Aman Rosa Alpina — Hotel in Pustertal - Val Pusteria

I wanted to love this hotel as much as I loved the restaurant but many things fell through the cracks. First, the good: beautifully appointed rooms in Tyrol chic decor; lots of wood craftsmanship, stone, tile in white, grey and beige palettes. Cozy and upscale. Excellent breakfast buffet with a good mix of sweet and salty; not just pastries and cheese; the whole array of fruit, cereals, eggs, juices and a la carte items. And the most important asset: the restaurant St.Hubertus (see my separate review of this gem of a restaurant). Their more casual Brasserie is also very good; delicious thin crust pizzas and offerings showcasing local ingredients. Good service and ambiance. Discreet gym with treadmill, bike and elliptical plus small weight rack and other weight equipment. Beautiful Spa area. Tranquil and for adults only. Valet and luggage were taken care of immediately. Prompt check in. But all these features came to an abrupt stop when hit with the CONS: Nowhere in our reservation process they mentioned that our room had no a/c. I purposely picked the best room available for our dates (short of their family room) thinking that it would guarantee the best comfort. But as soon as Barbara took us to the room after showing us the best features, she abruptly said that “there is no air conditioning, so you open the windows and let the fresh air come in” and that “at night you don’t have to worry about the mosquitos”. As someone who has lived in the mountains before and worked for luxury hotels, I knew right away that it meant that the room was going to be too hot. I asked immediately for a fan to be brought over, which was supposed to be sent at turndown. Had to insist about three times to finally get it. Our room never specified that it would be facing the street. And this is a HUGE ISSUE! Without a/ c and the unusually high temperatures, our room was too warm for comfort. And opening the windows was not a good option since we were almost at street level with no privacy AND we could hear every single thing that happened just a few meters from the hotel entrance; every person walking by, the valet rolling the luggage cart by the gravel of the parking, the early morning deliveries; all day long…Especially in the morning and in the evening. And because we were in the lower floor, we could hear every kid running around the corridor upstairs and outside. So please beware of this when booking since there is no mention of it when reserving or choosing rooms. And Rosa Alpina only allow bookings through their website; there is no way of cross checking reviews anywhere but here on Google which is why I’m sharing our experience. If you come from noisy NY, Milano or DC with the usual background noise, this is no issue. For us who live in a quiet home, this made our nights very long and not restful. The hotel was fully booked so I guess that in spite of paying top price, we probably got one of the worst placed rooms. Another situation that made us nervous too was that during the booking process we were given the options of “enhancing” our stay. We understood clearly that these options are not charged at the moment of booking and that they would later be confirmed by the hotel. We chose a typical mountain BBQ meal, a rafting trip and a guided bike tour. I was told by email that I could not participate as the menu is meat based and I don’t eat meat. The rafting trip said it included transportation to and from the hotel and a minimum of two people. I never got any confirmation until we checked in. And to my surprise, they were confirming the BBQ that they said before it couldn’t be done. They said we could do the rafting at 10 am or 2pm but they had to confirm with the tour operator. We were confirmed last minute and told that we would have to drive 50 minutes to the starting point. Nowhere was this mentioned prior. We ended up going on a last minute taxi they hired with no transportation back from the place. We made it to the hotel almost three hours later than scheduled and were double charged. A very sub par...

We stayed here for a week, and I must admit it grew on me. This is a top quality, high service, spotless hotel, having an alpine, old world feel throughout. The finishes are rich, and include marble, limestone, and comfy furniture with textured fabrics. Generally, a very enthusiastic and welcoming experience from the polyglot staff. A single visit to concierge set us up for all sorts of delightful excursions. At their suggestion, we hiked Santa Croce, hiked around the top of Lagazuoi after a bone chilling tram-ride, got the best tips for navigating the Tre Cime among other great hikes and activities. Recommendations for dinner at local restaurant were spot on.

Our room was very comfortable and faced the main street in front which had a wonderful combination of people watching during the day, and quietude at night.

We booked the St.Hubertus restaurant well in advance, dropped a fortune and we were not disappointed. It was worth every penny. Breakfast was sumptuous, but a bit officious, with the staff in fine livery which was starched and pressed so as not have a single wrinkle. The spa portion of the hotel is ingeniously placed on the “ground floor” in the as the hotel is on a large slope, and has separate “Family” and “Adults Only” (adult meaning no kids and privacy) sections.

There were peculiar practices of a luxury hotel. Every glass seemed to have an odd paper skirt on its top edge pronouncing "ROSA ALPINA". Logos were everywhere, on bags, bottles, towels, napkins, plates & staff, reminding us of the hotel's name, with which we were already familiar. There was a carefully orchestrated dance of the totally unused sandals put out on a linen serviette during the turn down service, and diligently put away during the morning housekeeping service. Everything that could have a carefully folded, laundered and starched cloth napkin wrapped around its handle did have one. (PHEW) Another oddity was precipitated by my Hertz rental comparing unfavorably to the pair of Maseratis and an Aston Martin parked in front.

Also, our first and only dinner at the Wine Bar and Grill was disappointing. (Please note this was not St. Hubertus which was superlative in every way) At first, there were no tables, in spite of several being open. I thought we were being interviewed the by the Stasi. Things changed a bit when we told the Maître D' we were guests of the hotel. They wanted the room number and sat us right down. Unfortunately, that did not change the attitude of the gorgeous wait staff, who were indifferent and disorganized. We ordered a couple of pizzas and a salad, and when we asked the waiter to suggest a local wine, he wanted to put us into a €250 bottle. We thought differently, but the bill was still €200 for pizza, salad and a bottle of wine. Despite the door staff asking us every day “will you be joining us for dinner?”, we did not dine at that restaurant again. While the food was good (salad was nothing special), we decided to seek more authenticity elsewhere, and as I mentioned earlier the concierge gave us great recommendations.

Another disappointment was all the Americans we dined with that evening. At the next table, we heard loudly of a Hollywood producer's film deals and on the other side, a seemingly very successful banker from St Louis pontificating on the glories of London to an Englishman from there. (I know this is not the fault of the hotel, but it you travel on a 9 hour flight, followed by a four hour drive we might be more surrounded by Italians)

It’s a great place, and would recommend it unequivocally, but I wonder if the complete take over by AMAN will go well. I hope the chain hotel does not ruin the wonderful experience that is the ROSA ALPINA. I guess...

My TL;DR: I would wait. It’s simply not up to Aman standards yet.

We stayed three nights in August 2025, and I share this as someone familiar with Aman service, style, and atmosphere from multiple prior Aman stays. The design is stunning—it glows at night like an Alpine Noguchi lantern in the village. But service fell short:

Breakfast was inconsistent. Day one, no menus provided or dedicated server; our entrees (once we flagged someone to order) came at different times and only after prompting. Later mornings improved, though forgotten drinks persisted.

Dinner was underwhelming. Wine was neither refilled nor followed up by the somm. Our bill was wrong. Servers tapped orders into tablets mid-service, breaking the mood. Checks required signatures and even included a tip line (not custom to sign in-house at an Aman and tip lines are never seen in Italy). I saw a server chase a guest to sign a bill because the guest just wanted it charged to his room automatically.

Music was maddening: a 10–15 second loop of “Phantastic Philadelphia” played nonstop at meals, it went unresolved despite complaints.

Concierge was uneven. A small example: No paper biking maps available, and no digital option offered—staff needed my iPad to review routes with us. They should be able to improvise better.

Pool service was absent; no attendant appeared during a long visit.

Laundry/pressing was difficult. On the evening of arrival, a steamer required multiple requests and nearly two hours to arrive, stressful before dinner—unlike other Aman stays where garments were handled immediately for us.

Turndown was missed nightly, as staff came only while we dressed for dinner and didn’t return. Twice they entered immediately after ringing, feeling intrusive. Typically Aman handles this invisibly while you are elsewhere on the property.

Room change after reporting loud fan noises was clumsy. Maintenance couldn’t fix it while we were out hiking, so we were provided another room upon our return, but without a clear plan on how to move us. We had a massage in 15 minutes, so we quickly carried armfuls of things down the hall ourselves so we wouldn't have to deal with it afterwards. A note or amenity acknowledging the inconvenience would have gone a long way, but none was provided.

Spa treatments were pleasant but generic. I specifically requested deep tissue work on problem areas, but received a more formulaic full-body massage.

Pre-arrival communication was scattered, requiring repeated follow-ups with different people instead of one dedicated contact.

Room privacy was lacking. The bathroom’s glass door opened to a balcony facing another building with only a sheer curtain to pull closed -- you're totally on display at night.

No A/C: just a building-wide fan system allowing a +/- 2° adjustment in individual rooms. To cool, we had to open the balcony door, which let in bugs since there were no screens.

The most troubling part: I emailed all this feedback directly to the GM—at his prior request in response to other reviews online—and received no acknowledgment or attempt to gather more information. That silence makes their stated desire for feedback feel disingenuous.

So while the architecture shines, the service gaps and lack of follow-through left us disappointed. For now, this property does not deliver the Aman experience—and we will likely not return without proof that this has improved. IMHO your money can go a lot further elsewhere...