Taking 10mo DD and our single friend on a chalet holiday - any alternatives to Mark Warner?

[Ktay]

We are hoping to go skiing this year with DD (who will be 10 months by end-Feb/early March, which is our preference in terms of dates) and a good friend of ours. We're looking for a chalet holiday in a snow-sure resort and will obviously need some form of childcare (and I'm conscious we need to get a shift on if we're to be sure of getting a place). Mark Warner seems like the obvious option to suit all our varying requirements but can anyone recommend/suggest any alternatives please? I don't know whether the really family-friendly operators would take us (nor indeed whether this would be our friend's cup of tea). We're keen to keep the single supplement he'd have to pay as low as possible and are open to travelling independently if necessary. Would rather not pay more than Mark Warner-type prices.

Thanks in anticipation of some bright ideas...

do you have to be in same chalet as friend? maybe a good resort and family chalet for you, non-family thing for him? or try a large tour operator and arrange a nanny for the week (not a cheap option there admittedly).
i'd go for a reasonable size resort so friend can go out for a drink if he wants nightlife and rowdiness after 9pm.

Something like this?

www.chaletmarigold.com/page.asp?ID=1&Page=Home

Friends have used them with a baby and were very happy. Sainte Foy is a lovely smallish resort but you can also get to Val D'isere etc very easily.

Thanks both for your ideas. Greygirl I think it's looking most likely that we will end up in different chalets in the same resort (eg if we booked a MW hol now, he might hang in there a bit longer to see if a last-minute deal comes up with them but take the risk that they don't have any space for him at all!) but I'd like to maximise our chances of us all being in the same place in the evening if poss. Rebecca - thanks for the link, that chalet looks lovely. A bit more than we were planning to spend but he mentions special offers, will email... I'm looking at the Chill Chalet in La Plagne too, wish they had a similar childcare set-up to Marigold!

We've had good experiences with not being charged single supplements using Ski Famille recently, and also Ski Beat a few years ago. Both were January departures though, don't know if that might make a difference. But definitely worth calling them up and seeing if they can help.

I think you're probably right - given our circs perhaps I'm best off calling the smaller operators directly to see how flexible they can be with the single room....

Look at Le Ski - they have a largeish chalet in La Tania (3 Valleys) called the Marmau. It has a room which can be booked as a single room (or child twin - basically it has bunk beds but they don't sell those to adults!). The creche is also on site and we can thoroughly recommend it and the staff - see review section for our comments from last year (we have just returned from another trip and 2 of the nannies were back again this year which was great continuity for DD).

Thanks - I'd ruled out Le Ski as hadn't realised they had a single in Marmau. Went with them a few years ago (before DD came along obviously) and the family in our chalet seemed very happy. (My husband was less happy as we were in the room next to their poorly children who were up a lot during the nights, hence his keenness to find somewhere particularly family-friendly now we might be in the same boat.)

Anyway, have now booked with Ski Beat (thanks sandk!) to La Tania. (Have chosen to put a recent bad review to the back of my mind and focus on the good things I've read about their nannies...) Their single supp is massive but as our friend is in the midst of a whirlwind romance it's looking like he may now have a travelling companion anyway!