If you do family skiing with DC around ages of 7 & 10, what can you recommend (hotel/chalet/self catering) ?

[Willowisp]

Just starting to plan next years skiing hols & wondering whether my dd's are too old for the Ski Espirit\Ski Famille\Mark Warner etc ?

Neither of them can ski, so planning on having a few dry slope lessons before we go. Thinking that the choosing one of the above operators would mean they were dropped st ski school, but think that's the only advantage ( apart from breakfast in pj's & afternoon tea & cakes) Would we be better at a hotel or self catering & doing it ourselves (shriek, horror !) Or even a normal chalet ?

I'm also not keen on them eating separately, I generally enjoy my girls ( ! ) & don't like the idea of being surrounded by small toddlers, babies etc. DH says he does want to feel he has to go to bed early, but would like the girls settled in bed/their room.

Am hoping this will be the first of many ski hols, so whilst quite like the idea of being cosseted & looked after, will probably self cater in the future.

How about a chalet-hotel? We went over New Year to YSE's Chalet Hotel Les Chardons in Val D'Isere and it suited us very well: our DD is 10 and was the youngest there, but not by much. She made friends with a couple of other children which made the holiday more fun for her, but we didn't have to put up with babies and toddlers. She ate with us every evening and had her own room. You can choose whether to sit with other guests or on your own.

I had a mutiny on my hands web describing the options to the Dd's, so this sounds a great idea...but how does it work ?

And I guess the ages of the other kids is luck of the draw really ?

We've stayed at L'Ours Blanc in Les Gets and it's really lovely. (Sorry cant do links on phone, but you can find on google).
It's about 10 mins walk to the bottom telecabine, but you can leave your skis and boots at the slope. Accommodation is lovely, food superb, they prefer your kids to eat with you (ours are much smaller and they raised their eyebrows slightly when we asked to eat early for the sake of the other guests!).
Really accommodating people....

Willow, I think you must be right that the age of the other kids is the luck of the draw, but guess that if you go in school holidays there will generally be some children. However i doubt there will often be many tiny children as YSE doesn't really aim for that market (no nannies or creche or, so far as I am aware, baby kit etc).
Les Chardons sleeps about 40-50 and they have some smaller rooms still with 2 beds where they don't charge extra for single occupancy and where a second child can go for half price in school holidays.
It's run like a chalet (so no choice of food, but food was excellent for the price point - though perhaps a little too sophisticated for DD who's a fussy eater), with afternoon tea and cakes etc and drinks and canapés before dinner. The dining room has lots of smaller tables which they will happily join together for larger parties or if you want to join another family. We were invited to eat with 2 other families during our stay.
YSE only took it over during last summer. It was formerly a rather grotty little hotel but they have spruced it up very well and it is comfortable (surprisingly good beds with lovely duvets and pillows) but not specially luxurious. It is right in the centre of Val D'Isere, opposite the church.
As they don't offer childcare there's no service to take your kids to ski school, but as its only a minute's walk to the slopes and a minute or two's poling to the ski school area, that's no great hardship!
Hope that helps.....

Thanks, I've got a brochure & am starting to do the research...I think we won't be going in school Hols because too busy & too expensive,so we've realised that kids will probably be young anyway.

Bit of a shame that my dd's are anti meeting other children...of course if they did, they'd have a lovely time, I guess it's fear of the unknown.

I was previously very keen on Les Gets, even though I wasn't that keen in France having skied at Meribel about 8 yrs ago. Mind you,that was in a chalet with rubbish food & even more rubbish child care..