Hi there - I am back. We had a fabulous time - the staff were so helpful and thoughtful, the food was good, the location brilliant and the childcare excellent. You will have a great time.
so in answer to specific questions - high tea is included for the children (or even the adults if they request it) There is a choice of three made at breakfast time and it can be taken at 5.15 or with the main dinner. You also choose your own evening meal at the same time.
On the night off I don't think there is a place you could prepare the tea but then I didn't request to use the kitchen. My 3 year old got by on the french bread, butter, jam and cakes that were available as part of the afternoon tea. There were staff around though and they were happy to keep things in the fridge for us so you could get something out of there - failing that thre are lots of places in courcheval to grab a quick sandwich or spagetti bolognaise.
I asked them about the cot and they said that it would have to be booked in advance as they don't keep them in the hotel but have a cot "pool" for the resort. The lady phone the childcare manager for me and reported back that there is no reason why a 2 year old shouldn't have a cot though and suggested you put it as a request on your booking. Failing that maybe bring you own travel cot? We had a room with bunk beds which my 3 year old loved but of course he did fall off the ladder once in the holiday.
I was very impressed with the childcare and the staff - I think you could say that the creche was a bit small but they had lots of activities that DS enjoyed and my 6 month old seemed to be happy too. They took them out up the gondolas fairly regularly. On the staff night off there were 4 rooms needing babysitting and 2 nannies. They had the baby monitors and checked the rooms every 10 minutes. There were available from 7.30 - 11.30 or later if you were prepared to pay for it.
We loved it and would definatley go back. Only a few downsides which are that the quality of the acutal hotel was not really "the finest" (although it is perfactly nice) and you pay a lot extra for the Molton Brown, bathrobes, cheese and canapes. Also the transfers again.... We booked private ones through Crystal in the end which were obviously better than the half term experience describes above but we didn't get car seats on the way there and when checking that we would on the way back found that the taxis had not been arranged for us - to their credit they sorted that out in a few hours but then we only had one car seat for the way back. I think we could have got cheaper and better transfers if we had booked independently.
Also they take you to the airport very early and Chambery is very small and with no trolleys. But another plus for Crystal is the play room at Chambery which was a god send.
Anyway have a great time in January - I am sure you will.