Hotel Mondole

We found most aspects of our recent ski holiday very good. The flights with First Choice Stanstead/Turin were excellent both ways and we enjoyed the typical chaotic family friendly Italian hotel. If we had not been seasoned skiers however the holiday would have been very different as the tour operator representative might just as well not have been there! There was no meet and greet information either on the transfer coach or at the hotel which meant a lot of disgruntled confusion for the guests. When we needed to contact the rep to sort out a problem requiring his resort knowledge and fluency in Italian, neither, we, the ski hire shop nor the hotel could get hold of him as his phone was switched off! We wondered what would have happened if our problem had been a serious medical or ski injury problem! We were given no information regarding departure details either. He did come to see the guests once during an evening meal but that just meant that the not very hot meal soon went cold! We have written to Equity/Rocket Ski regarding their so-called representative in this resort but they seem unconcerned - which speaks for itself!
Prato Nevoso itself was small and friendly and we enjoyed the skiing there and in neighbouring Artesina. We enjoyed the hospitality of both the Ice Cream Parlour and the Sporting Bar. We went night-skiing on Friday and Saturday evenings and really enjoyed ourselves!
We had a good ski holiday but in spite of and not because of Equity/Rocket Ski.

I have just returned from a skiing holiday based in Prato Nevoso in Italy. The holiday company was Equity Ski.

The hotel Mondole is basic. It is definitely a family/school trip oriented 3 star hotel, so expect lots of noise, children running around everywhere and basic accommodation. The food was appalling - it was lukewarm, never hot and generally the staff at the hotel seemed unconcerned and almost inconvenienced by their guests. The main gripe by most of the guests on our trip was the sheer lack of information from Equity Ski. At the hotel, there was no information board and the representative was rarely seen at the hotel. All in all, we were not looked after by the Equity Ski rep, because we only saw him twice during the holiday! We ended up eating out most nights as we could not face the "old-style school dinners" after bearing with three nights of tinned luke-warm substandard food.

One restaurant to recommend if you visit Prato Nevoso is Bar Spigolo (also known as the Gelateria). This is a lovely cosy restaurant/ice-cream/coffee bar run by Victor and Jia. Victor and Jia were wonderful hosts and although not on the menu, provided us with a wonderful evening of cooked pasta (the best ever), followed by Wiener Schnitzel and Stroganoff. I cannot recommend their hospitality enough. I would also recommend their coffee, ice-cream and hot chocolate! Even on our last morning, Victor rustled up the most fantastic, egg, garlic, ham, bacon and cheese for us (without us asking!). He certainly knows how to look after his guests!

So, all in all, if you are not bothered by children and happy with sub-standard food and basic accommodation with little support from the organisation you have booked your holiday with, then go for it! Another gripe was that we were only given 4 days of skiing tuition where normally you are given 5 - 6 days of tuition .