Asking to dye the snow pink, buying an elephant as a gift for his wife or asking to be the first to ski on wild mountain peaks are strange requests of the super rich.
The distance from Bozeman Yellostone International Airport (USA) to Yellowstone Club – where billionaires ski and play golf is about 80 km. For many people, the optimal solution is to spend an hour driving, but club members choose to fly by jet or helicopter.
“Thanks to taking a plane, it only takes 10 minutes. Everyone likes this convenience,” Adamo Vullo, currently an employee for Outpost, an asset management company in the US, said and said that this is a normal activity. with the super rich.
In fact, this is just one of many strange requests of the super-rich when vacationing at luxury ski resorts around the world. People who work in the tourism service industry and serve the world’s wealthiest 1% always have to strive to satisfy.
Charter a private jet for hundreds of hours
Although she often interacts with rich people, Leona Qi, head of the private airline VistaJet, is constantly surprised by her luxury and increasingly upgraded requirements.
In addition to spending thousands of dollars on skis, clothes and cable car tickets, many families are willing to rent a private plane for 100 hours at prices ranging from 12,000 USD to 25,000 USD to travel to the ski center. snow. This causes the bill for service fees to reach millions of dollars.
A helicopter serving super-rich guests flies over the Rocky Mountains to Madeline Hotel & Residences, USA. Photo: Madeline Hotel & Residences/Auberge Resorts Collection
Hire coaches and Olympic athletes to teach skiing
To make their vacation more complete, many billionaires are willing to spend money to hire professional ski instructors. The fee is up to 1,000 USD per day but they are willing to book for several weeks in a row.
“I can teach someone for 40 days. Our relationship is so close that they treat me like family. Some customers even believe that the vacation would not be complete without the support from me,” said James P. Ruddy, former coach at the Yellowstone club.
Not stopping there, this rich customer base also requires direct tutoring from the Olympic athletes themselves.
Michael Friedman, Director of Operations for a company specializing in organizing 5-star vacations, said many customers are willing to spend $1,700 for 12 hours and $2,800 for a day of training. “But sometimes they are still rejected or have to wait a long time because athletes have too many schedules,” Friedman added.
Find someone to take care of your skateboard
Besides finding a coach and spending tens of thousands of dollars on clothes and the latest equipment, the super-rich are willing to hire professional management units and regularly check the quality of their ski sets. super expensive instead of keeping it directly or sending it at the resort’s store.
Ski Butlers, a winter equipment rental service, is always accepting similar requests. Director Mike Cremeno said there is always a separate team that goes to the customer’s residence to work.
“The equipment management team is responsible for changing, keeping, cleaning the skis and must follow customers whether they are walking or riding the cable car. The biggest purpose of this is to ensure that the skis can always be brought in at all times.” “customers want to ski. I once met a gentleman who asked to change his equipment 15 times during a 5-day vacation. It sounds annoying, but it’s the joy of the whole team to satisfy guests,” Cremeno said.
Skiing where there are no people
And of all the luxuries enjoyed by the super-rich, skiing in pristine areas is what Cremeno envies most. He revealed they are willing to pay for “first passes” or early access to ski resorts. “You can ski 30-60 minutes with friends with no one else on the mountain,” the manager said.
Even to have really good experiences, Manabu Ainai, director of Hoshino Resorts properties in Hokkaido province (Japan), also takes guests to ski in places that cannot be found on Google Maps.
St. Moritz, a luxury Alpine resort town in Switzerland’s Engadin valley for the rich. Photo: Fabian Gatllen/St. Moritz
Find professional photographers and film crews
Wishing to preserve memories with photos and videos while skiing, the super-rich are willing to hire professional photographers. “They even invited famous film crews to film,” said Naomi Mano, President of luxury travel company Luxurique in Tokyo (Japan). His business was hired to manage and assist in arranging schedules during the trip.
The manager revealed that he regularly receives bills of up to $1,000 for a day accompanying professional photographers. The total cost of a vacation can add several thousand dollars to a compilation album.
“Therefore, there is rarely a trip worth less than 20,000 USD. This seems to be an important factor in creating their happiness,” Mr. Mano said.
Asking to dye the snow pink, buying live elephants
But there are still very difficult requests to satisfy, such as to make the skiing trip as romantic as possible, the super-rich couple asked the staff at the Stein Eriksen Lodge ski area (USA) to create pink snow to Admire from above, regardless of price.
But this wish was denied because the management board could not dye the artificial snow water source pink, which is a large lake.
Or many years ago, an employee of Badrutt’s Palace hotel (Switzerland) also fell into a dilemma when a guest asked to buy a live elephant as a gift for his wife. Marijana Jakic, the resort’s brand director, had to spend a lot of time convincing this person to change his mind.