How our hotel selections are built

This page sets out how selections on Stay in Alps are put together: what we look at, in what order addresses appear, what our funding changes and what it does not, and how to flag a mistake. It describes our process — not a guarantee about any individual hotel.

Where a selection starts: the destination

Every selection begins with the place rather than the hotel. Before recommending anywhere to sleep in a resort or valley, we establish the things that decide whether a stay works:

• Geography — where the centre is, where the lifts are, what is walkable and what needs a car.
• Areas — which part of a destination suits which kind of trip, because “the best hotel” usually means “the best hotel in the right area”.
• Season — when the resort is busy, when it is shut, and how the ski season, the summer and the shoulder weeks move prices and atmosphere.
• Access — the realistic journey from the nearest airport or station.

How individual hotels are chosen

A hotel enters a selection when it does something specific well and we can say what that thing is. In practice we weigh:

• Position — distance to the lifts, the lake, the centre; what the walk is actually like.
• Rooms — what the categories differ on, and which one is worth the extra. Where it matters, we name the room to ask for.
• Facilities — whether a spa is a destination in itself or a small wellness room; what the food is worth.
• Fit — who the place suits, and just as importantly who it does not. An address that works for a couple may be wrong for a family with skis.
• Evidence — the hotel's own material, guest feedback across platforms, and first-hand visits where we have made them. We say which is which rather than implying we have slept everywhere.

We generally keep one or two addresses per resort per style, so that a selection stays a selection.

What the order means

Where a list is not explicitly ranked, the order is editorial and does not reflect any commercial arrangement. Where we do rank, we say what the ranking is for — best for families, best for ski-in ski-out, best on a budget — because a single “best” ranking across incompatible needs is not useful.

Money, and what it changes

The site is funded by affiliate partnerships with booking platforms: when a reader books through a link here, the platform may pay us a commission, at no extra cost to the reader. Commission rates are set by the platforms and are broadly similar across hotels, so the incentive is to send readers to a hotel that suits them rather than to any particular address.

Where a page is produced in partnership with a brand, or where a stay has been offered to us, that is stated on the page itself.

Updating, and getting things wrong

Alpine information dates quickly. Lifts are rebuilt, hotels are sold and renamed, restaurants close. We revisit pages rather than publishing and forgetting, and each one carries its publication and update dates.

We will get things wrong. When you spot it — a hotel that has closed, a lift that no longer runs, a description that does not match what you found — tell us, with the page and what you saw. Corrections are made on the page, and significant ones are dated.

Where to start

Browse by country: Switzerland, France, Italy, Germany, Slovenia. More on who we are on the about page.