Hôtel Village Montana By Les Etincelles

“Hard Work”

We are a beginner family of 4 and this was our first ever ski trip, so we were rather apprehensive. We booked through Heidi who were good. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for the hotel. When checking into a prebooked and paid hotel I expect them to ask for a credit card for expenses or dama… more

We are a beginner family of 4 and this was our first ever ski trip, so we were rather apprehensive. We booked through Heidi who were good. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for the hotel. When checking into a prebooked and paid hotel I expect them to ask for a credit card for expenses or damages to keep on file. I do not expect it to be charged a €500 deposit upfront. You have been warned, we where not which I do blame Heidi for The ski in ski out for beginners is simply not an option. We had New Generation Ski School private lesson for all 4 of us over 4 days(highly recommended, see my review) and it took 3 days before we could utilise this ski in ski out and the route back seemed incredibly convoluted to get back including off piste between runs. It would have helped if we had been given some information about how to use the ski in but that was not given. In the meantime we had to make do with traipsing down and up the hill in full ski gear (boots etc) in what was unseasonably hot April weather (15-17c). Some form of help from the hotel would have been welcome but not expected (or forthcoming!). I think if you are a beginner there are probably more accessible options around. We are a family of 4 so loved the separate kids and adult sleeping area of the suites although far too tired to take full advantage of this. The suites themselves are fine, spacious and light (we had Mountain View room, I would recommend the view is incredible). I would say when this was new (as it is in the promo photos) it was amazing, now however it is just rather tired. I had numerous splinters from outside decking and room door. Other room doors I noticed had half inch gaps in places. Fundamentally the hotels biggest issue is the fact the company that runs it clearly just want revenue and do not actually care about the experience for guests. Take for instance on one occasion I went to the bar and asked for additional tea bags to be told it would cost money as they are not the same as the ones in the room so I would have to go to reception. Yes it’s not the end of the world but reception was not next to the bar and frankly this is just not the response you expect from a “4 Star”. It just felt like a petty penny pinching. It backfired on them as this simply resulted in me taking handfuls of the “good” ones the following morning at breakfast in protest. FYI they are all awful so if you like tea, take some from home. Other examples are not having enough glasses and cups at breakfast or not providing china in the rooms only cardboard cups. Oh and no fridge in the room either which is inconvenient. Some staff are amazing. Others are downright rude and useless. Don’t do half board like we did, plenty of restaurant options around (La ferme is incredibly) and the food in the restaurants is pretentious and not overly tasty (all of them including La Gourmet). Children’s menu is disgraceful. Pasta, burger (no bun) or nuggets (fish or chicken) with the choice of chips OR veg (do better, veg is cheap!) every,-single-night. Yes they can have the set menu if on the half board but beware if they do not like the main as ours did on a recycled lamb dish from the previous night, they will tell you it is extra to have something else rather than just sucking it up. I have never had this in any restaurant in any country before. Spa area was nice but again just not kept very well. The staff where friendly but when the grates and under sections around the jacuzzi are covered in grime and they are shooting the breeze at reception you know management is poor. Reception staff, apart from 1, were very hard work to deal with. I can only assume check in was not till 5 because to cut cost they have a small number of cleaners. We arrived at 2pm and deposited our luggage in the “luggage room” and were told our room was not ready and they would call us. They did not so we simply went back at 5. We found out at check in that you had to book every evening meal in advance. This was Easter and I think quieter but I would imagine this being a race during peak times and I would love to know if people simply have missed out due to no space being available. The lack of staff moral was also evident when walking around and finding piles of dirty things from the rooms people have bought up from breakfasts scattered, sometimes for days, in the hallways. Breakfast was fine, if this was a Holiday Inn or such like for £100 a night. This however is a “4 Star” Hotel and restaurant in the French Alps so should be significantly better than it was. Scrambled egg was awful, no poached only fried egg (which was nicely cooked). Bacon was either rubber or under cooked and sausages change mid week from tasty herby ones to something I would not feed the dog. Other parts again were just average. Kids loved the crepes (tea plate sized and rubber) and fruit basket was inconsistent. The continental area was fine but being British it is not our staple, certainly looked like it could be better. The pastries were really really really poor. Mini CO-OP selection from the UK. This is France, they should be the highlight. I think if anything showed the lack of quality or care then, I know it sounds silly, but this really did. It’s like a poor fry up in a B&B, it should be amazing and when it isn’t you know they do not care. Checkout came, and they tried to charge me for the extras billed to the room until I pointed out the €500 deposit will more than cover it. Makes me think that not everyone is charged this €500. Not once where we asked if we enjoyed our stay. In fact in 7 days we had one Bonjour when walking through the hotel and that was the last full day by the manager, the first time we had seen her. All in all we loved our holiday despite the hotel. It is not a 4, it’s just about a 3. We will not be returning and I would recommend looking at other places before booking this one there must be better around. That said if it was half the price you could overlook the failings, but it is not.

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