Why American Skiers Are Ditching Aspen for the Alps

Spring skiing season is here, when the mulled wine makes way for rosé in the sun.

There is still time to book a luxurious trip this season — and if you are like a growing number of U.S. travelers, European locations should be in your sights.

“The American market is one of the most dynamic at the moment,” said Simon Wiget, tourist office director in the Swiss town of Verbier in Switzerland’s Valais Canton.

In December, States-based visitors to the Alpine village were up by more than 20 percent year-over-year, per the tourist office data. The season there wraps in late April

The strong dollar and lift-pass pricing is still making Europe a relative steal compared to Aspen Snowmass or Vail Ski Resort, particularly when factoring in accommodation quality and dining that Europe has to offer, he told Luxury Travel Advisor.

“For many Americans, a European ski holiday combines sport with culture, historic villages, gastronomy, varied terrain — and the ability to get a better bang for their buck,” Wiget added.

The last few years have seen U.S. skiers, both the die-hard sportif and those seeking glamor, heading across the Atlantic for their winter trip. With the Epic ski pass continuing to add more locations and extend its partnerships in parts of Austria, Switzerland, Italy and parts of Les Trois Vallées in France over the last two seasons, the U.S. inbound traveler numbers appear to be, dare we say, snowballing.

But it is not just about bargain hunting, it is also the ultra-elevated experience and completely different feel to a U.S. ski holiday (think: less wholesome card games around an open fire, more a double magnum of Dom Perignon delivered via zipline at La Folie Douce).

“I still do think the cost has a big part to play … [but] it’s also the increased luxury offering in some of the European resorts,” said Savills Ski Director Guy Murdoch, who is based in Annecy, France.

He sells and rents ski chalets and apartments to individuals around the world and hospitality assets, land plots, and new developments to investors and funds. He has noticed a marked jump in the number of U.S. buyers shopping around Verbier, as well as the thriving markets of Courchevel, Val d’Isere, Chamonix, and Méribel.

“[There is now a lot of] investing in the ski infrastructure, but also, the quality of restaurants, the bars that are on offer, the accommodation, hotels, chalets are constantly being improved.”

To that point, several new high-end skiing hot spots opened their doors in the Alps this season. The 51-room Rosewood Courchevel Le Jardin Alpin, which opened in December in Courchevel 1850, has the snowbunnies giddy over its nod to 1960s glamour. The hotel is the second Rosewood in France, and its spa offers reiki, restorative sound baths, and mountain pilates (naturalmente!). There are three separate houses available alongside the guestrooms — with the largest offering a private elevator, a cinema room, and a curated art collection.

Rosewood Courchevel Le Jardin Alpin
(Ben Anders)

Nearby, the Maya Hotel, a ski-in, ski-out Courchevel hot spot also opened late last year. Its showpiece offering is the “Lalique Apartment”, which spans nearly 2,600 square feet, includes a private massage room and is adorned with bespoke pieces from Lalique itself, one of France’s best known crystal houses.

Italy is getting its fair share of decadence, too. In June, the Rosa Alpina resort in the village of San Cassiano in Italy’s Dolomites re-opened as an Aman after a $69 million revamp. Cortina, recently home of the Winter Olympics, has just welcomed the Mandarin Oriental’s first Alpine resort, the Hotel Cristallo.

Already got next year in mind? Anticipation is building over the iconic 1910 Park Gstaad Hotel in the Swiss Alps, which is set to re-open as a Four Seasons in the 2026-2027 season after extensive renovations.

**The Park Gstaad, A Four Seasons Hotel**
(Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts)

While places like Courchevel have always been devastatingly bourgeois, and the broader European skiing destinations have offered plenty to those with money to burn, the spending power of the international traveler, including Americans, has reached toward the stratosphere. The Alps have long been a mainstay of the British middle class. But economic turbulence, the shift following Brexit, not to mention the damage from climate change, is re-shaping the market.

“Previously you’d have the classic chalet holiday where your chalet girl would look after you to serve you both Bourguignon and mash,” said Holly Chandler who runs London-based F&P Travel with her business partner Philippa Hartley. Together, they arrange high-end ski trips to a portfolio of chalets around the Alps.

“Holidays that were once under €10,000 for the full week of catering, are now in excess of €40,000, with some chalet companies reaching heights of €70,000 to €200,000 in Courchevel — it is absolutely insane!” Chandler added.

Pre-Covid the F&P Travel clientele was over 80 percent British. But increasingly, they are catering to an international and U.S. traveler who wants significant hand-holding and is prepared to pay for it.

“Our American clients really appreciate a high level of service and hands-on support and understand that this kind of care and responsiveness comes at a price,” Hartley said.

That could include arranging a multi-location ski trip across the Alps, from Verbier to Meribel, as well as securing ski lessons, ski passes, making restaurant bookings, airport transfers, and massages.

You want somebody to come to you to do yoga for the week? No worries: They’ll sort that out. They’ll find themselves organizing cross-country skiing, snow shoeing, and solving the most important question: How will the non-skiers be able to get to lunch?

But there has been one unexpected shift in demand in one part of the Alps as the ski season nears its en

Hartley and Chandler’s March and April clients haven’t been traveling through or from the United Arab Emirates, meaning their bookings this season haven’t been affected by the conflict in the Middle East. It is making its mark, however, in other parts of the Alps.

“I know that it has hugely affected many of the ultra-high end chalet businesses and hotels here in the Alps,” Hartley said. “Particularly Courchevel, who have a high proportion of clients based in the UAE and Saudi.”

But for most of the Alps, demand remains robust.

While many are chasing the Bagatelle instagram reel, there is increasing demand for less flashy, more restrained experiences. Locals are reporting a more of a focus on “experience-led” ski trips. They want quality and altitude, privacy, space and curated itineraries — from off-piste experiences to private chefs.

Derek Chandler, who runs Ski Marmalade, a ski school in Meribel, said over the last 15 years, his company has moved away from the cheaper group ski lessons to private classes, off-piste guiding and heliskiing. Many of the Americans he sees are coming to experience different, wilder, skiing than is on offer in the US.

“They really appreciate the mountain, and they’re not too worried about the Instagram stuff on the side,” he said. “Courchevel, that’s the fur coats, that’s the Moncler … but every valley is a little bit different and has a slightly different vibe.”

But the sector shouldn’t get ahead of its skis, either.

“Where we need to be careful as an industry is that the skiing experience should come with a price tag — but it doesn’t need to come with a price tag with multiple zeros after it,” he added. “We need to cater for the full spectrum, I think, for the health of our industry — if those top spenders left, we’re left with property and restaurants that are out of everyone else’s league.”