Aman Aspen: What Is Actually on Record, and Where to Stay in the Meantime

Short answer: there is no Aman in Aspen you can book. There is a permitted, under-construction hotel at the western base of Aspen Mountain that Aman has confirmed will be its own, and the people who live there have been voting on it, suing over it and reading about it since 2019. Aman has not published a page, a name, a room count or an opening date. Everything below says whose fact it is.

After the facts, the Aspen hotels we book while the cranes are up, and how to be first in line when Aman opens its calendar.

What is on record about Aman Aspen

The hotel is one piece of the Lift One Corridor project, which the City of Aspen describes as "several parcels of land from the corner of South Aspen Street and Dean Street to the current base of Lift 1A". Aspen voters approved the whole plan in March 2019. The city still lists the Aman site under its original name, the Gorsuch Haus, after the local group that won the approvals and then sold the land and entitlements in 2022 to an entity connected to Vladislav Doronin, who heads both Aman and the developer OKO Group.

Aman's own words on the project, given to Aspen Journalism in July 2025 when the building permit was under review: "Aspen will join the ranks of iconic Aman destinations around the world." The brand's habit is to publish nothing about a hotel until it is close to opening, and Aspen is following that pattern.

The facts, and whose they are

• Where (City of Aspen) At "the termination of South Aspen Street, adjacent to a cul-de-sac", with "the ski corridor to the east of the building". That is the old Lift 1A base, the quiet west side of the mountain, a few blocks from the gondola.
• The lift (City of Aspen) A new telemix lift, "a mix of chairs and gondola cabins", will load where the historic Lift 1 stood, near Dean Street, so the corridor becomes a second front door to Aspen Mountain and the Aman sits upslope of it. The 1971 Lift 1A was removed in July 2026.
• Size (building permit, as reported) 81 hotel rooms averaging about 450 square feet, four full-ownership residences of roughly 2,000 square feet each, a pool, spa, fitness room, boot room and ski storage, and about 7,700 square feet of restaurants and lounges.
• Build time (building permit, as reported) 36 to 40 months once construction begins. The permit application was accepted in March 2025.
• Sequence (city-approved plan, as reported) Access and infrastructure work in 2026, the parking garage in 2027, the hotel enclosed by fall 2028, and Aspen Skiing Company ordering the new lift in fall 2028 to open it in the winter of 2029-30.
• Neighbours (City of Aspen) The Lift One Lodge on either side of the ski corridor, the relocated and restored Skiers Chalet as skier services and a ski museum, the old Skiers Chalet Steakhouse as a restaurant, and new parkland.

So when does it open?

Aman has not said, and we will not pretend to know. The city-approved sequence has the building enclosed by fall 2028 and the new lift spinning for the 2029-30 ski season, so the first winter an Aman guest could ski to the door is 2029-30 at the earliest, and only if the construction plan holds. Mountain builds in Aspen rarely run early. Treat any specific opening date you read elsewhere as a guess until Aman publishes one.

What we can say with confidence is how the first season will sell. Aman's recent openings loaded dates with preferred partners before public calendars, and Aspen at Christmas is already the hardest hotel booking in American skiing. Eighty-one rooms at the base of a brand-new lift, at Aman's prices, will be gone for festive week before most people know they are on sale.

Where to stay in Aspen until it opens

Three winters is a long time to wait for first tracks. These are the Aspen hotels we book most, each for a different kind of trip. All of them are bookable at the same rate as direct, with Biirdee's partner perks attached, and the full ranking is in our Aspen guide.

The Little Nell: the hotel Aman has to beat

Until the new lift spins, The Little Nell is the only true ski-in, ski-out five-star in Aspen, sitting at the base of the Silver Queen Gondola with a mountain concierge who handles boot warming and first-tracks access. The wine programme runs to tens of thousands of bottles and Element 47 is the serious dinner in town. It is also the hotel an Aman regular will recognise: small, quiet, service-dense, and expensive for a reason.

Hotel Jerome: the soul of the town

Hotel Jerome opened in 1889 on silver money and has been Aspen's living room ever since, now with Auberge's polish and the J-Bar still doing what it has always done. Pick it if your Aspen is as much town as mountain, and for summer, when the music festival and the gold aspens make it the better hotel of the two.

The St. Regis Aspen Resort: the full-service family base

The St. Regis sits on Dean Street, which is to say on the edge of the very corridor Aman is building into. Butler service, the Remède Spa, a heated outdoor pool and hot tubs facing the mountain, and room categories that suit families, a short walk from the gondola. Marriott Bonvoy points work here, and our Marriott luxury-programme benefits ride on top.

Viceroy Snowmass and the Limelight: space and value

Viceroy Snowmass is ski-in, ski-out on the biggest of the four mountains, twenty minutes away, with residence-style rooms and kitchens for families who find the town hotels tight. The Limelight is Aspen Skiing Company's own hotel two blocks from the gondola, breakfast included, at roughly half the Nell's rate for the same snow.

When to go

• Festive week Books by July or August with minimum stays of a week or more. The hardest resort booking in the United States; we hold space from spring.
• January and early April The insider windows: the same mountain at roughly half the festive rate, with restaurant tables actually available.
• Summer The music festival, alpine hiking and late-September gold at a large discount to winter. The Jerome is the summer hotel.
• Through 2029 Expect construction on South Aspen Street and around the old Lift 1A base. The gondola side of town, where the hotels above sit, is unaffected.

Why book Aspen, and Aman, through Biirdee

Biirdee is a luxury travel agency in Aman's preferred-partner circle, and Aman is the brand our clients ask for most. You pay the same rate as aman.com. The hotel attaches what it only gives a partner booking: VIP flagging, a property credit, upgrade priority, and early check-in and late check-out priority where available. Aman pays our commission out of the rate you would pay anyway. One concierge on WhatsApp handles dining, transfers and changes before and during the trip.

For Aspen specifically, the value is in timing. We hold festive-week space from spring, we know which January weeks are quiet, and when Aman loads its first Aspen dates we expect them to reach partners first. A standing request now costs nothing and puts you at the front of that queue. In the meantime, the Nell, the Jerome and the St. Regis come with the direct rate, the perks the hotel only gives through an agency, and a human who answers.