The Arula Chalets has been selected for the Global Elite Awards Top 100 in 2026, placing the Lech am Arlberg chalet house among the 100 companies selected worldwide that the programme considers to be setting the standard across the international luxury landscape. The selection follows back-to-back Global Elite Awards in 2025 and 2026, most recently as the Leading Exclusive Luxury Ski Chalets for Fully-Catered Experiences, and confirms that the house’s standing rests on consistency rather than a single season.
Two Chalets Above Lech
The Arula Chalets welcomed its first guests in late December 2018, a few days before Christmas. Set in the Arlberg mountain scenery above Lech, the house comprises two chalets, Arula Chalet 1 and Arula Chalet 2, which can be booked on their own or together as Arula Chalets Total, accommodating up to 30 guests. In winter they are ski-in ski-out chalets on the slopes; in summer they become serene retreats embedded in the green meadows of the Arlberg.
The interiors were created by the London-based designers Afs Mehrai and Amy Mercer of 2 AM design, who combined international details and art with a great deal of old wood and local Austrian craftsmanship. The result is playful as well as refined: a graffiti wall, a self-playing Steinway piano, a hidden bookshelf door, a casino table, a shuffleboard, and a private ice rink sit alongside the warmth of a traditional Arlberg chalet.
Service Around the Clock
Under Managing Director Joscha Meier, a team of eighteen looks after every stay. Butler, concierge, and chauffeur services run around the clock, the latter with two classic Mercedes vans and a Mercedes G63 AMG. Housekeepers tidy every room morning and evening, with an in-house laundry service, while the culinary team, led by Head Chef Viola Köngeter, adapts to any dietary need, from gluten-free and lactose-free to vegetarian and vegan.
The ski concierge brings ski fitting into the chalet and arranges heli skiing, ski instructors, and off-piste guides, while the wider concierge handles transfers, horse carriages, restaurant bookings, and nannies. The house hosts private celebrations, from weddings to anniversaries, as well as business retreats, seminars, and workations for groups of up to 30.
Wellbeing and Longevity
An in-house spa therapist offers massages and facials, alongside yoga, pilates, and personal training. The Arula Chalets has extended this into a dedicated longevity offering, with a cold plunge and cryo-chamber, halotherapy, a hyperbaric oxygen capsule, and a flotation bed with light therapy, bringing a level of recovery and wellbeing into a private chalet setting that goes well beyond the traditional alpine spa.
What the Top 100 Recognition Signals
The Global Elite Awards Top 100 is the programme’s most selective annual editorial list, identifying the 100 most exceptional companies selected worldwide from the wider cohort, across every industry the awards cover.
For The Arula Chalets, the recognition places the house among the small group of companies the panel regards as reference names in their field, and confirms its position as one of the most consistently distinguished private chalet houses in the Alps.
It is not a routine addition to an award page. It is the tier the programme reserves for companies that have earned their place through years of consistent work at the highest standard their field can demand.
For more information visit thearulachalets.com and globaleliteawards.com.
