In his A Tramp Abroad, Mark Twain describes the Lion Monument in Lucerne as “the most mournful and moving piece of stone in the world”. The monument in question sits in a small park in the centre of town, right next to the entrance to the Glacier Garden, which I can also recommend for a visit.

From the Lion Monument I slowly make my way through the shops and the old town of Lucerne to the quay from where all the boats leave.

There is an hourly service from pier three that goes directly to Kehrsitten. The boat leaves at seven minutes past the hour. The journey takes about 30 minutes.

The seating area at the rear of the boat is reserved for First Class passengers and residents of the hotel. The latter may use the shuttle for free.

Directly opposite the ferry landing at Kehrsitten is the entrance to the cable car. The trip with the cable car up the Bürgenstock takes another 10 minutes. There is a direct entrance to reception from the cable car station.

Reception

The Bürgenstock Resort is made up of three establishment, which are all owned by the same Qatari financiers. The main lobby is dominated by the lounge, with its panoramic views of the lake and Lucerne in the background. The first impression of the hotel is honestly not so good. Check-in for two of the hotels happens in the same reception area, and it’s a zoo when I arrive. Even though the official check-in time is 15:00, none of the rooms seem to be ready. Of course it doesn’t help that the Bürgenstock draws a very international and culturally diverse crowd, for some of which the concept of queuing and waiting is evidently alien.

I’m staying in the part referred to as the Palace hotel, which stands in the place of the original Bürgenstock hotel that opened in 1873. The building standing there now is a replica.

The Bürgenstock Palace Hotel

My room is nicely appointed, but it’s rather narrow. There is a Nespresso machine, but it is on the blink.

The room’s main selling point is obviously the balcony with a view overlooking the lake. And it really is quite spectacular.

Staff

The staff at the Bürgenstock are great. They are clearly very well trained, fluently speak several languages – and are obviously hopelessly overworked. It takes until 16:45 for the room to be ready. Everything takes for ever and you usually have to ask several times to get what you ordered. It’s little, unimportant things. When I ask for a drink, the waitress asks me if I’d like ice and lemon – and then promptly forgets to bring me both. I ask for a latte macchiato, and I can actually see it standing at the bar. By the time she brings it too me, it’s already cold and the foam has gone flat. And even that wouldn’t really matter, if it weren’t for the fact that the cheapest room at the Bürgenstock Resort is still over CHF1000 a night. For that kind of money I would honestly expect a better service. A much better service.

Conclusion

I really do not blame the staff at the hotel, because I think it was very clear they were doing their best and working very hard. It is difficult to say why the hotel is so seriously understaffed right now. My impression was that perhaps management may be trying to reduce costs by having less staff do more work. However, I suspect that strategy has never worked for anyone ever in the service industry – particularly if you want to position yourself in the luxury hotel segment. The moment your customers notice that something is amiss, you have basically already lost.