Chalet Schatzi

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Whilst certain aspects of the holiday were excellent, the overall impression was of poor organisation.
The three major problems were with our room allocation, ticketing and the catering, although a myriad of other little niggly issues added to the general ‘second rate’ feeling.
Room Allocation
On arrival, we were shown to a suite of two rooms with a bathroom between (Room 3). When we booked by phone, we were we told we would have a L-shaped room with an adjacent bathroom, as per the photo in the brochure. Whilst we were very happy with the suite allocated, we queried it with the staff, as it did not seem to be the one we had booked, which was meant to have a bath. They assured us it was correct and so we unpacked and generally made ourselves at home. The numbers on the doors bore no relationship with the room numbers we had been given, so we had to trust that they had got it right.
Of-course, it wasn’t our room and when we were told that actually we had to move across the lounge to a triple bedroom, we were very upset – not only was it very disappointing to be downgraded after we had already settled in, but Room 4 was much smaller and a less suitable space than the one we had been sold. We had specifically said we needed a separate space for the children – they are poor sleepers and need a quiet area for their beds. Clearly they would not be undisturbed if we shared a single room. It is hard to understand how the sales rep made this error (unless she was just trying to sell the room, no matter how inappropriate). The Espirit website clearly says the room is a triple. Also, it was physically impossible to fit a cot into this room without blocking access to either the door or wardrobe, so it wasn’t a suitable space for 4 people.
A senior meber of staff showed us a room in another chalet that was free but we eventually settled on using a spare room in Schatzi for the kids and sleeping in Room 4 ourselves. The children where thus sleeping directly above us. Whilst this was preferable to (not) sleeping together, it wasn’t ideal. Every time one of them cried, we had to rush through 6 sets of doors (Schatzi features a strange ‘airlock’ system of entrances) and two flights of stairs before they woke the other guests (Schatzi does not feature adequate soundproofing).
Ticketing
Our rep on the coach explained that she could sell us a ticket at the same price as the ticketing office (plus 1.5%), but without the need to queue. Our tickets would be delivered to us that evening by our chalet rep. This seemed reasonable, so we agreed to purchase our 6 day passes from her, even though she didn’t know the cost of single or half day tickets or what hours the resort would be open on Christmas day. (It can’t be that hard to pick up a ticketing leaflet, surely?)
But the chalet rep didn’t have our tickets when he called round that evening. He assured us they would be ready by breakfast. Which they weren’t. In fact children were going to Sprites without passes at 8.30am, and when my lesson was due to begin at 9am, I was one of several people standing around with the Evolution 2 instructors, still waiting. To be fair, there were also a lot of Esprit staff milling about trying to find the guests whose passes they were holding, but tempers were short and senses of humour were failing. My pass did eventually show up at 9.30am, but I know of at least one person who failed to receive theirs in time to ski at all that morning.
It was a spectacularly poor piece of organisation. Ski passes are critical to using the lifts. Not having them in time to ski was incredibly frustrating. Esprit should not have sold passes on Sunday unless they were sure they could get them to the guests in time for Monday’s skiing. It would have been more efficient to buy them ourselves.
Catering
Meals varied between quite compentent and barely edible. It wasn’t just that the food itself was woeful and that the service lacked finesse – the timings were all over that place. After many complaints, most of breakfast did start to be served close to the promised time of 7.45am, but it remained a fairly hapzard affair. Ham only actually made it to the buffet on Christmas day, and then it appeared to have been hacked by someone with a blunt penknife. Pastries became more punctual towards the end of the week, but usually looked as if they had been heated too quickly – the tops were still pallid and dough coloured, whilst the bottoms were hard and dark brown. No one who requested porridge on the first day would dare to try it again – glue with lumps of concrete might be more palatable.
The first dinner was laughably bad. Overcooked quiche (the custard had started to separate) with soapy pastry was followed by an unidentifiable poultry in a vaguely Asian-ish marinate – we guessed buzzard. It was accompanied by undercooked noodles and aged peas (possibly canned?). This was followed (at some length) by soggy dough disks and berries. Dinner did pick up, especially after the catering manager visited us, but it was clear that the chef was out of his depth and that the assistants had never done food service before. Plates were randomly plonked down, instead of serving from one side of the table to the other, as practicality would demand. Consequently those who waited for the people around them to be served ate cold food.
The children’s meals were of a similarly bizarre nature. The first night’s bolognese had a distinctly greyish tinge (what happened to the tomato?) Another night they were served hardened mince patties, lettuce leaves and corn. Even normal favourites like fish fingers were set aside by most of the children because they were unpleasant. The shepard’s pie was a winner for the children but it was followed by hot poached pears that were too firm to eat with a spoon and ice cream that had melted by the time it was served. Simple canned peach slices would have been more appropriate. And whilst I understand that some parents may not want chips served every night, surely once wouldn’t have been too much?
The hors d’oeuvres became a joking point for the guests on the first few nights: hardened cheese straws were at least identifiable; the bright green dip that appeared a few nights later was the object of much speculation. Unfortunately, it wasn’t nice enough for anyone to try guessing its contents more than once. A bowl of corn chips and some salsa would have been easier on the beleaguered chef and our taste buds.
For both the adults and children’s meals something a little less ambitious might have been a lot better received. The adults would have appreciated a curry night or lasagne and anti pasto. One of the most successful meals we were served started with a vegetable soup – simple and inoffensive, it even stayed warm whilst we were waiting for everyone to be served.
Little Niggly Issues
The following may seem hardly worth mentioning in themselves. It was just that the overall impression they added up to was one of amateurism. When it is obvious that the staff are really struggling and unfamiliar with the facilities and services that should be offered, it is not easy to relax and enjoy yourself.
Many times we were caught out by inaccurate or just plain wrong information. Our chelet rep seemed to just make up the first thing that came into his head when you asked him a question. We soon learnt to rely on the chalet assistants over him. For example he told us that there wasn’t much point in going to La Thuile because even when the link opened, its runs would be un-groomed. Luckily we didn’t take him at his word and had a lovely day in on beautifully groomed run in Italy on Thursday, but I wonder if any of the other guests were put off? He confidently told us that Christmas day dinner would have the same timings as the rest do the week, when in fact it was family meal served to everyone at 6.30pm.
Even the written information provided in the chalet welcome book contradicted what the staff told us. For example, the book said breakfast would be served from 8-9am (surely quite late when the children have to be ready at 8.30am?), we were verbally told that breakfast would be served at 7.45am and the staff (especially on the first 3 mornings) seemed to feel that any time after 8.30am was alright. We were verbally told that babysitting was €7 per hour, per child, per family (so for two kids, €14/hour – too expensive for us). However, the book said is was €8 per hour per family (so 1-3 kids, €8/hour – much more reasonable). It meant you were never quite sure what the correct answer was – and you felt that the staff were in much the same boat, struggling blindly along as best they could.
The layout and décor of Schatzi was bizarre, edging on the downright odd. Only 80% of the lights seemed to be working – it is very disconcerting trying to wash with a constantly flickering bathroom light – or indeed dress when the main room light went on and off at random.
Why is the only access to the communal dining area via the outside? As well as being about as atmospheric as a scout hall, the lounge area was seriously under-equipped with sofas – certainly not enough for all of the adults. Those that were in place were not in a good state of repair. Fortunately some of our more bolshie fellow guests took on this challenge by rearranging the space and moving some of the unused furniture from the shared lounges between rooms into the communal area. The strip lighting and laminated floor gave the communal area a decidedly un-cosy feel, which was disappointing – you can’t help hoping for a fire and carpet in a chalet.
The motley collection of cutlery looked like it had been purchased at a school fete and then handed to Uri Geller for a bit of fork-bending. The shortage of teaspoons leant a comical turn to most dining experiences (try eating a boiled egg with a serving spoon!), but was not remedied until Christmas day. We were all thrilled not to have to lick our yoghurt spoons in order to stir our coffee.
The lockers were positioned too low for my skis and one of the lockers was lying on the floor. The walls in the locker room were repaired with orange gaffer tape, but this was quite attractive compared to the strange decoration inflicted on us elsewhere in the chalet. Stapled to the walls at all too regular intervals were examples of the owner’s artwork – peculiar laminated photocopies of stamp collages! She is also quite enthusiastic about traditional embroidery – or at least we think this was why a pair of old lady’s knickers were nailed to the wall in Room 4!
The furnishings were also very eccentric – next to standard issue Ikea bedsteads were marble topped wrought iron outdoor tables with mismatching chairs.
Handles fell off doors, finials off the ends of rails on the stairs and I don’t think any of the coat hooks in the nursery was fixed to the walls with anything stronger than blue tak and wishful thinking. Certainly every time I tried to hang anything there, it immediately fell off. Towels were shaggy and bleach stained (God knows what they will look like by the end of the season!). Even nice little touches, like leaving a teddy in my son’s cot, were undercut when you realised that the bedding provided for the cots was too small – rolling over dislodged it.
And why was there no access to a washing machine (surely a necessity in family oriented accommodation?) My children were sick 4 times on the inward journey – it was disappointing to realise we were going to have to trudge down to the laundrette on our first evening.
However…
After reading the above, you might wonder why anyone would travel with Esprit. It wasn’t all bad. The children seemed to really like nursery and this meant that my husband and I got a real break, free to do what we liked all day, secure in the knowledge that the children were happy. The nursery staff deserve praise for the excellent and attentive care they offered the children.
Although there was usually a queue of people waiting to pounce on the resort's senior manager and list their complaints, he was unfailingly polite and patient, even when he couldn’t do much to help. For example, I know someone came to service the lights – though they couldn’t fix most of them. The catering manager's supervision of the kitchen produced results just as the guests were discussing drawing up a rota and taking over the cooking ourselves.
One of the chalet assistants made lovely cakes for tea and showed real leadership and smiles under what must have been fairly grim conditions for the staff as the guests grew increasingly restive and hostile. The skiing lessons from Evolution 2 were a highlight for me.
Whilst the chalet layout was bizarre, the mattresses were great, the linen was lovely, the hot water was usually adequate and the place was very clean.
If the catering had been better, the ticketing more timely and our rooms had been as stated, the niggles I have mentioned would have been immaterial. As it was, the positive points about our experience will always be overshadowed by the stuff-ups.
I wrote to Espirit asking for an explaination/apology and did get a £100 refund, but I'd hesitate to recommend them to anyone else. If you are going to one of their resort, triple check the accomodation you have been allocated and ensure you get some guarantee of catering quality.