hotel alpubel SAAS FEE- anyone been

[noonar]

hi, have read so many good reviews about this hotel- i'm on the verge of booking.

if you've been, could you please help me with a few questions? (i have dds aged 3 and 5, btw.)

should i book with crystal or book independenlty?

are places at the kids' club guaranteed?(do you book places ahead of time?)

were there many eng speaking children/ staff?

is standards of childcare, esp security wise, suitably high?

should i try to fly from sion? the tranfer from geneva is LONG!

um, thats all for now, i think

tia xx

quick answers !

Independently - you pay Tour Operator price hikes which don't reflect the actual hotel costs. Crystal have a clubhotel adjacent and we've met very few of their clients in the Alphuebel. Most British families we've met booked idnependently but Swiss Travel also use it, £££.

You don't prebook but come and go on first come, first served basis and numbers, ratios etc are not as strict as UK. The only time we had issues with places at childcare was at half term when they were so busy they could not take little ones (under 4's) in the afternoons as well but think they have changed the system since so worth checking how they manage numbers at peak now. Easter may not be as busy as Swiss traditionally don't ski then and European schools won't be off. Main skischool is mornings so you tend to get activities more for the older ones in the afternoons (like doing the long mountain sled run) or things like pizza making and art.

The main childcare room is nice , wood pannelled and pretty secure with its own toilets etc, and access to the hotel snow garden area. I've heard reports of older children left unsupervised wandering around the hotel (there is a separate games room in the basement). However overall the attitude is likely to be more casual than you might expect in UK especially outside, but that is true of many local childcare arrangements in Europe. It suited us , since dd was small and could stay all morning and have lunch, allowing us to drop ds off at skischool and have the morning to ski by ourselves. We were happy enough with the standard, certainly no worse and actually probably better than the Esprit care dd had in Chamonix one summer, but it really depends what you are used to and we weren't particularly impressed by our Esprit experience. You probably either like it or hate it.

Childcare is run by the British DIL, Heather, and English is spoken by her dh , the assistant(was Polish last time I think) and the Swiss family and staff who run it . Local language is Swiss German. Their clientele is mainly Swiss, British, French and Dutch so it has an international flavour.

Sion is nearer about an hour and a half transfer max, whereas it is a 3 1/2 -4 hour trip from Geneva. Good public transport though (train to Brig or Visp iirc then postbus).

You could always drop Heather an email to ask your questions. hth

should add we last stayed there to ski February 2005, so our experience of their winter childcare may be out of date, and summer July 2006 . A Mnetter went there last Christmas iirc and reported back , have you searched back ?

liz, thanks so much.

have booked. hurrah!

rang the hotel about pm childcare and they said my 3.5 yo could stay all day, even if it's busy.

we are going feb 1/2 term, and have had to book with crystal in the end as the online booking sytem showed no avail for our dates. still, we got a free child place so paid under 2k for a family of 4. not bad for 1/2 term!

am soooooooooo excited. will prob be back with loads more questions soon xx

not a bad price at all. Do hope you enjoy it [nervous]

i'm sure we will, liz. as i've said before, you ought to charge for your advice

am ssooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo excited. but i said taht already didnt i ?

Hope so .... this was the thread I was thinking of. I will warn you half term can be chaotic in the hotel and skischool, especially if it coincides with Swiss and Dutch breaks. You'll find other families there who have been going there year in year out and book the same room for next year before they leave (hence probably why so little availability showing atm). You may need to make your presence felt when putting your older dd into lessons. Have you prebooked any lessons , if not head straight to the skischool office (in main square opposite church) to do so.

ooh gawd. hope everyone else won't be in a 'we've been before' clique. what dyou mean by 'make presence felt', liz?

am hoping to persuade a friend to come to...

ok, am a bit confused. crystal say in their brochure that the club is for chn over 3. my friend has a 22 mo. people reviewing the hotel seem to suggest that child care is also for younger ones....hmmm

oh no, no cliques, just lots of satisfied returning customers, very friendly. Last time there was a Welsh(?) family who had been the same 3 years we had , their son was probably your dd1's age and had an older sister. I think there comes an age when the kids outgrow it but under 10's can have a ball. The evening entertainment can be very kitsch but just take it in good spirit and enjoy

We had tussles with skischool over ds , who was an experienced skier, more so than many other British kids of his age because we lived over there and he did weekend courses, but they graded the classes largely by size of child/language and refused to take experience into account so he wasn't as challenged one week as much as he might have been. Basically if you are unhappy with the class/instructor you may have to make a fuss to change it or just accept it. The scale of the ski school line up on that first day is daunting. There are large groups who have dedicated instructors like the Robinson Club (similar to Club Med) and hundreds of parents/children milling about.

We left dd from 18 months (her pic was still on the wall in the creche last year, with chocolate pudding round her mouth!) and I'm sure they took a baby under 6 months last time. Check with hotel, we've found that brochures aren't always accurate.

this says from 2 , younger children on request.

thanks for the link, liz. am prob being a bt simple, but couldnt find any ref to ages in the bit about the kids' club

it's under Tarif - Gosulino Kids Club, click to enlarge

ah, yes, i see it now.

What a coincidence, we've been talking about this place today! Seriously thinking of going at Easter - hopeful for snow so high up.

How are the family rooms laid out? Is it two rooms interconnecting, or one large-ish?

They are two interconnecting rooms, the second with a locked door to the corridor adn basin. Most of the standard rooms are doubles with drop down bunks for kids, some have mountain view (south facing) and balcony. However there are very few family rooms and doubt tour operators have an allocation. As I said on another thread these rooms tend to get booked by the same families a year ahead before leaving, so like gold dust ! Such bookings have to be confirmed at the beginning of November so occasionally one may become available for booking then if cancelled, worth asking to be called if so. Easter may be different as demand will fluctuate accorinding to the local holidays but have been told it is a busy hotel then too so you may be lucky to get a family room.

btw if you want to discuss anything hotel related, in advance or during the stay, you are best speaking to Frau (Mrs) Supersaxo (the real power behind the operation) or her son. And do say we sent you , we should be on commission !!

so liz, are the bunks fairly low level then- (you said 'drop down')?

am starting to panic a bit about a lack of english speaking children at the club. do you think this could be an issue?

maybe i should persuade other MNers with LOs to book at the same time -lol.

There will be plenty of English speaking kids , don't worry, was never an issue for our kids. The owners' grandchildren (1 and 4 ish iirc) are bilingual. The bunks kind of fold away into the wall so it becomes a sofa when they are not needed, hard to describe but one is still above the other, fairly typical of Swiss/Austrian style. You may need ot ask for a bed guard for the top one. Makes the room a bit tight, although you probably won't spend much time in it. Another trick , the heads of the main beds are on a ratchet so you can raise them up at an angle to read or sleep.

blimey, those beds sound interesting! could you put the matress on the floor? not sure either of the girls would want to be high up.

btw,could you get a cot in there too? (am thinking of my friend, who has 3 chn)

First time we went dd had a cot between the bed and window (if you look at the room shown on website for an idea of typical layout). The standard rooms have the bunks along the wall in from window but that picture doesn't show them fitted as far as I can see. Top bunk is about 5' up with ladder at one end. ds was ok in upper one from 5. Not sure whether you could get a mattress in as such but maybe they could find a small bed instead to put under the window, worth asking if it worries you but would be restrictive space wise.

thanks again, liz. that room info is v helpful.dd1 will be almost 6 , so might be ok about the bunks. will have to wait and see.

good to have reassurance about fellow english speakers.

dh saw my friend on the school run this am. she said her dh really liked the look of the hotel, so they may well come too

ooh, can i ask if they arew likely to cater for vegetarians? and if we should request to be in a certain part of hotel. we've paid extra for south facing rm with balcony. i would prefer a low floor, as balconies and m 3yo don't mix! any suggestions?

You can but ask. They would cater for diet if you ask in the morning (ie if you don't fancy veal) or if the kids want chips when eating with you but typically it is a set 4 course menu, fondu/raclette or buffet style meal,with lots of salad for second course. tbh vegetarianism isn't readily understood in the Alps so what might pass to them as a veggie soup may still have meat base or you get a plate of same veg but without meat part. The Supersaxos are more than willing to accommodate though (they are really very hospitable and open to such requests) , so would try .

Balconies are pretty tall and secure, your kids would struggle to open the door themselves. You could ask for a first floor room , above the breakfast room perhaps (one is the family room which we stayed in last time) but ime it isn't usually the standard Tour Operator allocation. You get a good view of Swiss Evening fireworks, alphorns and flag waving from there !

liz, i'm not a strict vege at all, but choose not to eat too much meat. same for the dds. with 4 courses, it sounds like i could pick at each course and have sufficient to eat! veal is a no no, though.

am so grateful for your time in replying to my thread....dh has asked me to ask you one last question...he wants to know what we'll do when the girls are in bed. dyou think that baby monitors would reach to the bar/ lounge?(if there is one)

The hotel baby listening worked by phone (unless it has changed) - ie you leave your receiver off and dial up the room as and when to check , may not be your thing. The restaurant/bar is in the basement so reception may not be great down there but you can take drinks up to the lounge on the ground floor by the creche/reception which would probably be fine. Some kids tend to be milling around until 9 or even later. Even if they have the early dinner at 6, they lay on colouring and entertainment in the restaurant while adults eat or they go into the games room.

btw I've never had to eat veal , always opt out and ask for something else !