As a travel agent who is lucky enough to experience many luxury hotels i have high expectations and few hotels live up to them. However the Rosa Alpina exceeded every single one! I spent 4 nights there last week with my mother who stepped in, at the last moment, to accompany me and am trying to organise to go back in March with my husband as i loved it so much.

The interior design is so pleasing on the eye. A really well done mix of traditional Tyrolean style, which is very pretty, with light unvarnished wood and neutral, contemporary furnishings and fabrics. They are updating and refurbishing all the time so nothing looks old or worn. The atmosphere is elegant and relaxed but not glitzy or glamorous.

The staff are so friendly and couldn't be more eager to help and please you. When we called down to ask for our fire to be lit someone appeared within about 2 minutes! Equally when we had finished our dinner in the Michelin starred St Hubertus restaurant and wanted to take our petit-fours up to our room the waiter had them wrapped and up to our room before we had even left our table - i think he personally ran with them up 3 flights of stairs!

The food is exquisite, regardless of which restaurant you eat in. Breakfast is in the Limonaia, a sunny light room in a typical Tyrolean style. There is a large choice of cereals, fruit, cheese, cold meats, pastries, cakes and breads to choose from and a chef will also prepare eggs, crepes and porridge as you like. The crepes and poached eggs were delicious. I really liked the relaxed and modern atmosphere of the Wine bar and grill. The service, wine recommendations and food were all excellent. You could happily eat here all week and not be bored! Their executive chef Norbert has earned their gastronomic restaurant St Hubertus 2 Michelin stars and it is rightly deserved. Every morsel was amazing! There are only 9 tables so you need to make sure you book in advance of your stay to get in here as it is not to be missed.

The Daniela Steiner Spa is really incredible. The treatments and products they use are blissful and i would urge everyone to book something. Even if it is just an Essence of the Dolomites bath experience. We were treated to this as the arnica and almond oil was so soothing that after 3 days of skiing our legs didn't ache one bit the next day!

The hotel is 300m from the Piz Sorega gondola which takes you up into the San Cassiano ski area and onwards to link with the Sella Ronda ski circuit. The hotel has a shuittle to run you up and back whenever you need it. The skiing is excellent. Probably best suited to intermediates as there are lots of blues and reds. There is plenty to keep you occupied in the San Cassiano and Corvara area for a few days and the Sella Ronda takes a whole day and is well worth giving it a go. You just need to make sure you leave early (before 9am is best) to avoid the bottleneck at Arabba and make sure you go clockwise with the sunshine. We had a great instructor called Simon from the Ski and Snowboard School Dolomites who i would recommend. The hotel can sort lessons out for you.

I was staying at the hotel essentially to get to know the hotel and area so i can confidently recommend it to my clients and all i can say is that it was a real joy!