Chalet expectation levels?

A snowHead

Hi everyone

I wanted to get the community opinion on what you expect when you stay in a catered chalet/self catered apartment.

After working many years in a customer focused industry I've just started my first season working as chalet host for a small chalet company with a number of properties on their books. I've spent the last couple of weeks getting the places ready for the guests and I'm quite shocked some of the places and the poor quality of furniture, equipment etc especially in comparison to the pictures used to advertise the places. For example the beds are dreadful with ancient mattresses/duvets etc, there are barely any hangers and the ones there are a mismatched, some 'entertainment systems' date back to the 90's with the old style televisions, a wii unit without any games, blunt knives, mismatched plates/cutlery and the list goes on. To top it all off there's no snow.

I've stayed in my fair share of awful places but in most cases paid peanuts for them but if I pay decent money then I expect decent facilities. Whilst trying to be subtle I've made my feelings known to the owners of the company that if I were a guest I would be disappointed at the quality of some of the places but they do not seem too concerned.

Am I worrying too much about everything? What do fellow snowheads expect??

A snowHead

@Rezman, I would expect better unless this is a really cheap budget company. I would at least expect decent pillows and duvets, comfortable mattresses and plenty of hangers. Matching crockery goes without saying, and equipment should be uppdated regular;y. In a season with brilliant snow, you would probably get away with it. Right now, with guests coming for Christmas, you're on a hiding to nothing. I have a small apartment. My website is in my signature below. This may give you some indication of what I would expect in a chalet.

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

I would not care about matching crockery so long as it was plentiful, unchipped and clean! Knives need to be sharp, mattresses and bedding should be comfortable and clean, and there should be plenty of hangers. Things should generally be as described and accurately represented by the photos! Above all else everything needs to be spotless! Cleanliness and comfort matter in any accommodation in a catered chalet good food and good company also matter!

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Thanks for the quick reply. They have quite a few properties on their books and some of the apartments are very nice whereas others look nice but on close inspection are really lacking. The guests for the catered chalet are due to arrive this sunday and I feel as host I'm going to get it in the neck. There was also meant to be a chef cooking in the chalets but that seems to have gone by the wayside.

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If this is meant to be chef-standard catering, I would certainly want matching plates. Mismatching is OK if everyone has the same one for each course.

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Yuppys should learn how downscale so its
more inline with their self promoted
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Yeh OK, I would agree with @Hells Bells, in chef-standard catering chalets.

And yes if you are on the spot you are the one who will have to deal with any complaints. If you have to do so, best advice is to sympathise with your client, tell them you will refer their complaints, and give them contact details to do off their own bat too. If you have any leeway to give a freebie bottle of wine etc if appropriate. Most reasonable people recognise that staff on the spot often have little control over the 'whole badly represented deal' so you just need to get them recognising this, agreeing with them is often a good start!

Having said that you are quite likely to also have to deal with 'unreasonable folk'. If you are in the hospitality business of any kind thats par for the course. Listen to what they say, re-assure them you have listened, assure them complaints will be referred and carry on doing so in a polite and calm manner until they run out of steam. Smile

Good luck

After all it is free

@Rezman, doesn't sound good and wish you luck, particularly next week as I think with bad weather, or lack of skiing in places, that people will quite understandably be more picky and fussy than if they are out having a good time.
We try to keep our chalet up to scratch - more so because we let it for a very few weeks a year than if it was just us here the whole time when we might put up with things. Plenty of matching china, glasses, cutlery - more than enough, decent linen, beds, comfortable sofas but I do confess that I must go round in the morning and try and match up the coathangers - masses of them in all the hanging cupboards but certainly not all matching.

@pamski- I admit the coat hanger thing is just a bug bear on my part but IKEA wooden hangers are so cheap and last forever. I realise that no matter what you do you will never please everyone. In my case I've rented out my home in the UK and repainted it internally and externally, put in new double glazing, upgraded some appliances and the tenants then complained the sofa was not comfortable.

I now need to consider whether to admit defeat so early on and try and quit this job and try and find another company to work for or just head home. The people I'm working with are really nice but I just think they are a bit disorganised when it comes to running a business and there's no chance the chalet owners will spend the necessary money to upgrade their chalets. It's a bit of a no win situation and quite upsetting since I've been planning this for months. Sad

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@Rezman, if the chef has gone already it sounds as if you are not alone but why not see if you can hack it for a few weeks first.

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I've rented some pretty awful self-catering apartments in France and I wouldn't have said they were cheap. Most don't seem to have had much maintenance for many years. Plumbing that leaks and stinks has been the more major issue, experienced twice. However as far as decor and fittings go, quite honestly I don't much care. I'm a bloke & I just want somewhere quiet to sleep, hot water and a working kettle.

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@Rezman, sit down with all your clients this season and get their feedback. Tell them this is learning process for you and how much you value their thoughts. If you are showing commitment to learn, improve your chalets, please your customers, and listen to their concerns, I reckon you'll be surprised how many repeat clients you will have for next year

I think these crummy self-catering apartments must be ones that the owners rarely stay in - perhaps inherited, or just bought as an investment - as I can't believe that owners who stay in their own places would leave them in that state. We work on the basis that if our chalet is well cared for and welcoming then people will take good care while they are staying.

You know it makes sense.

I'm going to go out on a bit of a limb here with a slightly different opinion - please don't all flame me - I'm hoping this is helpful.

If you are employed as a chalet host @Rezman, then the issues which you are mentioning - furniture and equipment replacement, shortfall purchasing, dealing with the liftpass company regarding snow and lift opening, staff recruitment, other properties in the program etc are all outside your remit which might be why your manager isn't really addressing your concerns. And given that it is your first season making any professional objective industry-specific comparison between holiday costs and accommodation provision will be difficult for you, despite your previous customer service experience.

The start of the season is always a worrying time for everyone and I think that you will feel a lot more settled once your first guests arrive. The fact that you care about these issues is a sign that you will really care about your guests, certainly a quality which makes you much more likely to do a good job of chalet hosting! And in my experience the vast majority of guests are friendly, excited to be there, and pleased about the experience at all levels of the industry.

My advice would be to focus on the things which are within your remit and concentrate on doing the best job which you are able to do. Make sure that your chalet is clean and well presented to the best of your ability; make sure that you know the resort area well and are able to answer questions as needed; make sure that you know the menu (if you are cooking); read your guest information carefully and try to learn names so you know who is arriving; think about x-mas day and what you will serve etc etc. I would also strongly advise not mentioning the issues above to your guests at all - not even in a positive "have you got enough hanging in your wardrobe" way.

Guests will soon tell you if there is an issue and if that happens I would simply and politely pass it on to your manager. Say to the guests "I'm sorry but that isn't something I'm able to help you with - I will call my manager now". Ring whilst you are standing with the guest so that they can see you are doing something and say to your manager "I am here with Mr X who has some queries about his room. Would you like me to pass you over? " and give them the phone. Dealing with the sort of issues which you raise above is a job for your manager/company owner.

Hopefully some of the advice here is helpful - I think it would be a real shame to quit your job before it has even really started - and I think that if you do a good job of hosting you will be pleasently surprised with how much positive feedback you get from your guests. Have a good season!

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

@Snow and Sunshine, well done for the taking the time to provide some ( hopefully ) really helpful, but surprisingly candid, advice.

A snowHead

@Rezman, if you're working for a run of the mill mid-market operator, this is all pretty normal. Wait until you've done a few weeks with guests before you start thinking about jumping ship, and in the meantime do your own job as well as you can (see post above). Don't waste your time whinging to the upper echelons - they know very well what's in their own chalets. If you still don't like it, apply to a company which does better accommodation - try VIP Ski. (But expect them to be absurdly OCD about their cleaning standards.)

A snowHead

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

@olderscot, I would tend to agree with you. Nothing wrong with passing it up the chain though.

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I used to expect various standards of room, furniture and hot water supply together with staff on some days visbly affected by the amount they had been drinking the previous night. And to be told in the company bumf that the staff were 'not my servants' (what, then, is their function?). Which is why I now prefer to stay in hotels with a decent standard of comfort, and professional staff who recognise that they are there to look after the guests.

There were some noble exceptions. The Bladons ( remember them? ) chalet at St Anton where we arrived 12 hours late and found a hot meal and a friendly reception waiting for us. Or an outfit called ScubaSki at Les Deux Alpes, where we were the guests of the friendly owners (and dog!) who looked after is grandly. But all to often, a chalet/ catered apartment is hit or miss by chance.

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I agree with nearly all of the very good advice here from @Lizzard, and @Snow and Sunshine, except the

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Ok - fair point - scratch that line Happy

But, you should still go for passing the issue onto your manager rather than trying to deal with this yourself if it does come up @Rezman,

Have a great season!

After all it is free

@martinm, I can't imagine asking them to do anything else; I wish they they were always sober enough to those tasks. However, I do notice that the hotels I book into do not tell me that their staff are 'not my servants' - because, actually, they are there to serve. Companies writing that their staff are not servants are expressing contempt for their customers, or suggesting that they are attracting the sort of clientele who would abuse staff without instruction. Either way, I am happy to vote with my wallet to avoid them.

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@Rezman, Well done you for recognising this and wanting to do something about it.....talk to your boss is my advice (but dont expect much action if its a major tour operator), why should you take shiite from unhappy punters all season long, when you agree with them?! Personally for the very reasons you describe I would never stay in a tour operator chalet (unless it was really top end and I cant afford then so its not an option anyway). I've seen and stayed in so many places like you describe back in the 90's and early 00's that we made a decision to just not go in chalets anymore and go independent. I was fed up as a customer arguing with young, clueless staff that didnt have the ability to sort it, and eating garbage food whilst they pocketed the food allowance for nights out, and arrived (or not) for breakfast in a wrecked state!

The customer has the right to choose, and so do the staff that work there, I'd get out whilst you can and find another job now you are in resort before the masses arrive.

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You've got to have a very peculiar set of priorities to go to a ski resort and be troubled by coat hangers that don't match! Maybe its a bloke thing or just a me thing, but a) I don't care, b) I don't recall ever using hanging space whilst away skiing. Not sure I take any clothes that need hanging, but that's probably just me. I'm there to ski.

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Agreed, the hot water issue isn't actually an issue. You shouldn't need it on 24 hours a day.

@stevomcd, well we have been here for 14 years and in our experience we have needed to flick the switches to have hot water in the evening. Just depends on the mix of people staying. We have two large water tanks and can sleep 8. We, and our friends, tend to be quite careful about what we use but not everyone is the same. If they all bath or shower in the morning it drains the tank.... I do understand the theory about the cheap nighttime electricity. That now goes on later in the evening too.

You know it makes sense.

@abd, Yeah, people have different standards of what they want and expect when they are away, one size doesnt fit all - I also go for the skiing too, and personally could care one bit if the coathangers dont match so long as there are some, but it is also a holiday and I expect a standard of decent accom, furniture and food, and most of these places arent cheap and should provide better IMO.

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

@achilles, True, but there's probably quite a few folks who are unreasonable in what they expect the host to do. You don't get the staff constantly around you in a hotel, si it's a biut different. Still not sure I'd put the phrase in bumpf other than in the chalet rules found in the chalet itself though!

A snowHead

thanks for all the replies. The company i work for is a very small one and not a major tour operator. I spoke with them this morning and they are also concerned about some of the issues that I brought up in particular with the lack of snow. I knew the hanger issue would bring out a few comments but how can you be a luxury operator if you've only got 3 bent up hangers in the cupboard and promote an entertainment system with a crappy old tv and original Play station?

The places are clean as I've been on my hands and knees cleaning them but I'm wondering how I'm meant to prepare the afternoon cake with no scales, sieve, cake tin etc but maybe they will rush out and buy it tomorrow.

I relayed this information to them earlier and asked them not to buy a season pass for me as I cannot commit to remaining in this resort for the season. Will play the next week by ear when the guests arrive and do my best to keep them happy, fed, showered and warm. As I'm what's known as a 'mature' seasonaire I'm not into big nights out, just good skiing and company.

A snowHead

@achilles,

Staffing levels are different in chalets than hotels and the overall "feel" of the holiday is supposed to be different. When I worked in chalets we were called Chalet Hosts and the basic idea was that the experience should be like being welcomed into someone's house*. Alright, someone who is a particularly attentive host. But that is what the bumf saying staff were 'not my servants' was about. You wanted a different style of holiday and are happier in hotels - absolutely the correct choice for you. That wording was supposed to help you make that choice.

* That's why it is not unusual for chalet staff to eat with their guests. Why guests often (choose to) clear the table and bring stuff in to the kitchen. etc.

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

From what I know of catered chalets, and staff doing the cooking I thought it was usually the case that they took out cake tins and mixers etc themselves. But if you didn't know that you were going to be doing the cooking that is a bit different for you @Rezman, I seem to recall a topic on here last year when some parents were concerned about their offspring that were in a resort and felt they were being badly treated/asked to do too much - and with no electrical gadgets. I think in the end they solved that by sending a mixer over the internet. Can't recall the end of the story.

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@Pamski, my experience of working in a chalet (not a luxury one) was that we were provided with basic scales, cake tins and sieves. These are pretty essential - you can't make a cake without a cake tin - and I'd expect the operator to provide these. I did take my own electric whisk, food processor, digital scales, and sharp knives - which I'd class as useful and time saving, but not essential.

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How luxury? More than 1000 a week or less? We pay ~£650-700 late jan early feb and I expect slightly crappy single beds, I don't think I've ever had coat hangers (nor missed them), I like matching glasses, but rarely get them. I rather like mismatched plates and don't care if they are chipped, I do expect there to be enough no mid-service washing up is needed though. I like towels which actually are vaguely big enough to cover an entire person (but am not overly suprised if I don't get them). I do care that the cake and food are well cooked and there are bonus points for decent presentation. I care bathrooms are clean. Chairs etc in the shared rooms I expect to be pretty terrible, although it's lovely when they are not. Cutlery is always pants.

YSE were a cut above but even there the beds and the furniture were clearly "well loved". Food was awesome though so we couldn't hve cared less. Ski Total had great furniture, but only just-acceptable catering, terrible towels and only enough crockery for half a service (and sharing a mixer/coffee pot between two chalets...) and I remeber being very glad I'd not paid full price.

aj xx

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@ a.j the chalets sleep 8 people and are £1500 per week low season (ex flights, transport etc) but for the catered Xmas week it's something like £4500 for the week. Per head that works out at just over £550 pp which sounds OK. On a low season week just self catered it would be a very good price but my main issue is the use of the word luxury chalet. It's a decent chalet that could be excellent if there was a little more investment in it and if you promise a chef/ experienced cook you should definitely get that and not some random person coming in to cook.

As I said it's possible that my own expectations are too high which is why I wanted to check how people felt. I'm willing to take a guess that if the snow was great, the wine flowing with some decent food and a roaring fire everyone would be happy!

After all it is free

@dheason- funnily enough I did bring a whisk with me and some measuring spoons but asked if I needed to bring anything else as I was driving so no issue to fill up. They did mention the yoghurt pot cake but that would be boring to eat every day!

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My opinion / my view - I have stayed in many (around 30+) catered chalets over the years - ranging from luxury with Mitchelin (supposedly) starred chefs to some excellent mid range last minute bargains.
I have stayed with family (older kids) and friends on all occasions.
Our general opinion (as a group) is for the chalet (the whole chalet) to be clean and tidy with enough seating for everyone if the chalet is full.
For the chalet to be in a 'quiet'area, ie. no outside noise early hours etc and for comfortable beds!
Catering is hugely important - A good choice at breakfast - including plenty of cooked options (for the men). A fabulous cake at tea, that is big enough for more than one slice (I have a sweet tooth) with some french bread also. It is also nice if the chalet staff are there at T time.
Dinner - having sampled a variety of meals over the years the best option (for us) seems to be meals that are wholesome and filling - as lovely as some of the al a carte meals are - do they leave you satisifed after a full days skiing - no - not always - nothing worse than watching your kids and men folk having to fill up on bread!

It would not be the end of the world if cutlery plates etc were mismatched, no - but it would be noted! - as long as things were clean, well presented and in plentiful supply!

Happy, helpful and socialable chalet staff - that goes a long way!

If the kitchen is in full view of the guests - which most are - please be seen to be washing your hands - general hygiene does get noticed!

One more thing - ensure the table is always properly laid - nothing worse (as a guest) having to keep asking for things that are not to hand when they should be - especially the wine!

Wishing you the best of luck and a happy season!

Help!!

Chalet expectation levels?

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