Many would think that luxury travel is the kind of experience that requires one to either book a stay in a multi-floor, five-star resort with an in-house spa and a golf course.
Breaking such conventional notions of luxury is a property in the Swiss Alps that welcomes its guests not with its lavish entrance gates, exquisite fountains, or well-furnished spaces, but with panoramic mountain peaks, a distant chime of cowbells, and minimalist setting.
Scattered around the stunning regions of Switzerland, The Zero Real Estate is a range of hotel suites with no roofs or walls. Designed by Daniel Charbonnier and twin brothers, Frank and Patrik Riklin, the property is the spin-off version of their Null Stern project of 2016, wherein they had transformed a nuclear bunker into a comfortable setting and offered their visitors a memorable day-long stay.
Taking forward the same intangible feeling of luxury, the Burst Suite at Zero Real Estate is set high above the gingerbread valley of Toggenburg, offering a breathtaking view of the Säntis Range, followed by the Schwendi Suite, which overlooks the pristine lake of Schwendisee and the Stump Suite, which is set beneath the towering pine trees and the starry night sky.
To ensure that guests do not have to go out looking for food and entertainment, every open-air property on the Swiss Alps comes with its own butler. After a smooth check-in at the nearby Hotel Alpenrose, the butler drives the guests through a lush green valley to their booked secluded spot for the night. He gets them organic meal baskets on the bed and probably sings them a song or two, and even narrates an anecdote through a TV frame.
Located a few miles away from civilisation and unencumbered by windows and doors, the Zero Star hotel suites not only place nature at the forefront of luxury experience but are also ideal for a socially-distant stay that adheres to the rules of the pandemic.
