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Original poster

Shared chalets with people you don't know?

49 replies

twizzler · 20/12/2008 00:09

Anyone done this?

Want to go with DH and DS but not sure about sharing with strangers.

I was thinking if we went with a family friendly company and booked a catered chalet with family suites it would probably be ok.

Really worried about ending up with a load of young lads or something...or on second thoughts.....

Really confused about what to do. Was thinking maybe self catering but really just want to chill and have other people to cook. Also wanted DS to meet some little mates-or would he get much time with them anyway?

Can you tell me your experiences?

OP posts:
trixymalixy · 20/12/2008 00:11

We did this, but there were 6 of us sharing with another group of about 12.

It was alright, even though they were a bit tosserish, we hardly saw them really.

Original poster
twizzler · 20/12/2008 00:15

Did you eat with them?

Do you all have to be sitting at the table at a certain time?

Bit worried in case DS won't go to sleep and we piss everyone off by coming to dinner late.

Did the other group have children with them?

OP posts:
hatwoman · 20/12/2008 00:15

we did it - but we were a group of 3 families sharing a large chalet that had a total of 7 families. you're right about booking with a family friendly company - if they're geared up to do childcare etc most of the people will be families. The one situation that might not be ideal is if all the other people are friends - not sure how to avoid this...possibly booking one of the really big ones (sometimes called chalet hotels) like we did makes it quite unlikely. the kids loved it as there were new people to make friends with.

Original poster
twizzler · 20/12/2008 00:18

Yes, I thought a bigger chalet might be an idea. Have seen a nice one but then I get worried it's more like a hotel and don't want to leave DS alone in bedroom.

Some of the smaller ones are more like being in a house and I would feel more comfortable knowing he is only on the next floor or whatever and could easily come downstairs.

OP posts:
hatwoman · 20/12/2008 00:20

re eating - yes adults and kids over a certain age (I think it was 12 - certainly quite old) sat together at the same time. little kids were meant to be in bed and medium kids in the kids club. in fact we were a bit shocked to find that kids were "banned" from the dining room after 8 pm. we had a baby in our group and the mum asked all the other families if they minded her being in the dining room if she wouldn't settle upstairs (ie in the dining room quietly being rocked...shee would take her out if she actually cried). all the families bar one didn;t mind. they kind of relunctantly agreed as I think they realised they were being awkward.

hatwoman · 20/12/2008 00:23

ours was like a big house...3 floors, iirc, with about 5 rooms on each. we felt fine leaving them upstairs.

Josie3 · 20/12/2008 00:25

I go skiing at least twice a year - sometimes with my bf and sometimes with a group of friends. We always use shared chalets. At least once a year there is a family sharing, and tbh i've found them to be overly worried about the effect of their childrens behaviour on our holiday (I'm a 32yr old nanny with no dc, my bf doesn't like kids at all, and none of my friends are in childcare). You will probably find that you see very little of the singletons except for dinner unless of course you want to ski with them . You will probably also find that others will just ignore the kids, and barely register any crying etc - honestly. Just go and have fun. If the kids bother people they will tell you - and you'll reach a compromise.
The chef will let you know if they can't hold dinner any later, and can generally hold others out with nibbles and free wine . Enjoy the snow, and your holiday x

Original poster
twizzler · 20/12/2008 00:36

Thank you trixy, hatwoman and Josie3. So helpful to hear everyon's experiences.

Will have another look and think.

Very excited tho! Good conditions this year.

OP posts:
trixymalixy · 20/12/2008 00:46

We did eat with them. It was fine.

I would do it again no problem. I agree about booking with a family friendly company.

sellorrenovate · 20/12/2008 07:26

DH and I have done this 3 times (before DS) and it was fine.

mamhaf · 20/12/2008 08:18

I think it depends on your personalities.

If you're open-minded and gregarious, you'll have a ball - people who ski, ime, are usually great fun and the free wine certainly makes the conversation flow.

We've done it a number of times and have always enjoyed it - even when there were a few problems which could've spoiled the holiday if we'd let them.

For example, we booked a family chalet when dds were tiny - dd2 was 10 months.

A couple who were heavy smokers booked last minute and insisting on smoking for the entire week, even though the brochure stated family chalets were non-smoking.

The couple had booked off Teletext and argued this condition hadn't been pointed out to them.

The reps were useless and the only concession was they asked the couple to smoke in their room - but of course the smoke permeated the entire chalet. Both our dds are asthmatic.

The couple were actually good company though (apart from this) and we tried not to let it sour the week and continue being pleasant to them, taking the gripe via the holiday company not arguing directly with them.

But we did sue the holiday company successfully through the small claims court when we returned - it was Crystal if you'd like to know - this was 11 years ago though.

Original poster
twizzler · 20/12/2008 09:11

Blimey mamhaf what a nightmare!

Hopefully all the chalets are non smoking now?

OP posts:
LIZS · 20/12/2008 09:25

Sorry , my idea of hell !!! Family suites tend to be very cramped unless you pay £££

mamhaf · 20/12/2008 18:17

I have no idea if the chalets are all non-smoking now - funnily enough we haven't gone with Crystal again!

The chalet was supposed to be non-smoking but the children reps working in the resort didn't enforce it.

Original poster
twizzler · 20/12/2008 18:25

LOL at children!

OP posts:
Original poster
twizzler · 20/12/2008 22:27

bump now that strictly has finished .

OP posts:
hatwoman · 20/12/2008 23:00

I know that reps/children thing...

mamhaf · 22/12/2008 08:04

Last time we went to a chalet I felt like the chalet hosts' mum - they were lovely and tried very hard but were so slow (just like my own teenagers would be)...we ended up helping them out quite a bit - emptying the dishwasher in the morning etc.

We were with friends who are trained caterers and they cleaned the kitchen thoroughly when they saw the state of the fridge (probably no worse than my fridge at home though).

Hope that doesn't put the OP off though - we've had a lot of fun staying in catered chalets over the years.

MrsGuyOfChristmasBorn · 22/12/2008 12:24

I have been loads of times to chalets and always found the people perfectly civilised and had some good evenings around the dinner table. Before DC we used to go to child-free chalets (Lotus Super-ski), now I usually go on my own with the DC (Ski Esprit, Mark Warner)as DH knees knackered,go to child-friendly ones, and klike the fact that there is a ready-made group of adults to chat to over dinner. having dais that - am of next week to a chealet with Ski Beat which I have never tried before and maybe will come back witrh my first horror story???
( On the smoking front, they are all likley now to be smoke-free. On one occasion the chaelt staff asked if any of minded smoke (was supposed to be non-smoking), we said we did, so they said no smoking. At least now they have to enforce it by law.)

MollieO · 22/12/2008 23:31

I've booked to do this with Family Ski. Just me and my ds along with 14 others. I'm rather hoping it is okay as I like the fact that the chalet is small, they provide all day childcare and I can have a bit of a holiday myself.

CaurnieBred · 26/12/2008 13:56

We went with Ski Beat last year to Plan Peisey - we had a great time. We went to a bigger chalet but not a chalet hotel. There were 2 couples there without children and three couples with children (including us), but as we had booked into the chalet first (in the August), if anyone else wanted to go to the chalet that week, the company would have told them that there was a family with a young child booked in there already (DD 3 at the time). We find it a really sociable way to have a holiday - you all have a shared interest which is a good, initial ice breaker. The food is usually at the very least, edible and being able to relax and chat with wine during and after dinner is extremely pleasant. The first night we got there, our DD was awake during the evening meal as she had fallen asleep just as we started to climb the mountain, so there was no way we were going to get her to bed one hour later - but she happily sat in the sitting area and watched a DVD from our personal player whilst the adults had their tea. All the other nights she and the other children were in bed for 2000 hrs so the adults could have their meal. The children were free to wander the chalet - just like a house over 3 levels - and we had a monitor so we could listen out for her if she wasn't settling (as we were in the basement and the dining room was on the first floor).

I would take an extra sheet with me - the last time DD was not long out of nappies at night and we had a major accident which spread out beyond our sheet and the protector below and we were lucky that there was a spare bed with clean bedding in the chalet that we could grab some clean bedding from.

We are going with Le Ski this year as we wanted to go to La Tania for their nursery slope as it is DDs first time skiing. The Le Ski chalet is closer to the nursery slope and they do a better child discount than Ski Beat.

(We had also gone to chalets before we had DD - went twice and again had no horror stories - those times we booked last minute, as had everyone else in the chalets.)

fourkidsmum · 26/12/2008 20:36

as long as you book with a family-friendly company you should be fine i think.

my ideal size chalet is about 20 - 25 people - that's big enough that if one family are a pain in the bum, they won't dominate (and you are unlikely to be the odd family out in a group that have booked together), and small enough that it doesn't feel like a hotel.

it's quite nice to have other people to chat to at the end of the day i used to do this with exh because we couldn't stand each others' company , but also enjoy it with dh who i can't bare to be parted from for a minute! and we are not that sociable tbh...tend to like to just hang out as a family really, but it's only the mealtimes that are shared, and as i say, we quite enjoy that.

also i love having someone wait on me ...no sod that i LOVE having someone wait on me for a week or so a year

pralinegirl · 01/01/2009 15:14

We did this last year for first time with our DS, an only child. We were lucky, one or two we didn't talk to much but generally great fun and banter. Our son had a ball. We shared a long table for dinner each night, with esprit kids not allowed at adult dinner so you have to feel happy with that. Breakfast different. On a family holiday of course you won't get too much 'lad' noise or drunk people! If anything we found some of them a bit tame, the women anyway.

Original poster
twizzler · 01/01/2009 21:46

Thanks everyone for sharing all your experiences.

I think we probably will stay in a chalet only because DS will get a bit fed up if he had no other kids to talk to!

Hope some other parents are doing what we are doing and taking DS out of school for a week .

OP posts:
toomanyprojects · 01/01/2009 22:14

I'm sure there will be lots of other children in term time. We first went with Esprit when ours were pre school age thinking that there would be lots of small children but there was a whole range of ages.

We missed last year due to finances and the year before I was pregnant so I am desperate to go this year. DCs will be 8,6 and 20 months. We always stayed in chalets previously though Esprit's chalet hotel in Alpe D'Huez looks very tempting.

Previously we have been to La Rosiere (Schatzi and Le Bracconnier)Montchavin and St Anton (Alisea) All with Esprit. Schatzi I found to be a bit big (I think there were 33 there). Agree with fourkidsmum re ideal chalet size.

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