"Welcome award" : The “Oscar” of Hospitality for Swiss Hotels

"Welcome" is the title of a small statue representing the famous "man with the golden keys", the hotel concierge, who ensures that the needs of hotel guests are always met.

Analysis of guests' opinion validated by a jury:
The "WELCOME AWARD" for the most welcoming hotel in Switzerland was created jointly by Swiss Tourism (ST), Hôtelleriesuisse, GastroSuisse, Ecole hôtelière de Lausanne (EHL) and the University of Bern to show that Switzerland is not only synonymous with quality, punctuality and majestic landscapes, but also with a warm and competent hotel service.

This annual award is presented to outstanding hoteliers on the occasion of the Swiss Vacation Day. The WELCOME AWARD is presented in different categories to reflect the various guests' expectations according to the type of hotel they stay in. This allows hotels to contend to the award regardless of their clientele type.

TrustYou is a global specialist in online hotel ranking who analyzed the semantics of online reviews from guests having stayed at a Swiss hotel. The results assessment focused on topics such as the staff's recognition of guests' needs, their consideration and helpfulness.

Other aspects of hotel quality such as the infrastructure, panorama, interior design, cleanliness or value for money, etc. are excluded from the ranking performed by TrustYou for the WELCOME AWARD. In addition, in order to validate the final classification, a member of the jury visits the top three hotels in each category.

Members of the jury:

• Hotelleriesuisse: Thomas Allemann, Responsible for member services and classification
• GastroSuisse: Daniel C. Jung, Vice-Director
• Ecole hôtelière de Lausanne (EHL): Prof. Michel Rochat, general director
• University of Bern/CRED: Dr. Monika Bandi, Responsible for the tourism research unit
• Schweizer Illustrierte: Urs Heller, Director of publications, Ringier Suisse
• Kurt Aeschbacher, Moderator and TV presenter
• Suisse Tourisme: Jürg Schmid, Director

This small statue, symbol of the most welcoming hotel in Switzerland, was presented for the first time in 2013 in Bern. This year it was awarded at the Swiss Vacation Day on 27 May in Lausanne based on hundreds of thousands of online hotel guest reviews on over 250 websites from June 2013 to the end of March 2014.

Following the analysis completed by TrustYou and input from the jury members who visited the finalists, the five hotels below were attributed the 2014 WELCOME AWARD in their category :

• Small vacation hotels (up to 40 rooms): Hôtel Albris***S, Pontresina (GR)
• Large vacation hotels (41 rooms and above): Parkhotel Schoenegg*** S, Grindelwald (BE)
• City hotels (3/4 stars): Zunfthaus zu Wirthen ***, Solothurn (SO)
• Luxury city hotels (5 star and superior 5 star): Mandarin Oriental Geneva*****S, Geneva (GE)
• Luxury hotels (5 star and superior 5 star): Grand Hôtel Kronenhof*****S, Pontresina (GR).