Hochgurgl in the Ötztal valley. For generations, the Hotel Riml has stood here for hospitality at summit level. It’s a success story that begins in the winter of 1965 with the hosts’ grandfather. The story goes that the hotel, surrounded by three-thousand-metre peaks, simply wouldn’t let go of Grandfather Riml. He was a guest himself back then, the hotel was smaller and, of course, had a different name. And yet: the imposing alpine backdrop, the glorious ski weather, an unforgettable holiday. Add to that fine dining from the Kulinarium, two in-house wellness oases, indoor golf and skiing fun from the hotel door. What more could your heart desire?
The highest four-star hotel in the Alps is now run by the third generation of the family and for some months has had an extra dimension of authentic scent. Aromea has now linked the overall experience at the Hotel Riml with an unobtrusive Corporate Scent. A story to take home with you, because you never forget a scent memory. But perhaps we should let Alexis (Assistant to the Management) describe the very first fragrant impressions of the Hotel Riml herself:
First of all, a quick word on the (scent) concept: the Hotel Riml offers its guests a holiday in truly grand style, with fine food, wellness, pools, golf, skiing and so on and so on. How would you describe your four-star range of services to someone who can’t experience it right now and can perhaps only read about it?
ALEXIS Roughly speaking, the concept is to offer the ambitious winter sports enthusiast absolutely everything they could wish for from the perfect holiday: direct, quick access to the lifts in the ski area, two large wellness areas for relaxing after skiing, modern rooms with alpine flair… Here you simply feel at ease straight away and enjoy first-class infrastructure that only very few hotels in this class can offer. In short: ski-in and ski-out with very special comfort!
A really impressive offer, with some very different settings too: lobby, bar, sauna, suites and fine dining. And to make sure your guests feel truly at home everywhere, there’s a little secret in the air. What smells so good here?
ALEXIS In the 2018/19 winter season, we began giving our guests a new highlight the moment they enter our hotel. A very pleasant fragrance now spreads through the largest areas of the hotel too: the spacious wellness areas, the lobby and, naturally, the ski room and the gym… It makes a stay feel simply more pleasant, in a very subtle way. And when guests come for a second stay, they immediately associate a familiar feeling with our hotel again. Just as if they were “coming home”.
A particularly powerful feeling, and one that probably everybody knows. For your scenting, you opted for an especially unobtrusive solution. How have you found the scent intensity so far?
ALEXIS Really good! With the Aromea scent marketing system, the fragrance is distributed simply and efficiently to the various areas via our in-house ventilation system. The scent experience is never intrusive anywhere, always gentle and even. Just as it should be.
Scents paint pictures in your head and are strongly linked to our feelings. And hotels in particular produce plenty of unwanted smells. Has the overall experience at the Hotel Riml changed now with Aromea?
ALEXIS Definitely. As I briefly described above, we want to give guests the feeling of being home again every time they return. Whether that’s after a day’s skiing or the following winter. We had no special fragrance in the hotel until now, and our guests naturally noticed all kinds of smells. That must have had some influence on the mental picture. You anchor more positive experiences, and of course you like being reminded of them. You instantly have a familiar feeling, you feel comfortable and safe. At home.
Thank you so much for your good feedback! But how have your guests reacted to the new scent dimension at the Hotel Riml?
ALEXIS We’ve naturally already had some positive feedback, and we’ve always been happy to recommend Aromea too. For the future, we’re happy to go on being surprised. In the coming winter season we’ll certainly be able to give much clearer feedback. Thank you too!
So things remain exciting among the peaks of Hochgurgl. It’s a story that’s far from over. To be continued? In any case, winter in the Ötztal now smells incomparably authentic. Thanks to its scent dimension, nobody is likely to forget the Hotel Riml in a hurry, and what remains is a cosy memory. And a success story for the generations. Just as old Grandfather told it, all those years ago.
Alexis on the scent experience at the Hotel Riml
