Vegetarian & Vegan skiers…

[BeepBoopBop]

When you are looking for accommodation, would certain decorative features turn you off?
When it comes to apartments and chalets in the French Alps, cow hide rugs, antlers (real & fake) & fake fur throws etc are still in vogue.
Would it put you off booking if the apartment was decorated in this style?
I would love to have your opinion.

It’d put off my veggie teen but then she doesn’t pay the holiday bill.

Antlers - fine, if they are naturally shed.
fake fur - don’t see the issue
Cow hide rugs, not keen as I think they are both naff and not very cozy. I eat meat so can’t complain on any other grounds.

Two things I really don’t like: animal skulls on walls (just ugly and also why??) and any weird dolls or lace curtains/ anti-macassars. They seem over-represented in mountain properties.

No.

The two things I really want to know about in mountain properties are:

• sound insulation. Is this a 1970s conversion where you can hear and readily translate conversations from neighbouring apartments? Where you will want to commit murder if someone has an early flight and rolls their wheelie case all over the apartment floor at 6am?
• beds and mattresses. Are they decent memory foam ones with a medium softness?!? I realize that is very specific.

As you can probably tell I really, really value my sleep on holidays - and particularly skiing ones 😂

I like a nice bit of mountain chic but it’s a good to have rather than an essential. Other people’s priorities may differ :)

Ski holidays in general aren’t very veg/ eco friendly IMHO. Quite aside from the dietary focus on meat, cheese and more meat (with some exceptions - scandinavia and Italy in particular), they also tend to be at least partially be built on summer dairy/ beef pastures, use huge amounts of natural resources and sometimes cause harm to the underlying terrain.

Some good points. I’m not sure about skulls - maybe in a bar or if it was a massive chalet and they were in the games room. Can be effective, but my apartment is very small, so I think they would be a bit of a downer. I agree with the cow skin - not at all cozy, but I like it on bar stools, the odd pouffe. Beds are soooo important - so the bed has a good mattress, with a topper and quality linen (and towels). Although built in the 70’s the sound insulation is excellent. There are no frou-frou accessories or accoutrements.

My partner fancies the ‘modern mountain’ vibe with a few animal accessories, but I thought it might put people off.
My No.1 priority is getting rid of the pine (fortunately not too much of it) and a slightly smaller dining table.

I think cow hide is fine on a pouffe or bar stool.

I am so pleased you agree with me about beds 😁. I’d really boost that in your listings. It’s not an uncommon hill to die on when booking accommodation.

Modern mountain vibe sounds good but I’m not 100% on what it is. I’d think of that as more glass/lux textiles and a great kitchen and bathroom plus some tasteful local fabrics/ woollens/ quality local furniture not made from knotty pine.

if you want to get rid of pine fittings without spending a ton of money, you could thoroughly sand, lye and then soap it. That won’t work for rental apartment floors, but it should for walls and ceilings. Google Dinesen and their products for douglas fir. A dog of a job, though - labour intensive, loads of dust and fumes.