There's a lot to review in a hotel, the staff, the rooms, the facilities, the restaurant and bar, the ambience. Summing all that up in one score is tricky, thus the middling star rating.
So, I'll begin in the order I set out:
The staff are pretty wonderful and helpful here. Excellent knowledge of the slopes. I was given a great steer to avoriaz for the best snow which was spot on. My family tell me that the guidance on the cheese offered was also spot on. They were a little forgetful with our drinks orders from time to time however. Minuscule complaint compared to their general useful friendliness.
The rooms here are pretty gash. Some may say bijou; I say literally not enough room to open my suitcase. The whole hotel is generally far too hot for my taste, I had the balcony doors open the whole time which brought the room to a comfortable sleeping temperature. Having the doors open the whole time also got rid of the constant smell of sewage. Yes, sewage. Sadly nothing could be done about the frequent, unidentifiable drilling sound.
The facilities here are pretty solid. Excellent heated boot room, and skis hut literally on the edge of the slopes. This is the height of convenience, and makes your day massively less exhausting. There's also a sweet hot tub here which makes for excellent après ski. There's a sauna too but I didn't check it out.
The restaurant is a bit of a mixed too. Each day had 3 choices for each course, a veg a meat and a fish/seafood. I'm not *hugely* fussy but a couple nights I was a little uninspired by the choices on offer. Like all good kitchens should they use everything. If there's a quail confit leg main tonight, there'll be quail breast starter tomorrow. That said, if I see cumin carrot batons tonight, I will find cumin carrot purée tomorrow pretty unappetising. That said the quality of the food was very high, especially the deserts. The portions were very close to being too small. When one is skiing for 6 hours a day one wants a big dinner.
The bar is small but reasonably stocked. They've a huge wine selection here, as well as several whiskys. The beer was limited to 4 choices, one of which I was delighted to see was Grimbergen blonde. Super tasty Belgian beer.
The ambience is very uk. Most of the staff are native English speakers, as are the majority of the customers. So if you're looking for something authentically French this isn't the place for you. If you're looking for a minimum fuss holiday experience then this is probably ideal. They've even got British telly.
If they sorted out the rooms and added a little extra variety to the menus is give this place 5 starts but frankly the smell of raw sewage will always cost you stars in a review. read more
