is lit up at the rear of the property. The bar has the tallest backdrop of any I've ever seen and a piano man tinkles gently throughout the evening, while staff float about in immaculate, grey uniforms.

There are now 36 Amans globally, including the one in New York, reportedly the most expensive hotel in the US and possibly the most expensive anywhere in the world.

The Indonesian visionary Adrian Zecha, 92, founded the group in 1988, focusing on small properties and with a strictly minimalist style. He is no longer involved but his idea that you should 'arrive as a guest and leave as a friend' is still respected - people even talk about 'Aman junkies' who can't get enough of the brand.

The Rosa Alpina project cost around €80million. It involved knocking down the original hotel and starting again, plus erecting a new building next door. At the time, some locals were sorry about it, but with strips of larch on the outside and no concrete, it blends in magnificently.

There are fewer rooms now than there were in the hotel's former incarnation - fewer but larger.

Don't expect cheese fondue. Instead, you're invited to spend up to €375 per person for a Japanese Shabu Shabu hot-pot experience, whereby you dunk cuts of meat and vegetables into a frothing broth at your table.

There's also an Italian restaurant for those either with less deep pockets or anyone who might think Japanese cuisine sits uneasily in a ski village.

I have no idea if Elon Musk or Jeff Bezos are skiers, but this place is made for them, not least because the villages of the Dolomites are outrageously pretty and the skiing is superb.

After a day on the slopes, three pools (including the outdoor one) await or you can assuage muscle fatigue with a €285 massage. If children still need more action, there's a climbing wall, two cinemas, table tennis, billiards, gym and interactive computer games.

It all works spectacularly - and to have a 'ski butler' unclipping your boots after your exertions is the height of luxury.

I'm tempted to take away a memento and spot a cashmere throw in the gift shop.

No price is on it. And if you have to ask then you can't afford it - but I do so anyway. '€3,850,' says the shop assistant.

'Let me think about it,' I tell her. Which I do - and conclude that the Rosa Alpina Aman exists in a parallel universe, of which I would love to be a tiny part.

By Evoke Staff