Mark warner ski- good idea?

[Legageddon]

Thinking of a new year trip.
One D.C. will definitely need other activities than just ski school and rest of us reach lapsed/beginners.
We have done MW and Neilson summer and enjoyed them.

Anyone been and have any thoughts or good alternatives?

Anyone?

We went with MW when my son was young (1/2ish). Really enjoyed it. Child care was good, it was great having the option to eat alone but they also happily let him eat with us (as he was a devil for not sleeping..). Can't remember which one we went to but it was ski in, ski out and had a pool in the hotel/chalet.

I know two families (one close relatives, the other are friends) who seperately did Mark Warner to Val d’Isere this year and they both described the accommodation as a bit grim and said it was over priced. Which I was surprised at as I’ve always enjoyed their summer holidays but apparently the standard of the ski accommodation is a lot lower... We decided to not chance it and did one trip with VIP ski in a catered chalet with a nanny and another with Scott Dunn to a hotel where DD went to their kid’s club.

Mine are older- tweens so wouldn’t need nannycare more kids clubs and nonski supervised activities whilst we ski.

I’d also like to cross country ski

Thanks troubled I have to say it looks a bit grim on the website. We love the summer places so was surprised too.

Was Scott Dunn super expensive?

Scott Dunn is very expensive, mostly because the accommodation is 5* and the flights are always with BA. Presumably you’re looking at school hols too... we did a Feb half term chalet trip a few years ago that was about 4.5k per head, thankfully we weren’t paying though! I’ve heard very good things from family (including the relatives who didn’t like MW) about Club Med although never done them myself. Perhaps that could be worth a look? Happy planning!

We've done MW and Esprit and the MW was tired accommodation.

we are going Club Med this year and it's supposed to be much nicer. In the past we've used a private nanny

We've been multiple times with MW because of the childcare since our kids were 0. The accommodation is 3* but tbh I don't go skiing for the accommodation but for the time to go skiing. MW enables you to ski 9-5 without having to meet your kids for lunch etc. They have ski lessons in the mornings and chill out in the afternoon.
Friends of ours do Club Med and say the food is better at CM. Other friends do Ski Esprit which is a bit cheaper but apparently the food is worse.
I've priced up a diy ski holiday and MW is cheaper. It's difficult to get the all day childcare without paying a fortune.
Powder Byrne looks great but is more expensive. Depends what you want to spend?

Maybe look at crystal and their wizz kids. However most kids can ski all day by 8 or 9. Esprit have cocoa club for the evening which ours enjoyed

Think about what you need for the kids and work it out from there.

We've been twice with VIP Ski, had great accommodation, food, nannies to drop/pick kids to lessons and do chill out stuff/play in snow in afternoons, cocoa club (movies for kids in evening so parents can eat in peace) etc.
BUT
the ski lessons are at the local ski school, not VIPs own and we heard not great reviews from other hotel guests (very big groups of kids with mixed abilities, bit chaotic, kids spending a lot of time standing around etc).
This is why we didn't book again this year as we now want ski school for dd.
Should say we went to Austria as wanted to avoid France in half term.

Espirit offers all of that (but less great accommodation and food) for less money and crucially, the ski lessons for kids are provided by Espirit - smaller groups, tailored to abilities, more choice of childcare activities in afternoons (eg the VIP nannies aren't allowed to take the kids skiing or tobogganing).

We'll probably go with Espirit next time and just accept we'll take the hit while dd is learning to ski. Once she's caught up with us we'll have more flexibility.

My DC, then 10 and 7, didn't care for Esprit. Few kids their age and they didn't care for having meals with the babies (as they said). Accomdation wasn't great either, Club Med was much better value and far more pleasant.