Prior to 2004 (and starting in 1998), my wife and I had 6 sensational holidays here under the previous hotel proprietor. She created a holiday paradise, surrounded by a warm, caring , friendly staff - the whole atmosphere in the hotel radiated friendliness and joie de vivre. Entertainers of national and international renown would perform at the hotel in the evenings - all arranged through the proprietor's enviable list of contacts. On a personal level, my wife - who is diabetic and never in the best of health - was given a level of attention which almost defied description, even allowing for the excellent standards of service for which so many Swiss hotels are rightly renowned. We thought we had found a place we would go to for 20 years or more, it was so idyllic - and that's before taking into account the wonderful location in the pine forest just a few minutes' walk from the magical Caumasee.

Imagine our horror then to discover in July 2004 that a new proprietor had taken over and within a matter of weeks had utterly destroyed the harmony within the hotel. Loyal staff who had been there 7 years or more were mysteriously sacked, the beautiful carnations which always adorned the front of the hotel disappeared, we were suddenly charged for iced tap water (!) at dinner, the Swiss National Anthem was no longer played during the 1st August (National Day) celebrations, the entertainers introduced by the previous proprietor stopped playing at the hotel. The atmosphere was now cold and unfriendly; whereas the previous proprietor would visit every table during dinner and chat to guests, the new person would hide away in her office.

We were so infuriated to be charged for tap water that on returning home to London, we decided to cancel the provisional booking we had already made for 2005. the new proprietor's reaction to this was to panic and she sent us a 20 Swiss franc banknote through the post, as re-imbursement for the tap water charge. I think this was because I had written to her a letter along the lines "You may have gained 20 francs but you've lost 2000 (due to the cancelled booking), is this good business sense?"

20 francs could not buy back our contentment. We have not been back to the hotel since; we would rather preserve our wonderful memories of the previous era at the hotel. It is quite amazing that a change of proprietor (ONE person) can have such a dramatic - indeed devastating - effect on the morale of the staff and general atmosphere within a hotel. How sad.