I wanted to make a point of that also. It used to be that working in a hotel was a position of pride and was respected. People working in hotels these days are treated like shit. The rooms are treated like shit and after a while I can see why the grumpyness rises.....but it is still the job so a smile should be ever present. and with hotels making less money these days people have way more responsibilities than what they are used to/trained for
Also with more and more seasonal workers taking these jobs as they are to low payed for the standard Swiss/foreigner after paying for the enormous cost of a hotel school. I did hotel school here in CH and can promise you it was not thought that way. People simply no longer have the training, pride and respect for the hotel industry career (generalizing here so let that be clear)
I'm not sure if this is true.
In many places I've been, local hotels do sponsor and support activities and tourist amenities and thus do not exist in a complete bubble disconnected from their surroundings.
But as the results benefit all hotels in the village rather than just the directly sponsoring one, this leads to a "we together with the other hotels" thinking rather than "we, in contrast to the other hotels".
I also suspect that when booking a hotel in the mountains "distance to ski lift" might be more important than whether the cheap receptionist from "one of the former eastern bloc countries" smiles when you arrive.
I suspect also that "distance to ski lift" might rank up there with "price" in terms of importance.
Sure it would be nice if Sveltlana smiled when you walked through reception and instead of saying "Here, have brochure" if her cliched Russian-clipped english she actually knew the best pizzeria in town - but saving 50chf a night and using trip advisor on the free wifi means I am feeling "booking.yeah"
Ha, reminds me of a very cheap hotel i stayed in New Orleans once. The website had said free WiFi. When I asked how this worked, they said it only worked in the "business lounge". It turned out the business lounge was a little room at the end of the corridor where the vacuum cleaner and other such implements lived. It also had a folding table, a folding chair, a sign saying "business lounge", a mannequin wearing a Mardi Gras costume and there was a very weak WiFi connection strangely bearing the name of the neighbouring hotel (but I'm sure that was a coincidence).
I couldn't agree more with this recommendation - the Rivabella is an absolute gem. Although just a garni, it's run as a proper hotel - excellent breakfast (with service), lovely terrace, beautiful gardens down to the lake, sunbeds, umbrellas, etc, and an honesty system for drinks. The owner speaks limited English.