The Alpina Gstaad and its ‘practice’ of luxury that is changing lives in refugee camps

Dr. P V
Jan 10, 2021
5 min read

Updated: 5 days ago

The Alpina Gstaad, an exceptional luxury hotel, lies perched on the exclusive Oberbort, a hill just ten minutes walk from the incredibly picturesque village of Gstaad.

Quintessential, Swiss cowbell sounds were contiguous. A new age, white Tesla (where the doors opened skywards) came to receive me at the quaint Gstaad train station. The chauffeur, with his crisp demeanour and warm manner, was immaculate in his welcome. I knew I had arrived at a place with a unique sensibility.

The Alpina Gstaad has a fleet of swanky, planet friendly (electric) Teslas Photo credit : The Alpina Gstaad

The Alpina Gstaad, an exceptional luxury hotel, lies perched on the exclusive Oberbort, a hill just ten minutes walk from the incredibly picturesque village of Gstaad. In summertime, guests can enjoy the view of pristine meadowlands in bloom under the tutelage of the Bernese Alps. Come winter, the snow turns the entire vista into a sheet of soft silver; and the pines it embraces, into magical white. A winter wonderland for skiers.

The summertime view from The Alpina Gstaad Photo credit : The Alpina Gstaad

The porch at The Alpina Gstaad is a serenade of planet ‘friendlier’, luxury cars. And alongside this retinue, proudly taking its place, is an ice cream van. This juxtaposition is a metaphor for an inclusive world – a concept effervescently spearheaded by the maverick Chairman and Creative Director of The Alpina Gstaad, Nachson Mimran. Nach, as he is fondly called, was also one of the first people I met at the hotel. And there was really no small talk as such. We pretty much straight away dived into conversation that matters – that is urgent and game changing; that is about the fit of an unpretentious ice cream van into the imagination of an uber swish ski resort. You enter this ‘little’ van and a meaningful surprise awaits. Its ‘little-ness’ and humility can be quite misleading about its ‘real’ power. Its conversion into a ‘hub’ is posited on the power of connect, of conversation, of collaboration between polar opposite worlds (via Skype enabled laptops); worlds as various as possible from the ultimate opulence, safety and serenity of the hotel. Yet Nachson not only ‘sees’ these worlds as mutually inclusive but has made this mutual inclusivity a ‘practice’ at The Alpina Gstaad. So for every guest, their stay is offset by providing mattresses for refugees at Nakivale Refugee Camp in Uganda. Offsetting our lifestyles, akin to offsetting our carbon footprints, is the philosophy Nachson would like to make trendy. He envisions offsetting champagne consumption, for example, to provide clean drinking water to deprived communities across the globe.

Nachson Mimran at the Nakivale Refugee Camp, Uganda Photo credit : Nachson Mimran

Together with his younger brother Arieh, Nachson has set up the humanitarian organisation To.org through which the brothers invest in and enable select world shifting projects working with communities on the ground with the vision to play a meaningful part in attainting the United Nation’s seventeen Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). With his To.org ‘band of warriors’ Nachson has toured some of the most notorious refugee camps in the world including Kutupalong in Bangladesh and Nakivale in Uganda. He spent time there to find simple but innovative solutions to improve safety (such as creating safe play areas for children where the risk of child trafficking is rife) and to better the living conditions of the refugees (such as improving sanitary facilities with cost effective, eco-friendly innovations). Back at The Alpina Gstaad, the ice cream van connects visitors at the hotel to the community leaders - given the moniker of ‘creative activists’ - heading these innovative, people and planet empowering projects. This sensibility of seeing the connect between worlds disconnected by the glaring disparities of wealth and opportunity was inculcated in both brothers by their late mother during their growing years spent in Africa. Today, Nachson and Arieh have made this sensibility their conscious choice, their way of life. A sensibility that pervades in the texture of progressive luxury at The Alpina Gstaad, of how the practice of wellbeing there gives every guest the chance to leave positive footprints on the larger world. Right from the hotel’s consciously curated, enviable art collection that makes one stop and think. Shaking us from our reveries and unsettling us from our comfort zones - the stunningly progressive, contemporary art collection includes Roy Nachum, Tracy Emin, John Armelder, The Bruce High Quality Foundation (an unorthodox arts collective in New York) among several other thought-provoking artists.

The enviable, thought provoking art collection is visible throughout the hotel Photo credit : The Alpina Gstaad

Eco-sensitivity towards our planet is also ubiquitous. Local produce, and the finest at that, is the philosophy behind the Michelin star menus created by chef Martin Göschel at the unparalleled, restaurants - Swiss Stübli (local Swiss), Megu (Japanese cuisine) and Sommet (signature fine dining). Local materials and stones were predominant in the hotel’s construction. The indulgent Six Senses Spa - replete with a warm and healing Himalayan pink salt grotto, is powered by renewable energy. Flower arrangements are thoughtfully recycled by sending them to an old age home nearby.

The heated, indoor pool at the Six Senses Spa Photo credit : The Alpina Gstaad

Rooms and suites are a blend of contemporary luxury and traditional charm. Adding to the indulgent touches throughout the hotel, are the envious wine cellar; the luxuriously equipped and cosseted basement cinema with a vintage popcorn machine; and The Tree House Club – a delightful, supervised indoor play area for children. While the hotel is working assiduously to be forward thinking and eco-sensitive throughout the experience of indulgence its guests enjoy, they are uniquely transparent* about where innovations are still underway.

Rooms and suites are an elegant combination of contemporary luxury and traditional inputs. Photo credit : The Alpina Gstaad

With The Alpina Gstaad, Gstaad got its first luxury hotel in over a century and the hotel has lived up to all its expectations. Luxury, at The Alpina Gstaad, is truly uncompromised – the nurture is holistic; the indulgence – cutting edge and innovative; and the wellbeing – of mind, body, soul and conscience towards people and the planet, means one’s time here becomes a ‘practice’ of inclusive luxury.