Total Ski Chalet Hotel - Any Feedback?

A snowHead

Hi,
I'm considering booking with Total Ski at one of their chalet hotels. Does anyone have recent experience of this company or their chalet hotel set up? Not decided the resort yet so any feedback appreciated.
Thanks

A snowHead

I have not used them but a good friend has been going with them for years, to various resorts. Needless to say he reckons they are the mutt's nuts! Very Happy

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

fraserp, Gray and I were in Val D with them Christmas before last. Accommodation was good, staff were excellent (especially when Gray ended up in a leg brace for most of the week), but the chef needed to be shot wink

Would we go back to them? Unfortunately, based upon the experience of the food - probably not.

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[quote="fraserp"] I stayed with my two sons at Ski Totals's Chalet Kamanga in Zermatt before Christmas. I would certainly consider going with Ski Total again. The chalet was good and kept really clean, the organisation all round was professional and friendly and the Zermatt rep was very knowledgable about Zermatt, the area and the conditions. The food was quite good, typical chalet food, though in our case the main courses tended to be the weak spots (my sons complained about the size of the meat servings!) - as always in a chalet, what you get depends on the cook you have!

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We stopped with Esprit Ski in January which is essentially the same company and I would agree that the food was the weak spot of otherwise an excellent package, they seem to run from a stnadard set of menus and some of it was over fancy for the actual delivery of what came and I would agree withnlinesw4, that the meat serving was sometimes a little on the scant side. Would I go back again, yes I think so the rest of package more than made up for it.

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We stayed in Chalet Cascades in Courchevel 1650 in March with Total. Chalet was pretty standard - rooms small, but perfectly comfy for the little time spent in them, dining/living area was rather "rustic" but personally that doesn't bother me. We were very lucky - had a French chef so no complaints on the food and they offered some nice alternatives to meat dishes. The only down side was a shortage of hot water (not that we experienced it personally but heard plenty about it from other guests!). The best points were the location (directly opposite the main lift, Ariondaz gondola) and the great airport transfer. Might sound an odd thing to rave about but we were delayed 3 hrs on the way due to snow at Edinburgh (!!) and expected disorganised chaos from then on as a result. Nonetheless, we got straight off the plane in Geneva, directly onto a coach and were in resort 2.5 hours later. Beat certain other TO's supposed "transfer day organisation" hands down in my experience!

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

skismurf75, Welcome to snowheads. Is that where they were dancing in the streets of Raith once?

I went with Total to Les Arcs a few years ago. Just fine. No problems at all.

After all it is free

Chris Bish,

Chris Bish,

I think dancing on the streets of Raith came from an English broadcaster when Raith Rovers won whatever the Scottish League cup was called when they won it. There is no town of Raith they play in the home town of the ever cheerful Chancellor of the Exchequer, Kirkcaldy.

Cumbernauld is an idyllic New town nestling in the foothills of the Kilsyth hills between Glasgow and Stirling. With an architecturally venerated nouveau seventies shopping centre it was the setting of the film Gregory's Girl for those who remember it. snowHead

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fraserp, Used a Total chalet/hotel type thing for 2 weeks in Arc 2000 this year. Generally pretty good. The rep was very helpful indeed and the chalet staff were good too. Food was good and the chalet itself was quite comfortable. I'd use them again.

skismurf75,

You know it makes sense.

I was getting mixed up between Cumbernauld and Kirkaldy. On the other hand, don't the newly re-constituted Airdrie play in Cumbernauld?

So, Dancing in the streets of Airdrie becomes a possibility...
snowHead

brian

Chris Bish, no, the newly reconstituted Airdrie, Airdrie United (as opposed to the old Airdrieonians) play in Airdrie.

Clyde play in (or near anyway, Broadwood might be nearer Croy ??) Cumbernauld, nowhere near the Clyde, although their old ground in Glasgow was near the river.

btw, at the risk of being a pedantic b'stard, the "dancing in the streets" comment was originally made in the 60s by David Coleman, reading the results off the teleprinter. I think they had just been promoted. It was recycled by almost everyone when they won the League Cup (Coca Cola cup at the time I think) in 1994, beating Celtic on penalties in the final Laughing

A snowHead

Cumbernauld is the biggest dump around- the shopping centre looks like someone constructed it out of stickle bricks! all pokey out bits and walkways! Nastiness! Bloody good 24hr Tesco though!

A snowHead

Thinking of booking into the Chalet Kamanga for next season. This is a chalet with Total Ski. Any recent experience of either the chalet or company would be appreciated.

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

If Ski Olympic are around the same price (and a suitable resort) then go with them.

If you are looking at a quiet January week then you will have no problem picking up a great late deal, even for 4.

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We have been with Ski Total 3 times. The first two times were excellent and I couldn't recommend them enough. Unfotunately we were let down a bit this year. The chalet was cramped with very low ceilings in the upstairs bedrooms. The food quality had gone downhill and the return time for the coach back to the airport was just a farce! I wouldn't say it was a bad experience, it's just that we expected more based on previous trips.
All in all I would still recommend them, though we are going DIY next year wink

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

Jan

I suppose it just goes to prove it is the chalet host you end up with rather than the company.

I am still interested in hearing if anybody has stayed or knows somebody who has stayed in the Kamanga Chalet and what it was like.

Thanks

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cham08, there's a report about it in this thread.....

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

Thanks for that Pam only 2006 isn't really a recent experience.

After all it is free

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looking at taking a group to champs in val in jan.......any top tips? how are the transfers-do they like to wait around for lots of flights??

also heard meal times are "flexible" what does this mean? can you change during the week and most importantly can the whole group eat together?

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Worst Ski Holiday Imaginable, with Ski Total (Esprit Ski) and Chalet Matterhorn, Meribel.

Myself and 8 friends were unlucky enough to book and stay with Ski Total over the New Year period 2010/11. Every single facet of the holiday was a disorganised, uncomfortable, mess. Having stayed in ski chalets before, we know that our expectations were not unreasonable.

Ski Total have been completely unrepentant regarding the performance of their staff, and we have received no satisfactory apology, or any offer of compensation for our horrible trip.

A list of just some of the issues at this chalet

Hot-Tub Hygiene Issues and Rashes:
- A large portion of those who used the hot tub in the first day (before the tub was subsequently cleaned) broke out with various types of rashes. Some with large painful boil-type sores all over the body – others with large areas of small bumps.
- Specifically, by my count, 5-7 people in the Chalet caught rashes from the hot-tub, mostly on the first day, in the first hour of usage by the Chalet group in the week.
- The doctor stated that the rashes were from the poor hygiene conditions in the spa.

General (complete disorganisation)
- snowboard and ski lessons had not been correctly booked, and so the first day was wasted. We were left to arrange our own instructor privately because no more official instructors were available
- our return flights had not been booked by the company. We spent around 30 minutes at check in having to convince the airline staff to put us manually into the system. At no point did any of the ski total staff try to help, despite being told of the problem at the time.
- Despite us providing prior notice that one of the party was vegetarian, this info had not been passed on to the chalet, so the first night there was no appropriate food available.

Chalet (too small, and low quality)
- The Matterhorn Chalet in Meribel in which we stayed, was not fit for the number of people that were staying there (14 adults, 2 children). I would say max occupancy should be 5 to 7 adults, for a comfortable stay (size-wise).
- Lounge seats only 5 people comfortably.
- Constantly dirty dishes
- The kitchen area was insufficient and in a state of disrepair.
- They advertise the Chalet as having a comfortable and attractive open-plan area; something that not even the Resort staff attempted to defend at the time. Specifically, one staff member told us explicitly that we were in the worst Ski Total chalet in Meribel, which clearly didn’t have sufficient space for 16.

Chalet Staff/Service (service seriously lacking)
- The chalet was understaffed. We were told that 2 staff had walked out the previous week, and only one replacement had been sourced, from a different role in Meribel. As a result, when we arrived 3 hours late, the Chalet was still not ready.
- Food was often served very late in the evening, with people sometimes heading to bed rather than wait for the later courses to be served. Generally not enough food available (e.g. one day there were 4 croissants for 15 people)
- No toilet paper in the house by half way through the week. Even when we requested it, we had to wait 24 hours to have it replaced. Had to go into other people’s rooms to borrow the last remaining sheets.
- First morning, had to wait outside for 30 mins for a transfer bus to show up (despite the fact that this would have meant we would have been late for lessons, had they been booked correctly). No-one from Ski Total seemed to be aware that there was no driver serving our side of town. Completely disorganised, no-one appeared to be in charge of Ski Total for the resort most of the time.
- Room servicing was basically non-existent. Had to clean out shower drain on arrival due to the amount of hair. Heard of other rooms having to do the same. Absolutely disgusting.
Sad

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paulstewart97, Reinforces my vow NEVER to set foot in a hot tub, especially with a bunch of strangers. Thanks for the heads up!

ps You're a bit late with your complaint, aren't you? Very Happy

FraserP, Which resort?

You know it makes sense.

Help!!

Total Ski Chalet Hotel - Any Feedback?

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