Club Med La Rosière - French Alps — Hotel in Albertville

La Rosiere was opened in 2021, a brand new resort, well designed according to the local motives. spacious common areas like the lobby, bar, lounges, theater, balcony, dining area, pool and spa. One can tell that a lot of effort and money were invested in making this club beautiful, technologically advanced and warm welcoming for the guests who choose to stay in it. The rooms too were well designed - USB outlets near the bed head and the television table, big closest and deep drawers provided more then enough storage area. The isolation and noise suppression in the rooms and corridors was excellent. At this point I would like to add that we were very disappointed from the room service level - we had a WIFI reception problem in the room. despite our many inquiries to the hotel - nothing was done to fix it. one day I called to the room service at the morning (about 7:30 a.m.) and requested a bottle of water, the representative told me "OK". after more then a hour that the water bottle didn't arrived to my room - I've called once again, and this time i were told that "The room service only starts to work at 9:00 a.m." - in my opinion this is not suitable for a 4 forks resort like this, room service should have been 24/7. another problem we had with the room cleaning service - they didn't cleared dirty glasses form the room. all in all - the room cleanliness level was good. The breakfast buffet was very poor - compering to prior resorts of club med that we stayed in. they should have offer more cold and hot dishes at the breakfast. as for the lunch and dinner buffet - it was very rich in variety - but lucks of seasoning in the meat dishes. the food that we enjoyed the most was the pizza, the fish and seafood, the deserts and croissants, and the appetizers in the bar area before the dinner. As for the Après Ski ambient, as a group of friends we felt that the club lucks of entertainment program for us as adults. we found ourselves after dinner in the bar/theater area, getting board very quickly, and going back to our rooms to sleep. the first part of the entertainment plan in the evening was a show designated for children and youth. after that there was a "Party" with different themes - but it was always started with the "club med crazy signs" Music and row dancing. and counited as only a row dancing "party", and not a "Folie Douce" party style that we love. if you look at the entertainment form a family point of view - it is great solution for children of all ages - especially the young ones. it felt as this club focused all the attention on entertaining the children - and forgot about the adults. The club has an indoor pool, outdoor pool, 2 outdoor small jacuzzies, hammam in the pool area and another hammam in the spa area. for this topic i must say that we are extremally disappointed. we booked for club med La Rosiere already in January 2022, for us, a hot jacuzzi after a long day of snowboarding - is a mandatory. we talked with our club med agency in Israel, and they assured us that the outdoor pool and and outdoor jacuzzies are operational and heated. when we arrived to the club. we were disappointed to find our that both the outdoor pool, and the Jacuzzies were closed. Another puzzling decision of Club med is not to have a dry Sauna in this club. while every 4 star hotel and other clubs that we've stayed in, had dry saunas, this 4 fork brand new club doesn't have dry sauna. for me it's Incomprehensible. a dry sauna is commonly used in Europe. and here it's a must after snowboarding all the day outside in this cold weather. the spa area is beautiful and very relaxing - there is a relaxation area, dedicated hammam only for the spa, and many treatments rooms. the stuff there is very professional and warm welcoming. Summing up, it is clear that many efforts and a big budget were invested making Club med La Rosiere what he is today. there is a sentence which says "God is in the details" - for changing club med La Rosiere from good to perfect - some improvements need to be made. small ones, but...

If you're contemplating a Club Med family ski trip there are a few things to consider, our experience is specific to La Rosière. We had previously visiting Alpen Rose which is a phenomenal hotel for families, especially for children. Due its altitude we wanted somewhere higher which still had an inclusive offering...hence Club Med.

The Good.. The hotel is stunning and modern, with lots of energy from the moment you arrive. We had pre-booked everyone's equipment, it was perfect having everything ready in our lockers. We took the kids stuff to the kids club area where they'd be having their lessons, which meant our lockers had a lot more space. Unlike previous holidays you really do drop off the kids and the Club Med team sort out everything from there. It was quite a liberating feeling!! The kids ski lessons were great, they all progressed well. During the first 2 days the instructors are trying to get kids into the right abilities, so there's some faffing around. They host a 'meet you kids' instructor' one evening which is great, as you can hear how they're getting on and what needs to be improved. Our adult lessons were good too, we were split into ability and English speaking, our group was with Pierre who was brilliant. The food was brilliant with a staple of the usual pizza, pasta etc, however every evening they did have a good variety of specialty dishes. We had an interconnecting superior room which was ideal for us. The only downside being we were on the other side of the ski rooms. The ski area is brilliant and not too busy. We skied as a family to Italy which was an amazing experience for all of us. The staff are brilliant and do everything they can to make it fun for everyone. The Chef du Village, Tom, was excellent. He was always around engaging with guests and making sure everyone was having a good time. He really is good at his job.

The Not So Good... It is absolutely chaotic, which is to be expected. We just weren't expecting it to be so busy in the evenings when the entertainment is on. The Kids Clubs team do a great job of entertaining kids from the start to end of the day. Some of the shows which they host, are just not great. And considering you're paying a lot of money, my expectation is this would be better. E.g. Ikos/Saini summer holidays have fantastic shows in the evening. If you're expecting this you'll be disappointed. The other challenging we had was kids and parents finished lessons at different times which didn't make sense at all. Many parents were keen to pick up there children and have lunch together, for reason the lessons weren't in-sync. We thought this was a big negative. The swimming pool is absolutely freezing, and not the right size for the amount of guests. Our kids always want to be in the pool but after the two days they decided to give it a miss. So here's the next issue, there's actually not much for kids to do if they're not in kids club. For example, when we visited Alpen Rose they had a climbing wall, soft play area, arts and crafts area. Ideally they should have more activities which aren't led by kids club.

In summary would we go back? It wouldn't be a slam dunk yes, but we probably would. I think the Club Med experience is good with everything included however next time we'll know how to...

I’ve definitely seen this film before. But it’s not like re-watching a feelgood classic film from the 80s but rather more like re-watching The Shining: it looks good, it’s well made, many of the cast are talented, but it really doesn’t make a whole lot of sense and it fills the audience with anxiety. I re-read my review of this ‘village’ (Second Rule of Cult Med: gotta use the cult lingo) from May 2023 and am happy and horrified in equal measure to report that the good bits remain unchanged and the nightmarish bits are still just as terrifying! Plus ça change…||||For a supposedly upmarket Chinese-owned hotel, the main restaurant is a starkly downmarket experience, despite the veneer of quality. The mealtime scrum is truly nightmarish! And probably the best things you will eat or drink all week are still the 12 euro bowl of simple pasta and 5 euro hot chocolate or coffee from Bar du Lac or Offshore Bar (or literally anywhere, frankly) over in Italy on the La Thuile side. There are a few exceptions (like the ice cream) but generally I think people get carried away by the quantity and lose sight of the quality and execution. ||||There’s now just one white, one red and one rose in the restaurant and at the bar we found the drinks really basic and sloppily served (that is, if you could get served). The hotel might as well make it self-service at the bar too. ||||There must be many hundreds of people who work here as you see new characters swaggering around, looking really great and enjoying themselves each day, but none will ever ask how you’re finding your stay or if you need any help. ||||And one update that I forgot to mention last time. The loo roll is like a fine sandpaper (on dry contact), or a disintegrating cow’s tongue (on moist contact), creating clinkergeddon. It would be perfect for finishing off some school woodwork projects, or in pulp form as a sealant. But unless you’re looking for a full exfoliation of anything it touches, I’d suggest bringing your own. ||||On a serious note, I’d urge the hotel to reign in the drivers doing the airport transfers. I expect they are external contractors so the hotel will think ‘not our problem’. And I know they are under incredible pressure and working exhausting hours. But you simply cannot have guests put at risk because of drivers who push themselves and their vehicles to the absolute limit. I have now had two truly hair-raising journeys. Come on guys, there are already enough absolute world class idiots to deal with on the slopes, thanks.||||So, in conclusion, it’s déjà vu all over again. As someone once said: ‘I think a lot of things happened right here in this hotel over the years, and not all of 'em was good’. So I’m not sure we were sensible to deux it again, but we might get sucked back in and trois at the...