i guess they are taking a page out of conde naste traveler. phoniest bunch of reviews i have ever seen. and the world eats them up.

I looked through the "bad" reviews.. some of them seem to be quite a joke as well..

“Impressive but no charm or coziness”

Londoner093

Gave 1 out of 5 points (ie, minimum)

The Hotel is a building feat in itself and has been done very well. However the lobby bar being the focal point of the hotel resembles a British Airways airport lounge and has zero atmosphere. It would also seem that the staff are mainly local Swiss german. I would think they need to employ more of the Italian variety who seem historically to create a more balanced and becoming atmosphere like the small castle down the road. Whilst the staff were not rude in any shape or form their English was not up to par and certain charm skills were missing. I have been told the rooms are magnificent and frankly so they should be at CHF 1700 in high season. The SPA looked very impressive but not being an active SPA user I cannot comment on how good or bad it is. It certainly has an impressive Brand representing it. The three restaurants looked a little pretentious and small. Why a go to the mountains to eat Asian style food I don't know but I guess there is a demand for this type of food. The smart restaurant is run by a two star Michelin chef and seemed fussy.The stubbli looked cozy.

Sorry - but if THIS is worth 1 / 5, then I don't understand either.

Some of the good/very good reviews indeed look a bit fishy, but I assume most of the bad reviews are because the people just don't understand that you can't get a room in Switzerland for 100€ in one of the most expensive mountain towns in a 4*+ hotel.. from what I read, this hotel might be a bit "cold", but their "hardware", if you want to call it so, seems to be rather decent. Most reviewers giving 1 / 5 or 2 / 5 for this? Might be just as well as other "paid" reviews, from the hotels next door ;)

I'm not that irritated by hotels that prod actual customers to post positive reviews. At least the person that posted the review actually stayed at the hotel. What I find unacceptable are the fragrantly fake reviews posted by either a professional or an employee. This ethically-challenged cr*p is rampant in TA, making the site useless.

The truth is that the Alpina Gstaad, in Dec'12, didn't even rank a '1'. The bad reviews are accurate. The positive reviews are faked. I suffered through 5 nights at this place. 'Bad' isn't the correct term. I'd use the term 'Three Stooges'. The description of bar, and its service, is correct. The service in the restaurants was worse than the bar. Even getting seat in a completely empty restaurant was a chore. The sushi chef was fussy. He was fussy because the staff couldn't even get a glass of ice water correct, let alone serve something as complicated as wasabi. Also, he couldn't see what he was making due to lighting problems at the chefs station. (They have fixed that ...)

yeah... what's the deal with that hotel? bad reviews are almost always followed by a good review the very next day!!!???

Well, but you shouldn't rate a hotel based on the restaurant alone, should you? You said you suffered there 5 nights - so the bed had bed bugs, or was very uncomfortable? The toilet smelled? The shower was working crappily?

Or was the hardware fine, and just the "soft" skills of the restaurant service needed some adjustments?

I've rated down hotels by 1 point or 2 points at the absolute extreme if the service was lousy, but then it had to be service totally - not just a bad restaurant. If you've booked the hotel including dinner, and it was trully bad, you might give it a stronger downvote cause of that, that's for sure - but giving it the worst grade possible just because the service in one of the restaurants (and the bar, granted) was bad? A hotel for me only gets 1 / 5 if there are either massive issues with something, or it has so many problems it gets downvoted because of them. But if the room is fine, and the other parts of the stay are ok-ish as well, a place shouldn't get less than 3 points..

I've rated places 1 points, so don't think I'm a guy never giving bad votes. But clearly your majority of votes should be 3+, otherwise you're doing some pre-research wrong :p

Yup. Take the Fairmont Royal York:

http://www.tripadvisor.ca/Hotel_Revi...o_Ontario.html

On the left you can see "Professional Photos" which you can click on to see 23 'official' photos (the sort you see in a brochure) and also a link for "439 Traveller Photos". Unfortunately, the 439 ALSO includes the 23 professional ones - it isn't terribly clear by the way it is phrased, but is the same for all hotels, so I guess I am used to it.

If you click on the "439 traveller photos" the very first one you will see is titled "EPIC private dining room (Feb 2013) Provided by VFM Leonardo Inc." All of that wording is in black - it's one of the official photograps (it's the 14th on the 'professional photos' section). The "provided by" is also a give away, as is no 'user name' on the same line as the date.

If you click the arrow on the right of the picture to the next one in the series, it says "Bathroom Supplies ... (myghtymouse, Feb 2013) Amazing Stay!!" The "Amazing Stay" wording is in blue, and if you click on it, it takes you to Myghtymouse's review of the hotel. That is, someone who has stayed at the hotel, reviewed it, and uploaded their pictures.

Clearer?

Regarding Alpina Gstaad: Which room? The first room had electrical problems. The second room had a permanently on TV along with a toilet the was permanently flushing. There were LOTS more issues.

So, no, I'm not judging the hotel by the comically bad service in the bar/restaurants. Housekeeping stunk also. The rooms were nice, but at >1000€/night, 1 star for is place is too much.

I assert all positive reviews are fakes on TripAdvisor.

Wrong. Not the ones I write.

If your rooms indeed had severe issues, then indeed a really bad rating (especially if a change of room didn't helped) might be reasonable - however, I'm not spotting much reviews of this sort. Most said that the hotel was good - just that the bar/restaurant was not, at least the service.

So, lots of problems at the rooms? Why can't I read much in the negative reviews about it then..?!

Over 1000€/night? That's over 1200 CHF.. even in high season, I could get a place like the Badruts Palace in St. Moritz (definitely a great hotel) in Peak Season (ie the highest season but Christmas/New Year) for less - Double Superior Room, not the (smallest) Standard room.

http://www.badruttspalace.com/upload..._2012_2013.pdf

So, I'm really wondering what happened there with your stay.. if you booked their suite, and everything went bad, I might understand it, but without more information about what happened, you won't gain much credibility for me..

Seriously thinking to go there (at least for a drink) just to check it out.. could do it on the weekend ;)

Tripadvisor is no longer reliable
 

I review on Trip Adviser and am one of their top 1% most read reviewers- according to them. I am an ordinary traveler, neither rich nor poor. who believes in helping others as I have been helped Nobody pays me or even encourages me ( except my significant others) . I have said it before. Read reviews for details in which you are interested. That is the best way to use them.

I actually still quite like tripadvisor. When I'm narrowing down hotel choices, I use the feedback to figure out whether the nearby attractions are convenient or not. I use it as much to read bad reviews as well as good ones. When picking a hotel at Sydney earlier last year, I really went through a number of reviews for the two I was deciding between, and it worked just great. If you know what you're looking/ filtering for, it's still a pretty invaluable tool, IMHO.

great explanation - thanks for going to the trouble to explain that

I use Tripadvisor
 

I agree with you. Tripadvisor can be a great tool when you filter the results.
For instance, any establishment that is "AWESOME!" and $13 a night I rule out....usually!

I found that when I was recently traveling through Asia for 4 months I relied on TripAdvisor a lot.

I realized I had been doing a poor job at doing my part -- contributing useful reviews. So I posted quite a bit.

I think the "problem" is with people just like us --- who don't take the time to post a thoughtful review so it gets filled with sometimes useless junk (although I still find it mostly useful).