 Poster: A snowHead
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we have only ever done catered chalets. this year we are thinking of a chalet hotel. what are the pros and cons ?? we are concerned about the kids - leaving them in the room whilst we eat 3 floors away - although the operator offer a listening service wherby a memebr of staff patrols each floor. we like the commeradery of chalets -is this lost in a large hotel and do you end up dining alone ??
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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backhojo, did one with mark warner and pros were longer meal times for breakfast and tea. THe kids had a seperate dinner time before the adults. there was a bar/pool room were you could go to. Cons didnt have a comfy sofa/slobbing around area, i bit too "organised" with pub quizes etc... Didnt dine alone but ended up with the same table each night as it would be impolite to move around
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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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backhojo,
Out of the two, I'd go for a chalet... the downside for the Chalet hotel is that the personal thing has gone and you have a lot of staff there, maybe they are too young...
I did, though, once have a bad time in a chalet hotel, so I'd rather go to a hotel. Kids weren't in that equation though...
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Agree with the above. Chalet holidays far superior to chalet hotels. Chalets are cosier and more homely. No choice AFAIC.
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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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the main pros for a chalet hotel is that you dont have to cook or organise your mates and get them to all commit on time. How many times have you organised the perfect chalet for X people only to find that you end up with a couple of iffy ones that cant commit and end up short a few people with everyone else complaining about having to pay more!
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backhojo, couldn't you have meals with your children in the hotel? Then they wouldn't be left in a room alone.
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Chalet hotel may have a bar, table football, pool etc.
Some of them may have nursery facilities for looking after young children.
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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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Generally, I have found chalets best. That said, I went to a great chalet-hotel at Alpe D'Huez with Crystal.
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Both hotel and chalet can have cases where the staff are not putting in 100%. I've seen it with both in either the 1st week of the tour-operator season, or the 1st week that the chalet staff are on duty. Fortunately I'm fairly tolerant, and can understand that a first weeker learning the ropes is going to be less helpful.
If the chalet owners live in (the one I stay at, they live in the separate apartment downstairs), then that chalet is their livelihood. There's always someone to intervene in case of slack staff. If it's a TO run chalet, then things will be different, since the one who would intervene is probably also less motived near the end of the season (and also not familiar at the start).
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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| Quote: |
| couldn't you have meals with your children in the hotel? Then they wouldn't be left in a room alone. |
Many hotels don't serve meals early enough for young children who have been out skiing, who will probably be in bed by 7 or 8. We did a chalet hotel with a nephew and niece who were too young to stay up for the full adult dinner, but old enough to cope by themselves in their room - the deal before the holiday was that they would play quietly in the room if they didn't want to go to sleep. They stuck to the deal but we didn't much like the chalet hotel. It was very full, and there was a big rush for tables at meal times, a bit like a boarding school. Unless you were part of a predetermined plan and rush for tables you were left picking up the odd slots where they existed. I felt it was the worst of both worlds. We generally stayed in smaller chalets where you got to know everybody, and always enjoyed it. When our daughter was too young to wait up for the full evening meal she could go to bed just a few yards away, and felt secure, knowing we were within easy reach. She would not have wanted to be a long way away on her own. If going to a bigger place I would prefer a proper hotel, with a mix of nationalities, not just a gang of Brits, where you had a bit more choice of when, and what, to eat. There was a hot tub, but it was always "full of big fat kids" as my nephew and niece said - they felt too intimidated by the rather yobby attitude of the clique which had appropriated it. The "comfortable place for slobbing about", as someone so eloquently put it, is also a key aspect of a chalet proper, as is being able to take your own duty frees and buy mixers from the chalet staff. I don't see much point in chalet hotels.
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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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Depends what you want - a better standard of accommodation (probably) in a chalet hotel, however food more mass produced, and as mentioned earlier you lose the personal touch. However the bar and facilities may appeal, however, for me if I can't find a bar in resort that I like better than the hotel bar I can't be trying very hard!
Personal choice would be chalet, however as I usually chase the snow and book late, beggars can't be choosers.
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| Quote: |
| a better standard of accommodation (probably) in a chalet hotel, |
you can't generalise about this. The only experience I have is a fairly basic chalet hotel, where the accommodation was very similar to fairly basic catered chalets. However, I have been in nicer chalets with superior accommodation and if owners have made some "personal touches" they can be a lot better than mass produced. A bit like the food, really - chalet hotels probably don't plumb the depths or the heights.
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if I can't find a bar in resort that I like better than the hotel bar I can't be trying very hard! |
I have never had a holiday in a hotel, but I stayed in quite a few on work trips, on four continents. Some of them fairly upmarket. I rarely ate or drank in the hotel if there was any choice, so I can relate to that statement. In fact I always associate hotels with work trips, which is maybe wny I preferred catered chalets. One reason we liked chalets was being able to have as much as we wanted to drink without paying bar prices, and without having to walk home in the freezing cold either. The last catered chalet we stayed in was in Courchevel 1650 with Le Ski, on a last minute deal. We had great food and the chalet, next to the piste, had a superb lounge and log fire, with plenty of comfortable seating, and we were welcome to make coffee, get ice cubes etc from the kitchen (not always the case). I suppose that if you prefer to stand around in a smoke filled bar and drink expensive beers or even more expensive gin and tonics, there's nothing to stop you going out!
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You know it makes sense.
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A bar does save you the effort of going out in the evening.
It also means you can pay for your drinks as you go along rather than worry about ticking a sheet or trying to eke out the usually poor quality chalet wine.
My personal choice would be to stay in a real hotel and eat at a time of my choosing, from a proper menu, but in some resorts that is rather difficult.
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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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backhojo, our experience of a Mark Warner Chalet Hotel was that the food and accommodation was not as good as a Hotel, and the atmosphere and ability to keep an eye on your kids in the evening - when they were really not welcome in the dining room - was considerably worse than a Chalet.
Proper hotels are the answer for those who don't want to self cater, unless you are a big group of friends - in which case Chalets are the answer - although with the bigger companies there is always the risk that by the time you get to February onwards you will be made to feel like you are getting in the way of the Chalet Girls' Holidays...
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Poster: A snowHead
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I have found that finding a *proper* hotel is tricky though, particularly in France. Not so bad in Austria.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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I have used hotels in Italy and Austria and it has been a pleasure to be there. We are going to stay in a catered chalet in France this time and reading these comments above i am becoming a tad concerned. Ice on ration, can we not have our own drinks in the chalet??
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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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northantsred, what kind of price range, and what company? We found we got what we paid for. Some catered chalets, small ones, have pretty ordinary domestic style cooking arrangements, not professional equipment. If you are cooking for 15 people in a small kitchen with limited fridge and freezer space, you can't have guests running in and out demanding ice every five minutes. I don't agree that
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Proper hotels are the answer for those who don't want to self cater |
and neither, obviously, do the thousands of people who happily holiday in catered chalets without a "big group of friends" (though the chalets in which there are already one "big group of friends" with a couple of beds left to fill, are best avoided).
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Stayed in a catered chalet for the first time last year at Meribel having previously used hotels and self catered apartments.
Pro's
- MUCH more comfortable and spacious than self catered apartments we had used before
- Excellent food cooked by two lovely Ladies who were also very helpful
- well situated near the pistes
- large enough to take the 6 of us with room to spare (we booked the whole thing)
Cons
- Cost a packet (around £6k for the week including all food and passes and that's self drive!)
- not as handy for the resort centre in the evenings as hotels/apartments we have used
- no bar so nowhere to meet/chat with other skiers
- menus were pretty set so the kids weren't always quite so thrilled
- no pool / sauna/ Jacuzzi as have normally been available at hotels
Overall we enjoyed it very much, I'm not sure how well it would have worked sharing with strangers. The cost was sufficient that we aren't planning to repeat it this year. I also missed the 'ambiance' of a hotel bar that you can relax in in the evenings and chat to other skiers. Much better than apartments though.
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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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Chalets taking around 15 - 18 people might be the optimum. More convivial and if there are a couple you can't stand, you can avoid them. But location is vital, as ever. Some of the Meribel chalet suburbs are miles from anywhere.
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pam w, it's around £600 for the week with skibeat, there are ten of us and it takes up to 16. The location isnt great but it will be fun.
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| stoatsbrother wrote: |
| Proper hotels are the answer for those who don't want to self cater, unless you are a big group of friends - in which case Chalets are the answer |
Not sure I agree. They are *an* answer but not *the* answer. I do a lot of travel on business, and I really don't like having to find a place to dine alone each night, so certainly wouldn't want to do the same on a ski vacation, where I want to relax in the evenings. The chalet is a convenient way to have an instant group of people to socialise with, and you can be fairly certain that you have at least one common interest.
northantsred, I don't see any reason to be concerned. Chalet probably has a small fridge for guests for the mixers, ice, etc., and where I've stayed, it's normal to stock up on some duty free at the airport. Chalet provided the mixers for free, but even if you have to tick a box and pay at the end, thats still going to be way cheaper than the hotel bar (especially in France).
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Sorry if this is a daft question,  but what is meant by a chalet hotel? A hotel where the building is chalet style (e.g. http://www.hotel-gletschergarten.ch/ which does describe itself as exactly this) or is it something different?
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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firebug, nothing to do with the architecture, more the management. In the language of UK tour operators it works like a catered chalet (ie a group of people, not necessarily related to each other, have booked into the chalet, and are fed and watered by tour operator staff). A chalet hotel is just bigger. It means that everyone there will have booked with the same tour operator, so they will generally all be Brits. Catered chalets come in all dimensions and prices - some are exceptionally expensive, and exceptionally well appointed, others small and cheap. But as far as I know most chalet hotels are low to middle range - people going to the super expensive places don't want to be with loads of others, I guess!
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pam w, thank you!
This kind of thing, I guess?
http://www.markwarner.co.uk/ski/france/meribel/chalethotel-tarantaise
hmmm I think I'd personally prefer a catered chalet unless it was really necessary due to fluctuating numbers.
I prefer independent ones too - we've had a lot of fun in independent catered chalets, slightly to my surprise as I was a bit apprehensive about it at first.
My one experience with a TO chalet was in Serre Chevalier with Crystal, the chalet was lovely but the staff were awful miserygutses and told us that under French law we couldn't drink our own duty frees and so it was forbidden (which I've never been told anywhere else, though possibly it is strictly speaking true?). Awful food too, compared to the lovely dinners at the independent places.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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I think pam w, made a good point about there being an optimum amount as sometimes you could end up in a small chalet sleeping less than 10 where you could either all get on like a house on fire or you could have a situation where you might have a family with young children sharing with a group of lads who wanna party hard or even as in my case be stuck in the middle of a row between sets of parents on whats acceptable for their kids to be watching on the dvd (Notting Hill was the cause of the argument btw),or someone having some money going missing from their room (as a lot of small chalets don't have locks on internal rooms) and then more or less saying that someone from the guests or the host had took it-he found it in his jeans 2 days later-no apologies though.
At the other end of the scale the bigger the hotel or chalethotel is the more you tend to just feel like a number/punter.
I tend to think the smaller places can be best but you just run the risk more of not liking/getting along with other chalet guests.
As for staff attitudes i think you do find that the individual chalet hosts in general are that bit more responsible/conscientious than chalet hotel staff-thats probably why they are given their own chalets at the start of the season.
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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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The last thing I want to be in on holiday is a hotel. (Spend far too long in them)
A quality catered chalet is the answer for us particularly when the children were younger and we could take a non skiing Nanny or Mother in Law.
Its a shame ski familie weren't around in those days offereing free Grannies 
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