What alternatives to Esprit are there?

[VivaLeBeaver]

Not Mark Warner and not Ski Famille?

Have gone with Esprit for 9 of the last 10 years and fancy a change. DD will be 10.

I want to be in a chalet, not a hotel. Ideally in France. I want there to be someone to take DD to her morning ski lesson and pick her up and give her lunch so we can have a hard morning's ski before coming to pick her up for afternoon family skiing.

Any ideas?

Crystal ?

Try and find a chalet near to the ski school and lifts which also has a kids club, you just drop your daughter off at ski school in the morning, she goes to the kids club for lunch, she skies again in the afternoon or stays at the kids club. You can do your own package for far far cheaper and equal standard to Ski Esprit / Mark Warner etc. I's start looking for ski resorts with the ski school/kidsclub/lifts all next to each other and then work from there. There are loads of places in France like this, I used the info on www.peakretreats.co.uk to research the ideal resort for us, looking on their resort maps and links to ski schools and lift companies.

Just had a look at Crystal and prices seem similar to Esprit, guess we're looking for something a bit cheaper this time.

I like the idea of doing it independently as longas the chalet is still catered. Will have a look at peakretreats, thanks.

www.familyski.co.uk/ ?

Megeve Simon Butler Skiing, though I suspect you'll have to deliver DD to ski lesson yourself.
Or Ski Famille?

Snowbizz?

Thanks, will look into those as well.

We have stayed with Family Ski Company in Ardent a couple of times (link above) - you drop the kids at ski school in the morning and they pick them up, give them lunch and will entertain them all afternoon. The bigger ones get to go ice skating and go out on the slopes in the afternoons with the ski school helpers so they have a great time.

The chalet we stayed in was lovely, very relaxing with hot tub and fantastic food and wine served by our own chef - 5 star treatment!

We are heading back again this year for the 3rd time so would definately recommend you take a look :)

I've just orderd a brochire from Family Ski company - they do look good. Thanks.

somewhere in canada/usa where you can book your own childcare with the resort?
i'm thinking smugglers notch or whistler, but i would think vail and any other big resort would be able to accomodate you.

VIP - totally the business!

ooh have you been with VIP TG we re going at xmas with them

Another option is to book supervised lunch via the ski school. We did this a few times. It worked out cheaper than supervised lunch with esprit and the kids were taken to one of the local resturants for lunch by there ski instructor. We did it through evolution 2 in Tignes. It is available else where. All the kids were english. Sometimes the instructors also took them for a little extra lunch time ski! You can then just book the best chalet deal you find at the time

ACC, do you cover most resorts in the alps or only some? i assume you have a 'network' of nannies you use. it certainly makes resorts without kiddy tour operators more feasible.

I rather like the sound of the service, may i enquire how much you charge and what size number of children you care for? and where do they get cared for?

i would have thought a good place to advertise would be to hook up with some of the more upmarket chalets/hotels that don't provide childcare themselves. not sure where else though - flyers at the ski show?

Hi Greygirl

We cover the whole of the Alps, mainly France, but some in Switzerland and Italy.

They are all self employed private nannies, so you book the exact hours you like and the nanny, or nannies come to your accommodation, ski school or wherever you like really.

It costs a flat rate of 15 Euros per hour per nanny, so how many nannies you have is up to you depending on how many children you have, and you can have them for different hours.

So for example you might have one nanny 1000-1600 for the baby at home, and a second from 1200-1600 for the ski school pick up and afternoon in the chalet, then one nanny one day for 1900-2400 for the evening meal out. Whatever you want really.

I do work with a lot of hotels, and chalet companies. Independent types seem to be able to find me quite easily by searching google.

The people I want to know about us, are the ones who just go with the big tour operators every year because they assume there is no other option. They get such a crap service and pay such a lot for it, it makes me annoyed, esp when there are so many brilliant small owner run chalets out there struggling to cover costs.

I will be at the ski show this year handing out cards to likely looking types so we'll see what comes of that. Thanks for the tip, and contact me through the site if you'd like me to send you details of our nannies the resort you were thinking of heading to.

Hi ACC

We are keen to go to Tignes next Dec (2011) and would prefer to stay in a chalet run by a smaller company and hire a private nanny rather than go with Esprit or Mark Warner.

I would be grateful if you could let me have a couple of chalets/companies that I could try. Second choice would be Val D'Isere.

Hi VivaleBeaver - try Ski Magic or Familyfriendlyskiing - both are small companies that each run 4 chalets in La Tania and offer childcare. You would need to take your child to ski school but they will collect and provide lunch/afternoon childcare as needed. La Tania is a great family resort with easy access to Courcheval. The only reason we are looking into Tignes for next season is because we want to go in December and would prefer a higher resort.

Also try Skibeat - they used to only do childcare upto age 7 but this season they have extended it to older children in some resorts (I think La Rosiere).