 Poster: A snowHead
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I love reading peoples trip reports and must confess to trawling the web for them.
Have read of this one .
Consider how lucky you were not to share with this woman, and see in what wonderful detail she describes the resort and the skiing.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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The Government Chalet Inspector!
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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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I don't think she'd last the week with me. Does anyone *really* expect the photo in the brochure to be of the room they're going to get?
I went with Esprit, to La Ros., in '04. The room we had was quite small (for four thirty-something gentlemen, at least), but it was clean and near the entrance (handy for 3AM returns). The staff were, on the whole, excellent, particularly one chap (Screech) who was obviously there to have a good time but made sure we were all well fed, watered, and looked after. The food was excellent, apart from an over-spiced Mexican dish on the day I had Hangover from Hell(tm). Only one rep. let the team down - she didn't smile all week and just seemed to mill about killing time. I think she might have been part of the nannying team, though, and as there were no kids there she had little else to do.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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hyweljenkins, why not, if you put photos up on your website or in a brochure and attribute them to a particular chalet, I believe you'd better make sure they're recognisable. I know Ski Espirit staff are a bit mixed, they were the only ones who caused any trouble in La Rosiere last year, but the Resort Manager pulled the trouble-makers lift passes and then suspended them for further infractions. They are the biggest TO in La Rosiere, they have about 650 guests per week, so you have to expect the odd problem but I do know Anne Arpin will not be pleased to hear of her new chalet being profiled in this way.
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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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Poor woman, fancy having to put up with hardened cheese straws.
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Once again a customer is able to slate an operator without the operator being given the chance to respond.
I hope Ski Espirit might at least be given the chance to repsond to this one. Now that it has had a wider audience here. I know through experience that this review is certainly not a common occurence for Espirit.
This week in the hospitality trade press there was a suggestion that a website be set up to review customers and their attitude, activities etc etc. It would certainly make for entertaining reading!
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That review certainly wouldnt stop me going with Esprit.
The furniture not having a theme, and the ski lockers being too low were just a few of her trivial complaints.
There is however not one mention of the skiing, the resort, the snow, the night off, the fun, the friends. Some people are to busy whinging to have a good time.
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| Frosty the Snowman wrote: |
| . Some people are to busy whinging to have a good time. |
Most certainly and I have come across a few in my time!
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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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| boredsurfin wrote: |
| Once again a customer is able to slate an operator without the operator being given the chance to respond. |
But that report is no different to one of us slagging off a TO on SnowHeads with the TO having no right to respond. I think most people can see through what the majority of the complaints are, although the food did seem a bit ropey, and can make their own judgement. But then catered chalet, unless you go upmarket or individual family-run, can always be a bit hit and miss with the catering I guess.
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Speaking of travel complaints - ITV is running a repeat of one of their crappy holiday nightmare programmes. I've never seen so many pikey-type travellers in one place. They've all gone on cheap holidays to Cyprus and are expecting BA Club Class service. They can't seem to fathom that a plane with "technical problems" is too dangerous to fly, otherwise it would. One of them is claiming that they have no money. Well, duh.
I can't believe how rude people have become, and I suspect that these programmes make the problem worse.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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I agree with much of the comment above, but to be fair, the review is supposed to be of that particular accommodation, not an account of a week's holiday. If I wanted to find out about the details of accommodation, excited accounts of the fun guests had on the slopes, or getting drunk in the evenings, would be no help to me. Some people find things like furniture important - can't think why myself, it's a ski holiday, but it underlines the importance of really accurate descriptions of chalets. It seems totally unreasonable to expect to have use of a washing machine if that is not advertised as part of the service, but not unreasonable to expect hooks to stay on walls. And if she couldn't get her skis into the ski locker (what does she ski on?) that's a nuisance. One moral must be that of you are a fussy guest, don't go so early in the season, when the staff are still settling in.
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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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Staff make a difference as well, although I don't use a tour op I've seen plenty in Wengen over the years and they've varied enourmously in their competance and also in how they've been treated by their travel companies, some seem to have gone out of their way to ensure that guests had a good time and were happy whilst others just seem to have gone out of their way to be invisible and virtualy unobtainable.
I've been told by more than one hotelier that good food is one of the most important things on a holiday, if you get good food you will put up with a slightly smaller room or slightly poor facilities, if you get bad food then you also tend to get upset by other things, in this case I think that's just what happened, they got poor food and possibly a bad accomodation situation and everything gets to you after that
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Where does Ski Esprit pitch itself as a tour operator? Budget, mid-market, niche (eg child-friendly)? A lot of the issues that woman flagged I would be happy to accept if I had paid a budget price, but probably not if I'd paid a premium for a better quality experience overall.
In my experience, the late arrival of liftpasses from the tour op is not uncommon. The last time I went on a package the Rep seemed quite offended on the bus journey to the resort when I said the reason for wanting to buy my own pass was that there was too much of a risk that I wouldn't get it on time if I relied on someone else. He said that there would be no problem, all the clients that season had got their passes at breakfast, etc, etc. I resisted the temptation to gloat the following morning when other people in my hotel were still waiting for their passes to turn up at 9.15am when I set out for the pistes!
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You know it makes sense.
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D G Orf, I think good food is important, however research has shown that the perception of food quality is directly influenced by the other elements - staff presentation, tablecloths, lighting etc !
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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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I agree. "Waiter, there's a lightbulb in my soup."
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Poster: A snowHead
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Esprit has been, apparently, number one in family skiing for 25 years. As for target group, probably budget/mid-market, with a week in Schatzi at about £700, perhaps including child care.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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| hyweljenkins wrote: |
I don't think she'd last the week with me. Does anyone *really* expect the photo in the brochure to be of the room they're going to get?
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Yes, me and the legal system to name just two 
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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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Some of the chalet operators will book specific numbered rooms. If I have booked it, there had better be a really good reason for me not getting it. For a UK operator the Sale of Goods Act will probably apply.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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If the photo is supposed to show the room you are booking then yes, alternatively it should be representative of the accomodation supplied it should be neither the largest nor smallest bedroom in a chalet
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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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ise, I don't believe that you expect the photo in the brochure to be of the room you're going to get. What happens when you book in to a hotel that's got 200 rooms? Unless it's a Travel Inn or an Ibis the rooms are likely to be different. AS DG says, the photo is representative.
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| snowbunny wrote: |
| Some of the chalet operators will book specific numbered rooms. If I have booked it, there had better be a really good reason for me not getting it. For a UK operator the Sale of Goods Act will probably apply. |
SALE OF GOODS AND SUPPLY OF SERVICES ACT, 1980, it will apply since the contract will be deemed to have taken place in the UK.
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This woman received a verbal contract, that her room, would be "as per the photo in the brochure". She needed 2 rooms and got 1. All hotel contracts will specify the room's occupancy/facilities/extras/. Why should chalet operators be excused when they operate as happy amateurs.
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| hyweljenkins wrote: |
| ise, I don't believe that you expect the photo in the brochure to be of the room you're going to get. What happens when you book in to a hotel that's got 200 rooms? Unless it's a Travel Inn or an Ibis the rooms are likely to be different. AS DG says, the photo is representative. |
Quite, it's supposed to be representative, the view out the window may alter but it's supposed to be about the same. The reason British punters get around the worse service in Europe is they expect and accept it.
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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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snowbunny, hear hear. Although, to be fair to the TO, verbal contract verbal conshsamackt. Verbals aren't worth the paper they're not written on. Basically if the woman hadn't got the TO to confirm the room details to her in writing then she's dumb. Sorry, I meant she gets what she gets given. Sorry, I meant the TO's not obligated to provide her anything except for a room for the number of people she's specified. And which meets a fair description of the room given in the TO catalogue.
You know what I mean.
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Manda, a verbal contract, in the UK at least, is as binding as a written one.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Some people complain about anything. We went to Gambia one year; before we went, we read some review on the internet. This woman had posted a review about the "crocodile trip" which we did go on when we got there - you went to see them in their natural habitat and could touch them (I presume they were tranquillised - we at least I hope they were!) She said "the trip was marvellous, but the crocodiles were smelly". Did she expect them to be sprayed with chanel no.5!!!!
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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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| Quote: |
Some people complain about anything.
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I think people have a certain threshold when it comes to complaining. What I mean is that if this lady in the review above had only a bad room, or only bad catering, or only late ski passes, she may have just let it go. But when it all happens at once, it's time to vent about all of it.
I've been in this situation myself. During my most recent trip to Wengen, at one of the nicer hotels in town, the room wasn't right (a 'family room' instead of a proper suite), but I let it go. And then the food was a disaster, (a glass of orange juice as the dinner appetizer) and again I let that pass. But when there were no chairs or benches in the ski room, I had enough and gave the hotel both barrels.
John Cacavas
Los Angeles, California USA
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JohnnyC, you should go downmarket and try the Alpenrose, you don't get a choice for dinner but I've never had orange juice served as the appetizer there 
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You know it makes sense.
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D G Orf, you get Hobson's choice.
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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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I might just do that next time. I can only drink so much orange juice, and I usually drink that for breakfast. 
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Poster: A snowHead
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Kramer, actually you get things like, breast of guineafowl, salmon, braised beef with red cabbage and mash, rack of lamb and so on, at least thats the sort of thing served up for the main course, however there's a new chef just been hired so we may get something new this year, we shall see
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Actually it sounded like a fairly detailed and factual review.
Superb summary: "Whilst certain aspects of the holiday were excellent, the overall impression was of poor organisation."
She was lied to repeatedly - I don't find any of her comments 'unlikely'. Does anyone doubt a single fact? Tour reps not doing their job - gosh, how unusual!
Oh, and why on earth anyone would expect to be charged the price printed in the literature is beyond me - surely the chalet/resort staff are free to charge what they want on a random basis?
Having said that I do expect she is in that position (and so are we all) because it's not worth chalet owners making an effort when a significant number of guests are pissed theiving vandals 
When I was in Tignes, the chalet manager told us that they used to have a hot tub but so many guests vomitted in it that it just wasn't worth having.
Cathy Coins, If you went to a restaraunt and they served stale food that was badly cooked would you complain? Or is it different when you "go out"? I wouldn't expect an "a la carte" in a budget chalet - but this sounded downright inedible. FWIW, my one chalet experience had great food - not 'special' but simple, warm and filling.
Yes this is probably coloured by my experience of Val d'Isere - that was a room with *no* furniture - we lived out of suitcases for a week.
The light fightings literally hung off the walls. The service was beyond crap - there simply wasn't anyone around.
By contrast in Whistler the room was impeccable - the kitchen equipment (knives, pans, glasses) was better than the stuff I had at home. The furniture was wonderful, the room was the same one we'd seen pictures of; there was a basket of nibbles waiting when we arrived and they'd done our shopping for us (we paid the 'till' price - no extras). Lift passes were waiting on arrival - not the next morning.
It has everything to do with attitude - both staff and customers. And it was cheaper than Val d'Isere. We're going back.
PS jb1970, I have to know: were they smelly? So was she right? Did she say that they were *too* smelly? Maybe that was her lasting memory since she'll have seen crocs on TV but never actually smelled one? Just thoughts
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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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Yeh but what about the skiing.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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What about it?
It's an accomodation review.
About the only thing worth mentioning would be ski-in/ski-out
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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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| Quote: |
| The motley collection of cutlery looked like it had been purchased at a school fete and then handed to Uri Geller for a bit of fork-bending. |
You've got to admit - it's quite entertaining ..
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Well spotted Kenzie, - great laughs with those stories, including 'Death by Mutzig!'
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