Falcon by Alpine Resorts — Hotel in Albertville

I booked an apartment at the Falcon through their website, specifically selecting one with two double bedrooms for four adults. However, upon arrival, we were met with an unpleasant surprise - our "two double bedrooms" turned out to be one double bed and a bunk bed.

It later transpired that while I did receive email receipts for my deposit and final payment, the email (received after making the booking) that stated our apartment was in fact a double and a bunk had been filtered as spam, so the first I was made aware of this issues was upon arrival.

Having booked many holidays like this in the past, I have never had an issue where I've selected 1 type of room or apartment and somehow ended up with another.

When we raised this issue with reception, we were informed that the booking team isn’t available over the weekend, meaning that, despite checking in on a Saturday, no one would even acknowledge our complaint until after midday on Monday. When we finally received a call, the response boiled down to "tough." We received no amendment, reconciliation or compensation - This is not the sort of response you would expect in any sort of establishment, let alone one at this price point.

Beyond this issue, there were numerous other frustrations that people considering staying at the Falcon should be aware of:

Upon arrival, you're handed an inventory of over 150 items and invited to check each one to ensure you don’t lose your deposit—hardly a welcoming start to the trip. The building management team offers a shuttle to the ski lift 200m away for €100 per person per week, it felt at the time that it would be less like a cash grab if they didn't offer this service at all. The day before checkout, you receive a rather threatening email reminding you that checkout is at 10:00 AM sharp, with a warning that staying past this time will incur a €100 per hour charge. A hole in the wall in our apartment. This new build clearly didn't take a number of things into consideration when initially designed. For example, the poorly designed apartment layout results in cupboards and showers not being able to be fully opened due to bedside tables or other obstacles, and the ski storage being in the middle of the building has resulted in mud and scratches throughout the building. No chopping board provided. Walls as thin as paper, offering no sound insulation. The spa is unstaffed so expect loud children to make it anything but relaxing. Due to the building’s design and topography, some apartments require taking up to five elevators just to get outside. While this isn’t something management can change, it’s worth knowing in advance.

Having read other reviews since our stay, I see that the same or similar issues have been raised by guests earlier this season and even last year. Despite some responses from the management team, little to nothing has been done to improve the service.

On a slightly more positive note — the staff at the ski rental shop were polite and helpful, even kindly storing our ski equipment overnight each day despite us choosing to rent our equipment from Skimium Sports 1600 Meribel which offers much more reasonable prices just up the road. The building reception are also able to arrange your lift passes which is a plus, however as we arrived late Saturday they had closed, and they don't get back into work until Sunday at 9am so if you have any lessons booked (like we did), you can anticipate being late to those.

In summary, the interior of the Falcon's apartments are to a high finish, but the general disappointments, level of service and attitude of the staff left much to be desired. There are definitely better stays in Meribel...

I think this may be the first review for this collection of chalets and apartments nestled on a hill just round the corner from the Morel lift in Meribel!||We spent a very enjoyable week here during March; so much so that we are already talking about coming back. We were in a four bedroom apartment, which was lovely. | The decor and furniture were great and it had everything that we needed to enable us to cook our own proper meals, which was great as having eaten big lunches, we didn't really want to go out for dinner.||The sitting room/dining room/kitchen area was large and properly designed for the number of bedrooms. In my experience this can be a problem in some chalets and apartments where the size of the living area doesn't always match the number of bedrooms.||We didn't go to the wellness area, but we saw lots of people going there and the photos look good.||We hired our skis from the on-site ski hire shop. It is not cheap, but the equipment was very good and the service was excellent - you have your skis and boots delivered to you and picked up from you and warmed overnight. It is also very convenient, though there are some ski hire shops very close to the Morel chairlift, about 250m away.||The lift itself is about 150m away. It was never busy (we were not there during school holidays), and is super convenient. From the top of the lift, you can either ski down to the centre of Meribel or to the Rond Point for ski school, or you can go up the Altiport lift an they ski off around Meribel and into Courchevel. It means that you miss out the morning crowds in the center of Meribel.||You can get a lift pass at the reception, which is better than getting it in the center of Meribel (which we did). If you want to get it topped up from day to day, you can. You don't need a pass to take the Morel lift and can they top up your pass at the bottom of the Altiport lift - good if you only like skiing when you know it is good weather.||About 50m away from the Falcon Lodge is a restaurant called FiFi (I'll review that separately), which is excellent, but very much not a budget option. When normally what you get in the Alps is a variation on different types of meat, cheese and potatoes, this was a refreshing change. It's very popular, so make sure to book.||If you are catering for yourself, there are some good supermarkets. The nearest is up near the Morel lift, but the best one is the Casino down near the center of Meribel. It opens at 7.30am. There is also a butcher next door. The baker is close by to the Casino and...

Hard to score ski trips as much depends on personal experience / preference. This is a 3.5/4 star review. Some misunderstandings as follows. It is a sort of aparthotel a 20 mins walk (in shoes) down to Meribel Centre. . Reception manned til 8pm. Built into a slope hence a couple of elevators to get anywhere (was fine). Boot room and ski hire on site with helpful staff which worked great. Distance to slopes not ideal but manageable. To get to main lifts in Meribel Centre not walkable with skis etc. There is a public free bus to Centre but it was very busy (missed 3 on first day when had to get there to pick up passes) - nobody explains this. Once you have your passes from the centre (not before) there is the option to walk uphill from Falcon in boots to the Morel lift, which was about 200M and do- able. Lift not busy. There is a hotel shuttle but again nobody explains this is Euros 100 Pw/pp. at these prices should be complimentary - feels exploitative to learn this on first day when trying to pick up passes. The 3 bed apartment with hot tub was beautiful and very cosy. Very happy except the flame effect log fire controller wasn’t working for 3 nights which was irritating and I was handed an inventory of over 150 items and invited to check it - a joke and maybe a training issue. The bedrooms were slightly too warm at night but better than the opposite. I got an incendiary email the night before checkout telling me 10:00 checkout time and threatening that if I wasn’t out it would be E100 per hour extra. I had to ask the Agent to get me an extra 2 free hours which was a stress I didn’t appreciate - very poor customer relations. There is a lovely little pool with sauna and steam rooms which wasn’t busy. Our hot tub was great. The staff were friendly. They stayed an hour late to show us the room when flight was delayed. Alpine Resorts (the Agent) need to explain things in advance much better and with some tweaks this could be 5 star review. They need to re think charging for the shuttle and they need to consider how guests are going to get their passes on...