How AROMEA Airdesign brings a touch of home to the Ötztal Alps.
In need of a holiday? Then AROMEA Airdesign has a tip for you: Riml - DAS RESORT in Hochgurgl. At 2,200 metres above sea level, right on the ski slope, the highest 5-star hotel in the Austrian Alps combines sporting activity with wellness, fine food, stylish comfort and golf, exclusively for adults. The Riml begins its new winter season on 18 November 2026.
We’ve talked about working together with the team at Riml - DAS RESORT once before. A lot has happened since then: the resort has gained a star, and new highlights have been added. What has stayed the same? The wish for guests to feel at ease from the very first moment, and the fragrance from AROMEA Airdesign, which for many has long been part of the Riml. We asked hotel director Jens-Pieter Martens what has changed and why the Riml smells not just of holidays, but of home.
Riml - DAS RESORT has evolved in recent years. What has changed, and what has deliberately stayed the same?
Jens-Pieter Martens: The Riml has evolved consistently in recent years, both in its quality and facilities and in the way we position the hotel. A key step was the repositioning as an adults-only resort and the development into a 5-star hotel.
At the same time, we’ve created new spaces and experiences: a new outdoor pool, an exclusive luxury chalet, a heated, covered terrace for our upscale après-ski and many other highlights. Existing areas have been further developed, and what we offer in wellness, sport, golf and cuisine has been steadily expanded.
What has deliberately stayed the same is our personal touch. For all the development, Riml - DAS RESORT should remain a place where you arrive and immediately feel at ease. To us, luxury doesn’t mean distance or stiff etiquette, but quality, warmth, space to be yourself and genuine hospitality. That’s exactly the combination we want to preserve.
You describe your philosophy as “sporty, elegant, authentic”. What does that mean in the hotel’s day-to-day life, and how do your guests feel this attitude?
Jens-Pieter Martens: “Sporty, elegant, authentic” sums up very well what the Riml stands for. Sporty, because exercise and activity are an essential part of the hotel, from direct access to the ski area to our fitness area and indoor golf. Elegant, because we attach great importance to quality, sophisticated cuisine and special details. A good example is our fine dining, which lets us offer our guests special culinary experiences too. And authentic, because for all the development, we stay true to ourselves and our values.
Our guests should experience something special here, without it feeling stiff or staged. In the morning, straight from the front door onto the piste; in the afternoon, into the spa; and in the evening, to a special dinner or a cocktail at the bar. Everything’s possible, nothing’s compulsory.
You reopen for the winter season on 18 November 2026. But your resort is far from being just for the cold season. The Riml has also established itself as a holiday destination in summer and for golfers. Tell us, what makes your resort’s offering so special?
Jens-Pieter Martens: What’s special about the Riml, for us, is the combination of Alpine mountain scenery, sport, wellness, golf and fine food, all at 2,200 metres above sea level.
Our great passion and core season is clearly winter. When we open our doors again on 18 November 2026, the most beautiful time of year begins for us: ski-in/ski-out, the Ötztal mountains right on the doorstep, generous spa areas and countless opportunities for sport, enjoyment and relaxation.
Another special feature is certainly our indoor golf. It brings together two sporting worlds that could hardly seem more different at first glance: outside lies the snow, while inside our guests can pursue their passion for golf.
In summer, the hotel deliberately stays closed. We use this time intensively to develop new ideas, improve different areas and start the next winter season with full energy and fresh impetus.
In the end, it’s exactly this variety that sets the Riml apart. Every guest decides for themselves how much activity, enjoyment and rest the perfect day on holiday needs.
At 2,200 metres, the mountains are part of the resort experience anyway. How do you make this special location felt inside the hotel as well?
Jens-Pieter Martens: The mountains are always present here. We don’t want to leave nature outside the hotel door, we want to bring it inside quite deliberately. That starts with the generous panoramic views and continues in the architecture, the materials, the colours and our many quiet retreats.
This connection was especially important to us in the wellness areas. That’s why, in the Alpine Spa and the Sky Relax Area, for example, we worked with large expanses of glass. When you’re lying in warm water and gazing through the big windows or from the outdoor area at the snow-covered peaks, you really don’t need much more. Moments like these show us the luxury our location offers.
AROMEA Airdesign has been with you in various areas of the resort since our first interview. What role does scent play today in your guests’ overall experience?
Jens-Pieter Martens: Scent is something very emotional. Often you don’t even consciously notice it, and yet it plays a major part in shaping the atmosphere of a place and our memory of it.
We see this with our guests again and again. We actually hear people say: “It smells of Riml here.” For us, that’s a wonderful compliment, because it shows that our fragrance has come to be linked with the feeling of being back with us. For some regulars, it has become almost a feeling of home.
Together with AROMEA Airdesign, we’ve therefore created a world of scent that suits our hotel and our Alpine surroundings. We want our guests not only to see, taste and experience the Riml, but to perceive it with all their senses.
For us, this shows just how important seemingly small, invisible details are. They play a decisive part in turning a lovely hotel stay into an experience that stays in the memory.
“For some regulars, it has become almost a feeling of home.” - Jens-Pieter Martens
What would you ideally like your guests to take with them when they head home after their stay?
Jens-Pieter Martens: Ideally, one thing above all: the feeling of having really had a break, and the wish to come back.
We want our guests to go home and say: “That did us good.” It doesn’t always have to be the big experience. Perhaps it’s the memory of a perfect day’s skiing, an afternoon of music and good food on our terrace, relaxing hours in the spa, a special meal or simply a moment when you lost track of time.
If that turns into looking forward to the next stay, we’ve done a lot right. It’s especially lovely for us when guests come back year after year and feel the Riml is, in a way, their home in the mountains. For us as hosts, there can hardly be a greater compliment.
Hand on your host’s heart: what is it that makes the Riml what it is for you personally?
Jens-Pieter Martens: For me, it’s the mix of our extraordinary location, the people and the atmosphere we create together.
Of course, the Riml is a special hotel in a special place, at 2,200 metres in the midst of the Ötztal mountains. But a hotel isn’t defined by its location, its architecture or its facilities alone. It’s the staff, our guests and regulars and above all the many personal encounters that give a hotel its character.
That’s exactly what the Riml means to me: every day, we get to be hosts in an extraordinary place. At the same time, we have the chance to keep reinventing and developing ourselves without losing our personality.
The Riml should be high-end but never aloof. Special but never above itself. Elegant but relaxed. And above all, it should be a place where people arrive, switch off and feel welcome, perhaps even a little bit at home.
Photos: Dominik Rosser & Roman Huber
