And as ever Saanenland is well-represented in the resort hotels category, with four of our venerable five-stars making the top 50: the Gstaad Palace is 4th, the Grand Hotel Bellevue 8th, the Ermitage-Golf Schönried 20th, and Grand Hotel Park 28th. Not too shabby, but if we take a look back to last year’s results, we see that three of them have actually slipped in the ratings, the Palace from 3rd to 4th, the Bellevue from 5th to 8th, and the Park sliding from 21st to 28th. Only the Ermitage-Golf ranking remains unchanged. Overall the changes in the first eight places are minor: same hotels, different order. So why have Gstaad hotels slipped? Certainly the problem does not lie with an inferior quality of the service here in Gstaad. Only the loss of seven places for Grand Hotel Park raises suggests changes for the worse. The main issue, in fact, is the strength of the competition.

The Bilanz reviewers complimented the Gstaad Palace for its sense of tradition and excellent management. Indeed, in the related Bilanz rankings of the best hotel staff members, Andrea Scherz of the Gstaad Palace was awarded hotel manager of the year. In particular, the new spa set to open this December was well-received for its serious planning and excellent execution. Similarly over at the Bellevue, Mathieu Zimmermann picked up an award for sommelier of the year

. Yet despite these management and personnel awards, good service and good employees alone were not sufficient to maintain the position in the rankings compared to other top hotels. So what makes the others, such as Riffelalp Resort in Zermatt (#1), or the Castello del Sole in Ascona (#2), even better than the Palace? On the one hand Bilanz cites their closeness to regional culture on a culinary, architectural and decorative level (have they not been in the Palace Penthouse?). On the other they note how Riffelalp and Castello fulfill their clients' demands for space and privacy as well as luxury. We're hoping that's not a backhand criticism of Gstaad's style of "familiar service", or a black mark against our low-key approach to personal security. In any event, the Scherz family, as well as all the other five-star directors, will remain ever-competitive, always innovative in their own way without losing that sense of Gstaad's take on regional culture and tradition.

The Bilanz reviewers complimented the Gstaad Palace for its sense of tradition and excellent management. Indeed, in the related Bilanz rankings of the best hotel staff members, Andrea Scherz of the Gstaad Palace was awarded hotel manager of the year. In particular, the new spa set to open this December was well-received for its serious planning and excellent execution. Similarly over at the Bellevue, Mathieu Zimmermann picked up an award for sommelier of the year

. Yet despite these management and personnel awards, good service and good employees alone were not sufficient to maintain the position in the rankings compared to other top hotels. So what makes the others, such as Riffelalp Resort in Zermatt (#1), or the Castello del Sole in Ascona (#2), even better than the Palace? On the one hand Bilanz cites their closeness to regional culture on a culinary, architectural and decorative level (have they not been in the Palace Penthouse?). On the other they note how Riffelalp and Castello fulfill their clients' demands for space and privacy as well as luxury. We're hoping that's not a backhand criticism of Gstaad's style of "familiar service", or a black mark against our low-key approach to personal security. In any event, the Scherz family, as well as all the other five-star directors, will remain ever-competitive, always innovative in their own way without losing that sense of Gstaad's take on regional culture and tradition.