anyone used esprit before ?

[mummydoc]

am planning ski trip feb time with dh and dd1 aged 7. dd went for first tiem last yr and did 5 mornings of about 2 hrs at a ski school - not sure if did much , had private instructor last morning and seemed to be able to balnace and snow plough and just starting to turn at bottom of slope . we think we would like to use a package company this year - esprit look good - anyone taken their LO's and used esprit ski school ? is it good, do they help with nose wipes / skis on/off that kind of thing ? also do you think a 7 year old could cope with am/pm lessons or just am ? she is very sporty and fit ( can stand up on her surf board!) I am anxious she enjoys it as dh and i love skiing and want the whole family to enjoy it tigether for many years hopefully thanks

liath what went wrong wiht your holiday last year out of interest, and is it funny i had been put off by all the esprit comments and about to go with ski famille or the family ski company but llok at the comments made about them.......

should be isn't it ...

OlliePolly and others - don't panic about Esprit!

We have had 3 holidays with them and have booked again for next year. We had 2 good ones and last year's was terrible BUT last year in the Alps was terrible for many companies because the weather was so extreme and many people got cut off from the resorts. We couldn't get into Tignes/ Vald'Iserre due to avalanches, and at the time it was hell - 3000 families turned away looking for overnight accommodation. To be fair Esprit found us somewhere - albeit 50 miles away - but at least it was a warm comfortable hotel. Many families with yound kids spent the night on a coach or in school halls or army barracks .

Esprit chalets are very variable. A few years ago they acquired a number of chalets from Crystal and these are the old tatty ones. IME they also attract the old, tatty, less than perfect staff (last year we were in the Lavachey in Tignes).

My recommendation would be to go for one of the better, newer chalets - it's also where the best staff go.

I have never had any complaints about childcare, it's been excellent and my two (6 & 4 ) have loved it. Have never heard about 'lost' children - suspect it's an urban myth - and to be honest, I can't see how it could happen.

We're certainly not stuck up, but nor do we ski with our kids all the time either because it's a holiday for us too, and edging down a blue run with a 4 year old all day is not my idea of fun. We typically booked the kids into lessons and lunch and then spent the rest of the time with them sledging, snowballing etc - seemed like a good balance. On the one morning our 4 year old didn't want to go we just kept him with one of us, and did some gentle slopes.

Mummydoc - personally I would suggest the SnowClub for your DD for at least part of the day. However sporty she is, skiing really is tiring for them and I think they enjoy a bit of down time too. All the snow clubs with Esprit I've seen always get the kids out playing in the snow, so they're not cooped up all the time.

HTH.

We're off the Plan Peisey on 12 March - see anyone else there???

We were caught up in the dreadful conditions last year as well. The road out of the resort was blocked and we missed our flight home. What annoyed me was that nobody had a clue what was going on and we weren't told how we would be getting home. We were shoved on a flight to Gatwick and when we got there were told that we would be going back to Edinburgh via coach. By this point we'd already been travelling for 12 hours with a baby (as had several others). We were told it was the coach or nothing, that no refreshemnts would be provided and that we'd be going via Manchester & Birmingham so the journey was going to take another 12 hours.

Wasn't impressed so we paid for Easyjet flights back. When I wrote to complain I got a letter back which made it pretty clear they didn't give a toss and certainly weren't going to compensate us (not that I'd asked them too). Grrr!

Oh Liath - that IS horrible . I really felt for the people with babies last year. To be honest though, I don't think this was an Esprit specific problem - everyone caught up in last year's problems had sh*t transfers, and none of the companies coughed up (Actually, we got 10% of this year's holiday, which is probably why we're going back, but to a better resort...)

TBH if they'd just been nicer about the whole thing it wouldn't have been so bad. It was the "we don't care" attitude from a supposedly family orientataed comapny that was the thing that rankled. TBH it had gone downhill from the moment dd caught gastroenteritis on day 2 and you can imagine the rest.

We chuckle about it now.......sort of!

I know what you mean... I got the distinct impression that they were just all so completely unprepared for chaos on that scale. Also that they were getting messages from HO saying 'keep costs down' 'don't commit to anything'. I wrote a long and very detailed (5 page!) letter outlining what I thought they needed to do, crisis-management wise, should a similar thing happen in the future (I've worked a bit in crisis management in the past!). To be honest I got a fairly standard response which annoyed me.

I'm willing to give them another chance - as far as I'm concerned they are all fairly similar. Next year will be a test though!

That was our impression too, Gameboy - very unprepared for what happened and not able to forward plan. We knew the night before we left that the road would be closed and that we'd very likely miss our flights but they just seemed to be hoping for the best with no contingency plans.

Hope you have a good trip next year. We 're having a year off as I'm pregnant - not sure what we'll do after that!!

we're going with them to val d'isere - and i think we will avoid any 'bad chalet people' things cos it is a hotel. We're going with poeple who've been with them about 6 times before so they must have been impressed!
Problems last year sound horrific, fingers crossed for nothing this year.

Gameboy, it is not an urban myth about a lost child. My son worked for Esprit, it happened last year in Morzine.

Really Alibubbles? That IS shocking in that case! Which Chalet was it? I bet it was one of the ex-Crystal ones....

Have to say, the childcare has always been the thing which impressed me most - the nannies/ snow rangers we've had were great, and the boys loved them.

My kids have never been sick when on holiday in snow club/ creches with Esprit - maybe they have cast-iron stomachs (or maybe they're used to a fairly average level of cleanliness )

gameboy - thankyou feeling slightly less anxious about it all now, still hoping for lottery win so could go with scott dunn but in the meantime will give esprit or skivolution ago, might go back and look at esprit hotels to avoid the possibility of poor staff...thanks again everyone.

We have travelled with Esprit for the last three years - dd is now 6yrs and ds 3yrs so we have used nursery, Spritelets, Snow Club and Sprite Beginners.
The thing I have always been impressed with is the childcare - I have never had any issues and last yr in La Rosiere it was exceptional - the children were even entertained after tea with songs, tricks etc.
The chalets do vary - the first year we were in La Plagne - Montchavin - tiny rooms but the living area was great, then we went to Schatzi in La Rosiere - rooms were enormous - we had two toilets which was great but the living area was very canteeen like - it looks like they have improved it now. Last yr we went to Le Bracconier in La Rosiere which was good all round - downstairs rooms are better.

The food had varies from very good to below par and is completely dependent on the chalet staff -two yrs ago they were very poor - no interaction with the guests. Last yr they were very good and a number of changes to the way things run had been made which made life easier.

DD was 5.5 last yr and did Beginners in the morning and Snow Club in the afternoon but we collected her after lunch at least 3 times because she was desperate to ski with us and she managed really well - by the end of the week she was doing red runs - I had thought she would be too tired to do that.

We would be going again this year but I am expecting in early May and it's too expensive a holiday to go and just watch!

Hope you have a great time.

toomanyprojects - love the name by the way! sums up my life !!!! thanks for positive story am feelign much more confident and now in agonies of choosing....think may go to the one where the really tiny ones ski in the morning so friends son who is 3.5 can go to lessons same time as big ones.

Mummydoc - the only thing to be careful about re skiing in the morning is that it is actually sometimes quite cold, and one of the reasons they have the weenies out in the afternoon is because it is warmer.

Also might be best to look for a resort where the beginner slopes/ Spritelets lessons are within walking distance from the chalet. Personally I think getting a gondola to halfway up the mountain is a bit stressful for a 3-4 year old. Also we've always found it easier to meet up at the bottom rather than a some mid-station where the kids ski area is. Just a thought?

toomanyprojects we've been to Schatzi the last 2 years! also stayed in Ferme d'elise. WE missed the chaos last year by a week I think and had a fantastic time. Staff were fine, although chalet team were a bunch of lads. But I've never had any complaints about the childcare.

OK so which ar ethe Chalets to avoid??

Do I say - right I don;t want you old tatty crap???

I am looking at booking and dithering atm

I spent loads of time going through the brochures as well; trouble is there are are so many variables - it's not just the chalet interior or the closeness to the slopes - distance to the ski hire shop is fairly crucial too when you've got two children who can't carry anything much - last time it was four sets of skis, four poles, four pairs of boots and two helmets plus a three year old who wanted carrying! Then you need think about the size of the chalet - we haven't gone with friends yet so have opted to go for bigger chalets where there was more chance of meeting individual families just because I had a nightmare thought of turning up somewhere where the rest of the chalet was one group. The second year we went about half the chalet was a big group and they really distanced themselves from everyone else though on other holidays groups have been really friendly so you never can be sure I guess.

We stayed in La Rosiere two years running and I reckon the best ones are Braconnier, Schatzi, Ourson. Ferme D'Elisa looks OK but you've got the snowclub in there (not sure if that makes a big difference). Sandrine is right by the ski hire shop but a drag from the nursery slopes and lifts - it's on the "main street". I felt Schatizi was too big - there were 33 adults and children in there but having said that a lot of the chalets can't seat everyone to breakfast at the same time as the communal area isn't big enough.

The year before we went to Montchavin - Esprit have cut back a lot on the chalets there looking at this year's brochure. The resort is very low and runs into resort are icy so a lot of poeple come down in the bubble to get back. We stayed in Mont Blanc - room was minute (think it was room 9) made worse because we had a cot in it but the living area was great.

Have a great time, wherever you choose - very jealous we can't go this year.

wow, this thread is an eye opener! we are going to austria with esprit and thought they looked like a fantastic company. as we are staying in a chalet hotel, the Aplin, in scheffau, i think that we will avoid the problem of laddish chalet staff. (as another poster also said)

our dds are 2 and 4 so the childcare is going to make or break our holiday. dh and i are more concerned about the snow conditions right now, as we go on 15 dec and its still v mild out there.

hi, we have been ski ing with them for the last 5 years. First 4 years in Ferme D'Elisa, Dhalia. Last year in Ourson. We has some good year and some bad, more good that bad.

OK we are looking at La Plagne - Montchavin (tthans for the icy info) in Chelet Fontanelle. Suite 5 we think. Only negatives I can see are that the nursery is there, so may have babies in the chalet - our kids are 7 and 5, cocoa club is down the road and they might let DD2 in (she will be nearly 6) Otherwise 150m from lists, and close o village centre. One thing I have worked out is that booking skis separately works out cheaper and so do lift passes. I think I will save about £250 doing this!!

Any thoughts?? Good or not so good chalet?

Hi Crunchie,

Not stayed at Fontanelle but did meet people staying there whilst we were in Mont Blanc. Seem to remember that found it a bit basic but that was in 2003 so it's probably been refurbished by then.

The nurseries are not as busy as Snow Club so I woudn't be put off by that although they may use the dining area at lunchtimes but entirely possible that they go somewhere else for lunch!

I'd be wary of mentioning Cocoa Club to your nearly six year old - there was a little girl last year desperate to go with her brother and friends but they wouldn't let her go - they have to draw the line somewhere I guess. Be prepared for there to be little snow and icy conditions in the village itself (as well as on the slopes). The village is on a hill and the steps and paths can catch you out. I liked Montchavin but other more seasoned skiers were less impressed. Skiing was great higher up - both across to La Plagne itself and to Les Arcs. If we went back again I think I'd be looking to go the Plan Peisey as it's a bit higher up.

Don't think the snow is up to much yet - when are you thinking of going?

Thinking of going mid jan, not too bothered about la Fontanelle being a bit basic, clean is all I need. Thanks forthe tip about cocoa club. I am wondering though if there is a nursery whether my kids will be allowed to sit and play by themseleves during dinner as they won't got to bed at 7, more like 9. Anyway I am still costing it all up !!

Aaaahhh! Is Esprit going down the pan or did we have a one off bad experience?!? This was our 3rd trip to La Ros with Esprit and may well be our last trip with Esprit (would happily go back to La Ros). Esprit seem to have lost the plot. Can't really comment about childcare (they've been great in previous years) as we had our 2 in ski school in the morning and skiied with them in the afternoon but the chalet staff were seriously poor. Food was substandard and often late. The chalet wasn't cleaned properly and was beginning to 'hum' and the floors were sticky, as for the fridge..... We have been seriously disappointed and am going to write a very long letter of complaint!. Apparently half the staff were ill with the flu but isn't an excuse for the MAJOR drop in standards. I know that weren't the only people unhappy in the resort and only found out at the airport that one chalet had seriously complained whilst there and were treated to a champagne dinner! So if you're going with Esprit be prepared to moan, sorry.