Crystal Ski.....Problem Solved.

A snowHead

Wishing to travel at new year i decided the best course of action was to book early to ensure i got what we wanted. So we did ...... With Crystal.....sadly.

We booked a 2 bedroom apartment in Arc1800 as my daughter is now hitting that age very she demands her own space and as it was xmas time i paid the extra to ensure we had a nice holiday.
All was well until last week when we received a call from Crystal to let us know that our accommodation was no longer available as Crystal have decided they are no longer dealing with them due to 'commercial reasons'. This is bad news as we have a very nervous skier in our family and its location close to the lifts with minimal walking was ideal. But according to them it was no problem as they were upgrading us to a 4star from our original 3star.
Now this sounds great doesnt it? Well no it isn't as when i accepted i was told it was actually only a single bedroom apartment which was not what we booked. The new apartments do have larger rooms but crystal said that they could not offer this and im guessing this was a cost thing.
So how the heck is a smaller apartment an upgrade?
Naturally i objected and i was offered other options which included lower resorts (in december i don't think so) or others in arc1800 or 2000 at a cost to me! £200 more! But that was ok according to them because the actually cost was £400 but they would pay half.

Again i said no.

After much discussion i mentioned that i would take it up with the higher powers at crystal when they suddenly decided to tell me that if i took the 1 bedroom apartment originally offered it would actually be £100 cheaper.
Now call me a cynic if you like but i don't think that that £100 reduction would have been applied if i had accepted the first time do you? And this is not the first time Crystal have done this to me as when i booked the holiday my 2-4-1 ski hire was missing from the invoice and by the time i realised they said that the offer had expired but i could still have it if i booked 3 liftpasses with them. The bloody cheek of it.

So.....after much thought i said i would accept one of these options:

1. A two bedroom apartment at the new accommodation.

2. A one bedroom apartment at the new accommodation at the lower price plus 1free lift pass as compensation for the loss of that bedroom.

Now i think these options are VERY fair don't you?

But the response i got was that Crystal cannot give a free lift pass as they cannot discount them as the make no profit on them and therefore have nothing to discount. Now that has got to be total crap as they regularly offer 2-4-1 on lift passes.

In the end they counter offered a single bedroom apartment with £100 compensation which i am not happy with. They are willing to pay £200 towards the cost of new 2Bed so a free lift pass shouldn't be any problem.

I have until mid july to decide but this has left a real bitter taste in my mouth.
I would be interested to hear if any other SHs have similar experiences with Crystal.

A snowHead

The other option which you haven't mentioned is a full refund which they are surely legally obliged to give.

I've only used them once and they were fine, but then I rarely use TO's.

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

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Snapzzz, PM sent. Tell them to take a hike Toofy Grin

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This has happened to me too, a couple of times. Can't remember whether it was Crystal though; they all do it. There is always a lot of negotiation about what is acceptable as a comparable holiday as they don't want to lose money and you think you have been inconvenienced so deserve something better. Once we compromised and got a "better" (or equal, I would call it!) accommodation. The second time, for various reasons, we could not come to an agreement and we got a full refund.

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Snapzzz, What was the name of the appartment you originally wanted?
What's the name of the new appartment they are offering?

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

I'd take a full refund and start again from scratch. There are plenty of options available - the vast majority of apartments in France (not to mention other places) won't yet be rented for New Year.

After all it is free

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Hi Snapzzz,

I'll start this by saying that I'm not a lawyer, but I have worked in the ski industry for a long time so have an idea of how the law works around cancallations etc.

Under the package travel regulations, you have three options. You can:

take a package of equal or superior quality, if available, from the operator
take a package of lower quality and recover the difference in price between the packages
receive a full refund.

The grey area is determining the difference between the accommodation which you booked, and the replacement accommodation which they have offered. So, I would suggest that you begin by having a look at their website and costing up the difference between the various options which they have offered you. My guess would be that it is £100 cheaper to book the one-bed appt in Eden Arc than the two bed appartment in your current accom - hence the compensation offer.

Have a google for package travel regulations which will give you more info about what you are entitled to.

Hope that helps??

Heather

snowHeads are a friendly bunch.

Snapzzz, Eden Arc is in a good position next to a nice wide gentle blue. If you had to get the bus (if your wife is a total beginner), it's not a huge problem as it goes regularly from very close by.

EDIT to say that I am 99% sure that that piste is a 'zone tranquille/beginners area' under Chantel 21 chairlift

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We had a similar issue with Crystal and we suggested an alternative accommodation to them in the same resort as the one cancelled. We went from a self catered apartment to a catered chalet. I told my wife that she had no chance before she made the call, but was proved wrong.

Just take full refund and contact apartment you want directly and book it. I never book with Crystal but always get their brochure to get "ideas".

You know it makes sense.

If you want a TO package (with flight etc) I'd see if any other TO is offering the appartments. If another TO is offering the apartment you particularly want at the price of the original Crystal package or less go back to Crystal and say please can they either give you a 2 bed in the new apartments or your money back and you will book the original apartment with the other TO.

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

Snapzzz, take the full refund, book a holiday with someone else, get on with your life. Problem solved.

A snowHead

achilles, yep

A snowHead

Something similar happened to our group in 2010:

http://snowheads.com/ski-forum/viewtopic.php?p=1592766&highlight=#1592766

We now only book with anyone but Crystal. This year we are spending 12K+ with Mark Warner.

You should book with someone else, Snapzz. I believe Crystal care very little about customer satisfaction.

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

A few years back Crystal bought up the independent ski operator "Simply Ski" who had a great range of chalets in St Anton and elsewhere. We skied with Simply Ski one year and the next year chose a "Crystal Finest" chalet, same chalets as Simply Ski but now all things run by Crystal, back in St Anton.......... chalk and cheese. I've NEVER been with Crystal since and don't intend to ever again. It's not just the drop in standards, but the complete lack of understanding the needs of a client group. Too many kids running a chalet.
*snarls*

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Yer gets what yer pay for!

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theskibob - we went to a simply ski chalet in 2003 with our son who was a baby at the time. We paid a lot for the holiday expecting a luxury experience with good childcare. We were very disappointed with the holiday and were not surprised that Simply ski ceased to exist soon after. There must have been problems there.

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have a chat with Sam at www.ski-sun-holidays.co.uk she does a lot of accommodation in /around the 3v for the british champs and always does a pretty good deal, she may be able to help you out with an apartment in the area...then it is just a case of flights/ transport

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

snowymum, I doubt my opinion is statistically worth a great deal. But having skied with a number of mainstream and independent TO's there are a number I just would not go back with.

BTW I gave Crystal a second chance and skied in Les Arcs staying in a 4* apart-chalet, again run by under-skilled teenagers blagging a season on the snow. "4*" it was not, value for money - not really, but great skiing and snow more than made up for crap food, indifferent staff, lack of cleaning, and tiny rooms with seperate loos.

After all it is free

i would definately go for the full refund and start again..... but again, i rarely deal with TO's for any holiday due to past problems......

^^^^^^ sound advice!

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Get a full refund and go again. Plenty of options out there and available.

snowHeads are a friendly bunch.

Not directly relevant, but the only time I've used TOs for holdays, summer or winter, have been for last minute deals. In those circumstances, indifference and 'okay' quality and service seems to be more acceptable, but I know if I'd eagerly been waiting 6 months or more for that level of accommodation, I'd be sorely disappointed.

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feef,

Ditto
I would never ever consider using a Tui company for booking well in advance. But I have just come back from a holiday in Lake Garda operated through Crystal. This was booked very late (like 36 hours before the flight late) I only paid £329 each inc flights, transfers and a guaranteed minimum of 3* HB, my expectations were very low. So I was very Pleased to find myself in a very nice and what I would consider to be a proper 4* in an excellent location. Had I paid the brochure price which was nearly 3 times what I paid then maybe I could have found fault.

Mosha Marc, Sometimes, only very Occaisonally you gets more Cool

As a relatively new skier 4 of my 7 trips have been with Crystal, including the last one. We've never had a problem with them, they've always provided a good service and at times have been excellent. One of my trips with another operator wasn't great but it was last week of the season, we booked last minute and I think falls into the category feef mentions.

We had a minor incident with Crystal when we booked well in advance for a Christmas trip. Some of the arrangements changed at the hotel (around childcare), it meant that somehow we got a £100 refund (didn't complain!), yet a family we'd organised to go with had an extra child and possibly some other arrangements were asked to pay an additional £200. They decided to cancel and book elsewhere in the same resort.

You know it makes sense.

I booked last month for a March 13 family trip with Crystal; flights to Salzburg. I received a letter yesterday stating that our flight out which was meant to arrive at 09:10 will now be arriving at 17:35. It would have been nice to have a day to sort out the gear & take things easy but obviously that won't happen now. Not a deal breaker but it's the first time I've booked a package deal and it's not off to a great start.

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

wickyb, that'll be the airline's fault, so whoever Crystal charter with (Monarch?).

I went DIY this year and the airline decided to move the flights round by a few hours. Right pain as we were meeting people off another flight so it meant we had to change the transfer too. So it's not exactly Crystal's fault (unless they sat on the information for a while before letting you know of course!).

A snowHead

I would say that if things get changed post-booking, being with a TO means that they will sort it out for you, or give you a refund if they can't sort something suitable. With DIY you may end up having to make changes to other parts of your arrangements, possibly at additional cost. That puts the TO option at a distinct advantage to me. But hey, each to their own.

A snowHead

Just to clarify, unfortunately they won't budge on lift passes because Crystal don't actually make a penny on them. They actually lose on them. The only way people get discounts on lift passes is by going direct with a huge hotel usually (because the hotel knows a friend or 20 in the lift pass offices and deals are set up i.e. Hotel Rila in Borovets, Bulgaria).

However, I can totally understand your point of view... Eden Arc would not be ideal if it wasn't for the blue slope coming in that group of chalets.

Quite correct about 'teenagers blagging a season on the slopes' - wouldn't you? This is what Crystal do, its what they're known for. I've just done a season in Tignes and most of my friends were from Crystal/Mark Warner and they get treated like crap, so hence why they don't really care some weeks - going in New Year is worst time to go with Crystal as the staff have put up with 4/5weeks of nasty work and then get told they're not getting their hours back, so everyone's in a bad mood. March however, they're all conditioned and are njoying it - maybe go then with a TO lol.

If I were you I would full refund and book a smaller company. I don't know Les Arcs as well unfortunately, but if you happen to consider Tignes / val d'Isere, I have plenty of recommendations there.

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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

I was in Tignes for new year once. It was nice being away at that time of year as a holiday, and celebrating new year somewhere different as much as it was a ski holiday. We did have good snow conditions tho, and I'm sure if it had been brown and patchy then I might not have enjoyed the celebrations as much Wink

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Bode Swiller, even in Austria, where the sun, as any fole kno, sets later than it does in other countries at the same latitude, New Year is simply NOT the best time to go skiing. And I bet that wherever you went at New Year would have been even more remarkably cheap and even less crowded during some other times of the season.

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

pam w, prepare for a shock - skiing happens mostly in the winter.

After all it is free

Had two Crystal holidays so far this year. Both superbly run and excellent value. Better than anything I could arrange for myself. Maybe I'm just lucky.

snowHead

pam w, but lots of people have restrictions placed on their holidays by either work or by having kids at school. In which case, a NY ski trip is a lot better than no ski trip. Just because it's less than ideal doesn't mean its not still fun. Lovely being away with friends, having dinner cooked for you, doing a bit of skiing.. doesn't sound to bad eh?

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Crystal Ski.....Problem Solved.

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