so who went to Chalet Hotel St Louis at Half term and was it good?

[Nettee]

I know there was a mumsnetter that booked it from a thread ages ago and I am going at Easter - can't wait. Looking for a taster of what is to come...... any tips?

[mummydoc]

I reccommended it very strongly after gogin last year and know someone was gogin at half term on my reccommendation ( ahh ...hope it lived up to it) but we are not gogin this year ( finances!!)would love to hear how the mumsnetter who went got on.

[MrsGuyOfGisbourne]

Hi - that was me!
many thanks mummydoc - we had a good time, great weather, courchevel is fantastic and the CHSL was in an excellent location.
However - just a few things to bear in mind. The transfers were DIRE. ( we thoufght ours was bad, but others had worse tales)When we booked, I specifcally chose it 'cos of the flight to Chambery. This was changed the day befpore we paid the final balance to Lyon, which I would have avoided, but as it was too late to get alternative for half-term we went with it, tho' would not choose crystal again for that reason. Also, despite the assurance in the brochure that finest is 'direct transfer' actaully it is nonsense and we were lumped in a coach with all their other Thomson companies (had no idea they had so many!)and stopped at Moutiers for some people to swap over coaches to other resorts. The toilet on the coach was 'locked' and driver refused to stop on the (6 hour) transfer at any one of several service stations, so several kids had wet pants when we got off. Then, JUST before we got to Moutiers he pulled into a crappy diner type place (one working but yucky toilet)and stopped for forty minutes for his own meal.
Then there were stops in several other places before we got to 1850, including a lengthy detour to la Tania.
The return journey was simlar in reverse, inlcuding a 3am start, to sit on a bus for an hour while people were brought down from other chalets before we evern started the journey.Also, we had booked ski lessons with the package (were warned - half-term, will be sold out), but those who left it to book on the bus had a wider choice of schools and lesson plans.
On the night out, the rep offerded to book us a restauarnat and geve me written conf. Needless to say when we arrived they had no record so we schlepped off to take away pizza.
Also - the hire shop delivers, but not always and not all items. (And the hotel manager managed to direct me to the wrong shop - there are several 'Ski-Sets' in 1850)whcih since we had arrived so late due to the transfer wasa little stressful.)We were lucky ( well I labelled everything with fluorescent labels before we left the shop) but others had items (boots, poles, helmets, skis) missing which meant a frantic dash to the schop the next morning before the lessons.
So we will be returning to Courchevel, (and VERY grateful for md's recommendation 'cos we did enjoy it ) but will not be booking with Crystal, 'Finest' or otherwise

[Nettee]

oh my word - 6 hours! We are still on for Chambery so far so hopefully will not be so bad. Children also too young to be hiring equipment so hopefully DH and I will be able to sort out our kit without too much stress. I think you should be able to get some refund having paid for the finest service and then not had direct transfers. sounds like we should book our own restaurant too.

Was the childcare ok? What about the food in the chalet? ooh I am getting a bit worried now........

[MrsGuyOfGisbourne]

Nettee - please don't worry! Chambery is much more civilsied, so you will be fine. We didn't use the childcare (apparently there is a creche but I did not see it)
The restaurant staff are lovely and the food is good - I presume your DC will be taking the children's meals? We did not go for those as they are at 5.15 - prime tobogganning time! - tho' 7.30 was a bit late for my Dc to eat ( 10 & 8.)
The best bit is that you only have to cross the road to the Bellecote piste, so even tho'' not xactly ski-in ski-out, it is n ot onerous.
Courcehvel is FANTASTIC - I'm sure you will have a wonderful time!

[Nettee]

Oh I hope so - it does look great. Hope there will still be some snow in April. I think DS will be having the 5.15 meals yes - that will work out nicely I think for us. DD will be just over 6 months so I am working on a few solids and keeping my fingers crossed that she will be ok in the creche for a few hours at a time.

[Surr3ymummy]

MrsGofG - we're off to Courchevel in a couple of weeks, and considered flying as this time we have an 18mth old, (plus 2 older ones). But, I was concerned that there might not be a suitable car seat on the coach, and didn't fancy a wriggly toddler on my lap for 2 hours (let along 6 or more). Out of interest do they provide car seats for little ones did you notice?

In the end we've decided to drive, as we have done in the past. It is just over 8 hours from Calais, and we'll stop overnight so do 5 hours one day and about 4 the next morning. Last time we were driving down late at night to get to a hotel near Chambery for 11pm, and got caught in snow, and had to "sleep" in the car at the service station for a few hours - I was 3 months pregnant, so that was not fun. This time we plan to get to the hotel about 6pm and have a leisurely evening!

Glad to hear you had good weather - looks like they could do with some more snow now though, so fingers crossed.

[MrLSG]

I've never seen transfer coaches with car seats: they assume you have the little one on your lap - they probably haven't even allocated them a seat on the coach if they didn't have one on the aircraft.

We always take car seats with us: many airlines carry these free in addition to your luggage allowance (but please do check!!!).

[Surr3ymummy]

MrLSG that's what I thought, so we did decide to drive all the way instead. Although when we went to Norway in September last year, they had a couple of integrated baby seats in the coach seats - they just flip out of the normal seat - very neat.

[wigglesmum]

Hello there!
I've just booked the Chalet Hotel St Louis for next January and am very excited!
We've just got back from an excellent week with Ski Beat in Plan Peisey-Les Arcs but next year we are hoping to go with a couple of (childless) friends so we thought Courchevel might be more suitable.

The girl at Crystal didn't really seem to offer much information about a few things, so I was wondering if anyone could help me on the following questions.

• our DS will be 2 when we travel- is he automatically booked in for high tea or do we have to do it in advance (the pre-book woman didn't know either)
• what did you do re your children's teas on the chalet night off? Is there anywhere you can prepare a tea? (with Ski Beat I just cooked in the Chalet kitchen but I appreciate this is a big hotel style thing!)

-are the children's beds suitable for a 2 year old if they have cot sides or do you think he'd be better off in a cot. I requested a cot but the girl said she didn't think that would be allowed. I don't think my DS will even be in a bed by then and will still be in his cot at home ...
-what is the creche like?

• what is the baby listening/ baby sitting service like on staff night off...

By the way we are likely to book private transfers to get round the car seat thing. We did that this year and it was sooooooo relaxing and pleasant. We used the Mountain Playground group. It was pricey but it was worth it for peace of mind- DS is a wriggler!

[Nettee]

Hi - I am going next Saturday and don't yet know the answers to your questions but with a 6 month old and a 3 year old should come back full of information. I haven't booked the high tea and have had no suggestion of it so I hope not. Your DS could easily be in a bed at 2 - it is amazing how they change over a year - but I will investigate cot sides. Bit mean that they wouldn't allow a cot - maybe when you got there you could negotiate with the staff and it would be ok.

I am so excited!!!

[mummydoc]

we went last year and really couldn't rate it highly enough, high tea is included in childcare costs, it is provided every day of the week, and you are asked at brekkie what your child wants ( 2 choices for mains and pudding) the third bed in our room for my dd who was 6 at the time , was a low to the ground small bed - with a cot side should be ok, but when we went the staff really , really coudl n't do enough to help, i appreciate things can change though, on the staffs night off they ran a drop into the creche service for any chidl up ( my dd was the only one) everyone else ws given a monitor and the nannies sat in the bar with all the monitors infront of them. The hotel is small, and intimate and has security coded doors to get in and out , the creche is small but bright clean and the girls were fantastic. if oyu look back i posteds about it when we got back (it was march 2007) the thread is intitled " just back form fab trip" or something similar.

[Nettee]

Hi there - I am back. We had a fabulous time - the staff were so helpful and thoughtful, the food was good, the location brilliant and the childcare excellent. You will have a great time.

so in answer to specific questions - high tea is included for the children (or even the adults if they request it) There is a choice of three made at breakfast time and it can be taken at 5.15 or with the main dinner. You also choose your own evening meal at the same time.

On the night off I don't think there is a place you could prepare the tea but then I didn't request to use the kitchen. My 3 year old got by on the french bread, butter, jam and cakes that were available as part of the afternoon tea. There were staff around though and they were happy to keep things in the fridge for us so you could get something out of there - failing that thre are lots of places in courcheval to grab a quick sandwich or spagetti bolognaise.

I asked them about the cot and they said that it would have to be booked in advance as they don't keep them in the hotel but have a cot "pool" for the resort. The lady phone the childcare manager for me and reported back that there is no reason why a 2 year old shouldn't have a cot though and suggested you put it as a request on your booking. Failing that maybe bring you own travel cot? We had a room with bunk beds which my 3 year old loved but of course he did fall off the ladder once in the holiday.

I was very impressed with the childcare and the staff - I think you could say that the creche was a bit small but they had lots of activities that DS enjoyed and my 6 month old seemed to be happy too. They took them out up the gondolas fairly regularly. On the staff night off there were 4 rooms needing babysitting and 2 nannies. They had the baby monitors and checked the rooms every 10 minutes. There were available from 7.30 - 11.30 or later if you were prepared to pay for it.

We loved it and would definatley go back. Only a few downsides which are that the quality of the acutal hotel was not really "the finest" (although it is perfactly nice) and you pay a lot extra for the Molton Brown, bathrobes, cheese and canapes. Also the transfers again.... We booked private ones through Crystal in the end which were obviously better than the half term experience describes above but we didn't get car seats on the way there and when checking that we would on the way back found that the taxis had not been arranged for us - to their credit they sorted that out in a few hours but then we only had one car seat for the way back. I think we could have got cheaper and better transfers if we had booked independently.

Also they take you to the airport very early and Chambery is very small and with no trolleys. But another plus for Crystal is the play room at Chambery which was a god send.

Anyway have a great time in January - I am sure you will.

[Nettee]

oh - and yes I think it will work really well with the childless friends - there was a great balance there without excluding the children which is what I would be concerned about with Esprit. (not that I have used them)

[wigglesmum]

Hi Nettee

Thanks soooooo much for the detailed reply- I'm glad you had a great time! I am very excited about going there now!

Our non-baby friends have actually dropped out but I'm not too bothered as it will be nice just to have the family holiday.

I actually spoke to Crystal again and they have put a cot request on my booking so fingers crossed that will work- especially since what you were told (thanks for doing that btw!). I have recived 3 invoices in the last week with 'cot requested' detailed on it it!

I am slightly disappointed that the hotel doesn't really live up to the 'finest'label- the pictures do look good on the website . But I guess the chalets I have stayed at have been kind of 4 star not 5 star deluxe- would you say that is the case with the St Louis?

Did you pre book ski hire etc or did you do it in resort? I am a bit loathe to pay Crystal credit card fees when normally you can pay by credit card in a French skihire place without a fee.

We are actually flying into Lyons so it will be a 3 hour transfer but we had similar to Les Arcs from Grenoble and it was fine. We couldn't prebook a transfer with Crystal so I think we will go with who we used this year.

Thanks again for your feedback

[wigglesmum]

Hi Nettee

Thanks soooooo much for the detailed reply- I'm glad you had a great time! I am very excited about going there now!

Our non-baby friends have actually dropped out but I'm not too bothered as it will be nice just to have the family holiday.

I actually spoke to Crystal again and they have put a cot request on my booking so fingers crossed that will work- especially since what you were told (thanks for doing that btw!). I have recived 3 invoices in the last week with 'cot requested' detailed on it it!

I am slightly disappointed that the hotel doesn't really live up to the 'finest'label- the pictures do look good on the website . But I guess the chalets I have stayed at have been kind of 4 star not 5 star deluxe- would you say that is the case with the St Louis?

Did you pre book ski hire etc or did you do it in resort? I am a bit loathe to pay Crystal credit card fees when normally you can pay by credit card in a French skihire place without a fee.

We are actually flying into Lyons so it will be a 3 hour transfer but we had similar to Les Arcs from Grenoble and it was fine. We couldn't prebook a transfer with Crystal so I think we will go with who we used this year.

Thanks again for your feedback

[Nettee]

Well it is hard to say what would be required of finest - I suppose it depends on what you are expecting. Having read some reveiws of the non finest club hotels with talk of mould on the walls and dirty cups - maybe it is finest. It is pleasent and clean and reasonably spacious, there just isn't a wow factor for luxuriousness. I probably wouldn't have commented except that there were a lot of guests there with last minute deals who were a bit shocked at the brochure price and thought that they would have been annoyed if they had paid it - it was first week of the Easter school holidays. One lady said to me that her loo door wouldn't shut unless the loo seat was up. I suppose you are also paying for the fabulous location and being in Courcheval 1850 where everything is expensive. The service was "the finest" even if the building was just "fine".

we did prebook our skis and boots but I am sure it would be ok doing it in the resort - the shop dealt with Crystal all the time and I am sure they would still deliver your skis up the hill

no it will be brilliant - you are lucky to have it look forward to......

[MrsGuyOfGisbourne]

Wigglesmum - I would not pre-book the ski-hire. We did ( at CSL in Feb), but in hindsight would have been better just to go to the nearest ski shop - there are many nearer than the Crystal-appointed shop and the Crystal shop was chokka - others empty... However, the Crystal shop does deliver to the chalet - this is a bit hit and miss, was fine for us becaue I always put enormours dayglo stickers on our stuff and give the guy a few cash backsheesh not to forget our stuff but others in the chalet did not get vital bits and had a frantic dash before ski school next day.
Food was excellent,but not as good as the viking in Morzine (another current thread!!)which is not a 'finest'.
I would actually ignore the 'finest' sobriquet and just accept that it is in a prme locatio in the best ski resort in the world (biased, moi?)and have FUN!!!!
(if u can get pricate transfers do - Crystal transfers are alaways c$%p

[mummydoc]

i have to say in crystals defence we did the 3 hr transfer on 2007 season and it was fine, the coach was clean , my dd was the only child on board and the rep chatted to her and showed her maps and pictures of ski school all the way there, the driver asked if we wanted to stop for a drink/snack and as everyone on board was ok he was happy to push on ( we had loads of snacks and rinks with us) and all in all though i was dreading it , it was ok. next year are booking private helicoptor transfers ( it is my dh 40 th birthdya trip hence the expense) apparently only take 20 mins - but are doubling the cost of the holiday

[Nettee]

oh mummydoc - how exciting. Are you going back to St Louis?