Marcus Bratter and his assistant, Clare Parker, both arrived in Verbier, where they now live and work, almost by chance and from opposite ends of the Earth.

Marcus, who is half-Swiss and half-Australian, grew up in Australia, and Clare comes from Weybridge, Surrey. “When I was 19 I went to hotel school in Lausanne,” says Marcus. “But I dropped out. My real interest was skiing, and for seven years I was a professional competitor. I was Australian freestyle champion for two years running.

“I took a job washing pots in a restaurant in Verbier and also worked as a ski instructor. When the skiing season finishes in Switzerland it is starting in Australia, so for some years I went backwards and forwards between the two, skiing the whole year round.”

In 1996 Marcus founded his own business, which began with a bar. Today the King’s Verbier group consists of two hotels — King’s Parc and Nevaï — plus restaurants, bars, wine shops and the Farm nightclub. A new project will be an apartment residence hotel with 150 beds in a building that will be undergoing refurbishment; guests will be able to invest in the hotel and share in its rental income.

Verbier is popular with a wide range of people. The Duchess of York and her daughters, and Sir Richard Branson, are among the many regular visitors. “Our guests are predominantly British and some come out from Britain every weekend during the skiing season,” says Marcus.

“Many of our guests become friends. In the past, people would come once a year for seven days, but now the trend is for shorter breaks several times a year.

“Verbier is not hard to get to — we are a couple of hours’ drive from Geneva airport — and the skiing is wonderful. We’re high up, and lack of snow is never an issue for us.”

The hotels are open from the last week in November to a few weeks after Easter: “Then we close for two or three weeks and we all take holidays, returning in May or June. We reopen in July for the summer season. Even without the snow, there’s plenty to do here and people come to ride or walk in the mountains.

“We employ 120 people of several nationalities, but when Clare joined me there were only seven of us. I took Clare on as we were about to open the first hotel and I was terrified that I might start making double bookings. She has proved fantastic: she’s a ray of sunshine, always buoyant and positive, and full of good ideas.”

Clare arrived in Verbier seven years ago as a 23-year-old chalet girl, after taking a degree in the history of architecture and landing a job at Sotheby’s, the London auction house.

“I was then offered a place on their graduate scheme and I fully intended to return to London to take it up. However, I fell in love with Verbier and have been here ever since. The lifestyle is wonderful — I often go skiing in my lunch hour during the winter — and it is beautiful all year round. I can’t imagine leaving. I’d miss the mountains too much.

“When I met Marcus the business was very small. Our expansion has been extremely exciting and I’ve been totally involved both in launching the new Nevaï hotel and in organising the refurbishment of our next hotel.

“I don’t really have a job title. I don’t type letters for Marcus, although I may book the occasional flight. My role is to be creative and to make ideas work, by researching concepts and prices. I also deal with daily problems, organise events and liaise with clients and staff.

“I usually start work at about 9 or 10am and officially stop at 7pm, but I often stay around later than that and it’s never a hardship: I live in a chalet only a moment’s walk from work. Many of our guests also stay in chalets but use our restaurants and bars, and there’s always plenty going on.

“I love being here in Verbier and working with Marcus. He’s a terrific guy and we are both passionate about the same things — hard work and mountains.”

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