Badrutt's Palace

St. Moritz

Superlative Swiss service

Anyone who has been to St Moritz will recognise Badrutt's Palace. Its neo-gothic silhouette, complete with turrets and towers, has become a symbol of the resort town since opening in 1896. Still family owned, the 163-room property is a playground for the well-heeled, with most guests arriving by private jet during the peak Christmas season. Keeping guests of this calibre happy and returning, many for generations, takes more than grandeur – the service must be equally extraordinary.

For the 650-strong team at the Palace, as it's known to regulars, that comes down to fundamentals – warmth, intuition, an eye for detail and the confidence to act, whether to enhance a stay or set things right should anything fall short. By the time guests pull up beneath its vaulted portico, the team is ready: doormen in immaculately tailored navy, red and gold livery, and usually a manager, concierge or butler to welcome them.

First-timers are escorted into the majestic, wood-panelled grand hall, brimming with flowers, antiques and artwork, and introduced to Palace service – formal yet warm, gracious and generous. For some longstanding guests, rooms are photographed before departure and recreated on the next visit, and ski gear is collected at the end of each stay, cleaned, stored and returned to the room, ready for use.

Much of the Palace's success comes from empowering staff to act autonomously. If something is wrong, the staff just fix it. There's no pause to think, 'am I allowed to do this?' They know it's more important to fix it immediately.

Bolstering the seamlessness of guest experience even goes as far as tunnelling under the town's main street to create an escalator between the hotel's main building and restaurant hub Chesa Veglia, where previously guests would have had to take a steep uphill walk or a car.

As a bastion of exemplary service, Badrutt's Palace is named winner of the SeiBellissimi Art of Hospitality Award.

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