Poster: A snowHead
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Anyone have any specific recommendations for hotels/tour operators with kids clubs in the hotel?
I've had a look at Esprit / VIP Ski and no sure where else to look for more. Don't fancy club med.
Anyone with any personal recommendations?
Will have a 2 and a 5 year old next year and want the option of full time kids club for the younger one and split lessons and kids club for the older.
Very little demands about resort etc, much more interested in the hotel itself.
Thanks!
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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@Legend., Family Ski (can recommend personally, they were excellent) or Ski Famille (different company, not used them but have seen them around resort and talked to their staff, similar set up to Family Ski). Both are chalet operators not hotels, but would give you the kids club options. Not cheap, but probably similar cost to something like a Kinderhotel.
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@Legend., Hotel La Cachette in Les Arcs 1600 used to have one. Worth a check whether they still do?
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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When ours were that young, we went down the Esprit and Family Friendly Skiing(la tania) route. Esprit especially as they send out their Rangers with the kids groups to act as tail-end sweepers, nose wipers, glove put-back-on-ers, toilet trippers etc. and the kids loved it, and we got the skiing in that we wanted and the holiday we needed too.
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@ousekjarr, Will have a look!
@mgrolf, Thanks. Can only get a 5 or 6 day holiday with them due to me needing to go just after new year and that being in the adjustment week to get their holidays back to Sat-Sat. Like the look of both though. Will store those names away.
@PeakyB, Don't think so anymore! Looks recently refurbed and quite nice and not the sort of place they went pesky children!
@Richard_Sideways, Yeah I am thinking Esprit might work best for us at present based on what I have found.
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@Legend., could be worth giving Family Ski a ring - they're a relatively small operator and may have some degree of flex. If nothing else, we've arrived early and left late (to get extra days of skiing) and they've been very accommodating in terms of making space for us to change, leave our bags etc).
Ultimately I think the family-focused operators all do more or less the same type of thing, so it probably boils down to which one has the right combination of location/dates/availability/price for your specific situation.
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@Legend.,
Have a look at Neilson or Mark Warner.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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@Legend., We did Esprit two times, both very good, Obergurgle and VDI, used to use Crystal from when our son was 18mths before them, OK initially but then they closed a few locations, including the one we liked, I think their choice of locations is less now. Son is now 18, so it’s not the most current info.
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The Dachstein Koenig https://www.dachsteinkoenig.at/ is a family hotel, only, with outstanding facilities. Right opposite the beginner area and main uplift for Dachstein West (Gosau). It’s relatively new, having been built 5 years ago. Plenty of English speaking (if that’s important) staff.
The ski area isn’t massive but you do get a good sense of travel. Nowhere is difficult or overly time consuming to get back to base, should the need arise.
Ski passes aren’t overly expensive. Eating/drinking on the mountain verges on cheap - range €7.00-€13.00 typically. A large Beer is about €4.50-€5.00. Most, if not all, the mountain Hutte are traditional, bursting with character and friendly.
None of the resort villages (Gosau, Russbach, Annaburg) are overly lively - it’s much more a family focused experience, though Gosau does have a decent Apres bar (more or less opposite the hotel, though not so close as to cause any disturbance).
The time you are potentially looking at wouldn’t be overly busy. Snow-wise, in the six years I’ve lived here, early Jan has seen good to excellent conditions, top to bottom.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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“Overly” seems to have become a favourite word…
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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@Cacciatore, you only missed it out from your first paragraph, but I wouldn't be overly worried as no one will notice...
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@Cacciatore, Thanks for the link and info. Looks great. Offering the short week though again. The Fitzwilliams! I'll definitely bookmark that as I wouldn't be overly surprised if that is suitable another time!
@mgrolf, Gave them a call. Tricky time for them and pretty much sold out anyway.
@Kenzie, Cool. Mark Warner look good. Didn't realise they offered childcare in that way.
@geoffknight, Locations are definitely less but I think they offer similar packages and I know so many have used they year on year in the past until their snotty ones have grown up enough.
Any more recommendations before I try and make a final decision..?
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You know it makes sense.
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@Legend., we used Mark Warner once and Esprit quite a number of occasions.
In comparison we found it didn't work so well for us. My children didnt enjoy the clubs as much, they didn't have snow rangers with them in lessons and they didn't do a baby listening service, instead you dropped them into a snuggle club I believe it was, which had older ones watching cartoons etc so my girls didnt sleep there, this left them overtired in the morning and struggling to get up and out for lessons. Result left me and Andrew wolfing down food as fast as possible and early as possible to get them into bed as early as we could.
Our girls were 4 & 7 when we went with them. We started using Esprit when girls were 1 & 4
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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@NickyJ, Thanks Nicky. Esprit are currently in top spot for this trip and I would like to give them a try. Had a trip booked with them before the zombie apocalypse which had to be cancelled and would like to see what's what.
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Poster: A snowHead
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The Austrian "Kinder Hotel" concept is great whereby the hotels are specifically built and designed t facilitate patents skiing while they take care of the children in very good and healthy facilities. We have used the Hotel Bar in Serfaus for many years until our girls were old enough to ski in classes at which point we switched to France and use ESF in the morning and ski together as a family in the afternoons.
https://www.loewebaer.com/en
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Hotel Ballunspitze in Galtur
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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Quote: |
you dropped them into a snuggle club I believe it was, which had older ones watching cartoons etc so my girls didnt sleep there
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I bet they didn't! Mine wouldn't have, either. "Snuggle Club" indeed.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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@Legend., why don't you fancy Club med? I've been to so many places and for holiday with kids it beats everywhere else hands down. Kids genuinely love it there so much
You'll end up going in years time and your only regret (like us) is you didn't take advantage of it when kids were younger
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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@peanuthead That was a question I was going to ask as well
All the people I've seen with kids have said the kids loved it!
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@peanuthead, @skitrack, I don't like big hotels at all and every club med I have ever seen is large, (give me a small cabin in the mountains, woods or on the beach and that's where I'd be my happiest whilst on holiday!), but with 2&5 year olds we have made the decision to suck it up and stay in hotels that are bigger than we normally would for the additional benefits of having some other poor soul look after our kids whilst we go off and enjoy ourselves. But that is still a small hotel in reality.
I really can't wait until they can both ski and we can go off together but we aren't there yet. A few more years until that's the case.
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No-one mentioned Chilly Powder yet. Small hotel with in-house childcare.
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@shep, Have checked them out. Look great. Pretty much full for my trip time though unfortunately.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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Legend. wrote: |
@Cacciatore, Thanks for the link and info. Looks great. Offering the short week though again. The Fitzwilliams! I'll definitely bookmark that as I wouldn't be overly surprised if that is suitable another time! |
I know someone quite well who works there and I’ll happily speak to them to see if there is more flexibility on dates re the short week. It’s always possible. Let me know if you’d like me to get in touch with them along with the dates you have in mind.
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