More Esprit messing around.

A snowHead

Arabba chalets were affected last season too.

A snowHead

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

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We are going to Hotel Evaldo via Inghams. As I said earlier it's the 1st time we have ever booked early bird. The return flight has already had a time change.
Do you know if the issues were down to the freak snow levels last year (I'm hoping that is the case, but have no idea??)

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My flights have been made later still - we are now due to land at 21:25 Mad

I am exceedingly p'eed off now.

Also to the doubting Thomas's re times it takes to get through Gatwick did you see the reports from over the weekend?

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NickyJ, go with another family operator and book your own flights, more under your control then Smile

Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

NickyJ, despite me asking whether you should be a bit more relaxed about this earlier in the thread - I think twice is taking the p a bit. Have you contacted them regarding this second change ? Might be time to reconsider ? Shame though......

After all it is free

Timberwolf, not yet, and again they have contacted by sending me an unsolicited new invoice which was emailed to me late this afternoon.

NickyJ, so that's how they let you know by sending you another invoice?? Mad

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Gaza, NickyJ, it's really poor customer service in my view Sad

I really would explore other options. There are some smaller operators who offer a much more personal service.

My experience of Esprit was mixed, first trip not a great booking process, didn't feel they were particularly helpful and felt fleeced with all the different supplements, we had to cancel this trip anyway at the last minute due to medical reasons and this was covered by insurance, Esprit had our room on the website within minutes of my phonecall to tell them we would not be travelling Laughing

Second time was a late booking enquiry, advertised offer prices looked good so I rang up, the woman on the phone could not have been less bothered and after all the supplements were added on the price was not so good and I was really annoyed by some late booking surcharge or other they were whacking on. That time we went with Snowbizz instead and the whole experience could not have been better, truly personalised service during booking and in resort and no daft supplements either. Third experience was a summer trip which we did actually go on, again I wasn't that impressed with the booking process as they wanted to charge me an 'under occupancy supplement' for the fact that I had only one child to sleep on the sofa bed and not two Laughing

I told them I would book there and then but I would not pay this supplement and so they waived it. Just as well as the sofa bed was inadequate (broken and sagging) for one 4 year old let alone two children. The holiday was very good, hotel and staff excellent.

I would really look at booking your own flights to Geneva and looking at The Family Ski Company in Ardent. There will be loads of flight choices and it's an easy and quick transfer. They are a good set up too, friends been with them 5 times.

Gaza, really sorry to see you messed around by Esprit. We used them a couple of times when the children were younger and had good all round experiences, but that was before the parent company changed (I think) and since then I am hearing more and more poorer reviews of the company.

On the Jet2 point on bags. I had come across the problem with Flybe due to the size of their planes, but not Jet2- would be useful if others pointed out the link on Jet2 and baggage as I may use them next season for one of the trips.

You know it makes sense.

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

ansta1, yes agree about the letter too as how many people will read another invoice? I'd probably just file it and then have a shock later, maybe that's what they're relying on and so are deliberately not fully informing people.

A snowHead

A snowHead

Well they have posted on facebook that the time is going to change back and another invoice will be sent. It hasn't come through yet, I hope that is true, but it does make me wonder what is going on?

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

i'd like to think it was something to do with my tweet today but i seriously doubt that even in my little world of self appreciation that it had anything to do with it. Very Happy

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ansta1, I hope it did. In case it did THANKYOU Very Happy

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Just received three new invoices (all appear identical to each other so not sure why three have been issued) but with a new return flight flight code gettig is back in the UK for 16:35. I am incredibly happy as that is back to what I was originally expecting.

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@NickyJ, "I am hoping that they put an inset day on that day, but they aren't normally that helpful (and given that my girls are in difference schools, one will be infants one is juniors) odds aren't in my favour there."

Easy. Tell the schools that both of your girls have picked up a bug on the plane and that you're keeping them home to prevent it being passed on to the kids in the school. They'll be falling over themselves to thank you.

I couldn't possibly admit to having done this when we had school age kids. wink

*** Sorry, posted this before I saw that the flight time had been changed back ***

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@irie, "but it does make me wonder what is going on?"

They have probably decided that it will be cheaper to pay to move the flight back to the agreed time rather than deal with all the p*ssed off people.

After all it is free

@NickyJ, And all is well in world of NJ and Esprit. I hope you get chalet hosts somewhere near as good as we experienced over NY. My friends and I have just booked for Easter 2016 with Esprit again.

@Mike-H, where are you going next season? Haven't decided yet who we are going to go with but they Aren't ruled out but no longer a definite due to all the messing.

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Incidents like this are why your operators struggle. Once people have been messed about this much they only go with that company again if they are really cheap. As a company you don't want to just trade on price for obvious reasons.

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We had two holidays with Esprit and learned the hard way, never again.

The first was in Courchevel 1850 in 2005. We were in a very nice half board chalet/hotel but the room was a single room with a double bed in it. It was so tight that you could not walk around the end of the bed normally, you had to shuffle sideways around it. We complained about this and were told yes, it was wrong, but there was no other accommodation available - they had bought the hotel and it was over New Year. So it was a case of either put up with it or go home. We put up with it.

The second was in Lech in 2010. The 'Luxury Chalet' was in fact a badly maintained 2 star hotel with threadbare carpets and dodgy plumbing, leaky taps, and so on. It was like a dodgy ski holiday version of Hi-Di-Hi - even down to the Ski Esprit manager (Frank I think) handing out the guest satisfaction surveys at the end and asking us to hand them back to him when completed! We left negative feedback on Trip Advisor which was rapidly followed by quite a few glowing reports from very satisfied "guests". Yeah, right wink

Like I said, never again. Sad

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@NickyJ, Glad to see your back to original plan and sorted, we go with Esprit this weekend to Vla d isere, we used them last year for the first time and found them to be really good, excellent staff, particularly the child care, as it should be though, that's what they specialise in and charge for rolling eyes

Re the flights, are they in their control or the carrier? We have found when using Crystal that flight times changed, not significantly but always did each year, as do our summer flights with Monarch and Jet2 to Palma,

Sometimes flight time changes are out of the TO control?

How the TO deals with the consequences is more telling . No??

If the air carrier changes the flight what else can be done.

I know often an earlier and later flight are amalgamated into one when flights are not full.

You know it makes sense.

It is all charter flights so I would have thought in their control BUT as we are the last week of the season I suspect the reason is linked to the fact that they aren't flying anybody OUT first.... Possibly them trying to save money on getting is home. Except in my eyes those people going out the first week of the season or coming back last week shouldn't be penalised as that should be factored into there cost model in the first place.

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

@NickyJ, We're off to Peisey Les Arc sometimes called Plagne Peisey. It is right between Les Arcs and La Plagne. Like the look of this place and want to head back to La Plagne (unfinished business with this resort). Newish chalets with great views. We've booked the entire chalet with friends. This will be our 4th Esprit ski holiday.

We always choose a chalet, not chalet hotel, which limits our options slightly. The main reason for Esprit is wide range of great childcare. Our group has toddlers up to 7 year olds. They pick kids up, get them to lessons, stay with them for any nose wiping etc., bring them back to chalet and organise lunch. Yes you pay a few quid, but I want happy kids having fun. From 8.30 until after lunch the kids are 'entertained' by Esprit staff.

I do understand though that the holiday is massively affected by the chalet hosts. in 2013 ours was not great and I had to resolve this with Esprit. Role on 2014 and our 2 hosts were absolute stars. Why did we book again with Esprit? Happy kids = Happy Me.

Flight changes are annoying as hell when part of the decision process is based on the flight times. That said, on my fist ski trip to La Plagne, Crystal moved our flight from early morning to the evening so we arrived in resort very late at night with two young toddlers in our group. The return flight was also later which caused more issues. Not great, but it serves as an example that no matter which TO you choose, you face the risk of flight changes. As you may remember Esprit moved our flights this year to a different airport (Chambery!!!) and a later arrival time.

A snowHead

We did Espirit 2 weeks ago in Val, our 5th time with Espirit, and had another very good experience. Kids enjoyed themselves and the improvements made to the hotel since last year have really worked well. Flights were with Titan out of Gatwick this year, and worked fine, on-time both ways (more or less). Usual Chambery scramble at the airport but not as bad as it has been, everyone seemed pretty much on the ball, with the only real hold up caused by a large flight of Russians taking forever at passport control.

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@Richard_Sideways, Good to hear. I am heading back to Val on Sunday.

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

@Richard_Sideways, good to hear

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@Richard_Sideways, We had Titan at New Year. Delays were not their fault and I thought the in flight service was better than Flybe, EasyJet, Ryanair etc.

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@o11y, me too, I'll,be wearing a red rose in my lapel !
Actually with my wife and son Toofy Grin

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@hedley, went with Ski Total a few weeks ago which had Esprit and Inghams (all Hotelplan) but also Alpine Elements, Mark Warner and someone else on it and was operated by Monarch. It is a Charter flight as all seats are sold to TO but each operator buys number of seats rather than chartering the whole plane. I wouldnt have thought that any of the operators would have a say over flight times, rather it is Monarchs choice and the TOs have to live with it, including any changes.

Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

After all it is free

Sure, the primary thing is that they've extended towards the back think they said that 12 rooms have been added but they're not ready this season. The new extension has increased the size of the dining area, which certainly helped with seating and organization at breakfast time when getting the kids ready to go out. The old bar/lounge area has been closed off, and a new bar and lounge put in where the old dining area was.

Other good news is that Espirit have re-vamped their wine list, so no more headache-in-a-glass Merlot.

@Richard_Sideways, that all sounds good, especially the wine Toofy Grin

can I blame you if I get a bad head next week Puzzled

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More Esprit messing around.

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