ESPRIT- CHALET HOTEL v CHALET (Courchevel & St Anton)

[iluvchristmascake]

Apologies if this has been done before. Have done lots of searches, but can't seem to find a lot of info.

Trying to decide between the new Chalet Hotel Crystal in Courchevel or Chalet Adler in St Anton.

Have only stayed in chalets before and am a bit about the bigger chalet hotels. We are going with another set of friends but I always really enjoy the social aspect of the smaller chalets. Am worried no-one will talk to each other and just keep to themselves.

Also, am sure I saw something about different sittings for dinner for the adults. I'm not keen on waiting much past 8 o' clock for dinner.

Obviously, the hotel in Courcheval is new this year so no-one will have any thoughts on it but wondered if anyone had been to Chalet Adler in St Anton and what they thought of it and also the resort?

Have to make a decision this afternoon as they are being held for us.

TIA

[greygirl]

oh blimey what a choice! i've not been to either but st anton is so lovely (for good skiers) and you like chalets so i'd choose that one if it were me.

[iluvchristmascake]

Yes, St Anton does look nice and I like being in the centre of things whereas the Courchevel hotel is slightly out of town.

Downside is flight is from Gatwick-Innsbruck which would mean a night in a hotel at the airport first which adds to the expense and inconvenience.

Also have two small beginner children and the skiing in Courchevel looks pretty good for them.

Decisions, decisions......!

[MrsGuyOfChristmasBorn]

which courchevel? 1550, 1650, 1850?

[ItalianLady]

I went to Courcheval in 1993.

[MrsGuyOfChristmasBorn]

Ohm, wow, just googled - deffo would go for the Courchevel looks amazing, and the pralong is an easy green. My Dc are too old now for Esprit, but we love courchevel 1850, and this year I was delighted t see that their sister company Total has a new place there, so we have booked for that. Esprit is a brilliant company, good transfers, and if I had discovered it when the DC were samller we would have used them all the time - as it was we went with them when the DC were 11 & 9 so about the limt of the age range.

[iluvchristmascake]

Hi MrsGuy.

I've actually booked today. We are going to Courchevel 1850 with Esprit. Very excited now!

When are you going?

[MrsGuyOfChristmasBorn]

Just checked - it is the Coq de Bruyere

[MrsGuyOfChristmasBorn]

13 Feb

[VivaLeBeaver]

Not stayed at the Courcheval one but stayed at their hotel in La Plagne and didn't like it. Like you I liked their small chalets. It really felt inpersonal, I didn't like not getting to know your fellow guests at dinner and chatting about your day. They had 2 sittings for dinner and one day you were on the early, then the next on the late. The late sitting was too late, I was starving and hadn't finished pudding but had to leave as cocoa club was finished! The early sitting felt rushed. There was no nice, cosy area to sit infront of a fire before dinner. There was a hotel foyer/lobby with some tables and chairs. Not nice in my opinion.

[iluvchristmascake]

We are going end of Jan. Bit earlier than usual for us but all they had left.

VivaLeBeaver, I was a bit worried about the dinner sittings TBH. Friends of ours went to the Chamonix hotel and said that they only did one sitting there. I was hoping as our hotel isn't as big as the Le Plagne one that we'll only have one sitting too.

Will post my thoughts on return.

Have a good time MrsGuy!

[VivaLeBeaver]

Ah, sorry missed the bit where you'd actually booked. I'm sure it'll be fine, we'd probably have enjoyed it more if we'd had another couple in our group but was just me, dh and dd. Courcheval is lovely, we went when Esprit had the smaller chalets.

[AnnMumsnet]

iluvchristmascake...I too am going end of Jan to courcheval! Do you mean 30 jan or week before? We've always had a great time in chalet hotels with esprit - evenings have been fine!

[iluvchristmascake]

Ann, yes-30th Jan!

Thanks Viva. Am sure it will be fine and we are going with some friends too so will def. have someone to talk to!

[AnnMumsnet]

See you there then! We're with friends too. How funny!

[slalomsuki]

Am going to courcheval over Christmas with esprit so will let you all know on our return.

We booked it for the pool and other things to do. Last time I went it was pre kids so a bit of a party holiday.

[iluvchristmascake]

Thank you slalomsuki-that would be great!!

Ann, let me know what you look like so we will recognise each other. Are you flying from Gatwick?

We have one DS who is 6.

[tulpe]

slalomsuki just wondering if you have returned from Courchevel as we are considering booking too.

[VivaLeBeaver]

Someone I know is going to both Courcheval and St Anton with Esprit this year, one this month and one next.

[slalomsuki]

OK have got back and it was great.

Some teething problems as we went christmas week and it was only week 2 of Esprit being in the hotel but generally it was fine.

Hotel has loads of space and if your are using the snow club etc it works well. There is a ski hire shop on the site which is chaos if like us everybody arrives late on the Sunday and has to go in to it on a Monday. You can ski in and out of the chalet.

There is not much to do near the chalet, you have to get the bus in to the town. It is vvery expensive, I mean very expensive!!! There is a Chanel shop on the slopes and Dior amongst others own a hotel in the town. The chalet is surrounded by 5* hotels on all sides and you certainly can see how the other half lives.

Food is OK, your order dinner at breakfast which takes some getting used to. Dinner has 4 courses including cheese which is worth it in itself. They keep you siting at the same table all week whcih stopped some socialising. There are some after dinner activities in the bar but not too many. Most people just went to bed.

Rooms are big and plenty of storage space. Lots of hot water and not too noisy but I would expect if your room is near the lift you might hear this.

Generally OK and I enjoyed the holiday. I cannot stress the expense though. I went to Courcheval about 15 years back and yes it was expensive then but not as bad as it is now. £19 for a bowl of soup and £12 for a pint in one place we stopped, not to be repeated.

Hope this helps

[VivaLeBeaver]

Did you find cheaper places to eat? I went to Courcheval about 5 or 6 years ago and we managed to have pizza and beer for about £10-£12 each at lunch. That was in 1800, not on the mountainside.

We're off to Val d'isere next week which I've just found out is the next most expensive resort afetr Courcheval and Meribel. There's no way we can afford £19 for a bowl of soup at lunch!

[slalomsuki]

The cheapest place to eat was one of the market stalls at the bottom near the forum. One did a Christmas stew for 6Euros and it was great. in the forum there is a sndwich shop which was quite cheap and full of snowboarding teenagers. That was fine and was about 22euros for 5 of us including soft drinks. You have to take your skis off and walk.
Esprit do a packed lunch for 7euros a day which was good but we didn't fancy sitting outside to eat especially as it was minus 10 most days. Might be a better option later in the season.

Val d'isere was about half the price of Courcheval in my experience. When we were there,(Courcheval) Madonna was in town, Robbie Williams had just played a concert for a rich russian and there was a lot of full length fur and gold on the slopes worn by people who had never skied a day in their lives.

Good experience though

[MyAngels]

Thanks for the update slalomsuki - We're off to Courchevel in 2 weeks (hence my fussing over Spritelets in the other thread).

Am rather worried about the dinners though, I like meeting new people on skiing hols, so a bit bothered that we can't mingle over dinner, but that's what you get in a chalet hotel I suppose (never been to one before, just chalets or self catering). Its just me and DH (and the kids of course) and we were looking forward to meeting people and chatting over dinner on more interesting topics than when to put laminate in the living room floor iykwim - don't want to be billy-no-mates!

We have been to Courchevel before, but had forgotten the expense of the place - I may do the packed lunch option...

[AnnMumsnet]

slalomsuki thanks [eye waters at cost of a bowl of soup] what was the hotel bar like?

myangels - we've been with esprit before and it you're just a pair i think they'll put you on a table withother folks...def ask if not they ususally don't mind!

[slalomsuki]

Don't worry too much about the dinners, I would imagine that they won't be as full as they were over Christmas when you go. They couldn't really move us around due to a combination of large ie 15 plus parties and the lack of space.

We joined the ski guiding on the Monday when we were there and met some other people in the same boat as us ie kids and just us two so we met them in the bar for pre dinner drinks and then sat with them for the week. Most people were OK and could chat about other things including the wine.

The hotel bar was OK but lacked a bit of space when everyone was in. Looks out to the slopes and was about 5 Euros a pint or vin chaud which actually was the cheapest in town. There is free wifi in the bar but it was a bit unreliable at times. I used the wifi at the bottom of the slopes on the phone.

Forgot to add we used the pool one day when it snowed. Esprit only opened it at 3 pm each afternoon so it was a bit of a pain if you wanted to go earlier. It might have changed by now though.

Meribel was cheaper for lunch by the way if you ski over.

[AnnMumsnet]

Excellent skalomsuki....we always make friends with the hotel barman and so shall make extra effort this year for his cheap(!) beers. And get in early to baggsie some seats!
Really useful to have a review before we go. Thanks