Hôtel La Chaudanne — Hotel in Albertville

Nice, modern hotel with amazing staff, but some bad experiences give it 3/5. Would I stay again? Possibly, but only now knowing the below. ||||(1) THE ROOM YOU COULD GET MAY NOT BE REFLECTIVE OF THE PICTURES ONLINE, We booked a 'standard' room whilst our friends booked a 'small' room. We were given 604, a tiny attic room which was identical to our friends 'small' on the 4th floor, but 50% more expensive because it was 2m sq larger - 1000 euro extra was tough to swallow. We complained and the fantastic staff moved us to a 'proper' standard (as shown in the photos on the website). But what if there was no space to move us? My partner doesn't ski (why we booked a nice room, floor to ceiling windows, and a balcony) so it would have been awful if she had to endure an attic room with a post stamp window. If we went again it would be a complete gamble on which room you'd get allocated. I want to reiterate the front of house staff were amazing in the room move, so thanks to everyone. ||||(2) HOUSE KEEPING THREW AWAY MY ELECTRIC TOOTHBRUSH. On moving rooms I accidentally left my electric toothbrush in the first room. I went to reception within 12 hours to enquire, and was informed that the house keeping did find it and threw it away?! Why was the wider team not informed about the room change? Why was there no policy where lost property is held for 3 days / 1 week? Whilst it was my fault for accidentally leaving it in the rush of moving rooms, that silly policy cost me £120 to buy a new one on my return to the UK.||||(3) PREORDERED LIFT PASSES HAVE A 4% FEE YOU'RE ONLY TOLD ABOUT AFTERWARDS. Our friends ordered lift passes via email before we left the UK and we picked them up on arrival. On check in we were informed that anything we ask the team to purchase outside the hotel has a 4% surcharge. We assumed lift passes didn't count as a) we had preordered and collected them on arrival, b) at the time of ordering we were not informed of this surcharge, c) I've worked in hotels for 3 years in the Alps and the three companies I worked for never charged for this service. At the end of the holiday a 40 euro charge is neither here-nor-there, but not being informed prior to order was a frustration. Even weirder, on explaining our view the hotel manager refused to waiver the fee (despite us showing the email correspondence prior to ordering which didn't explain additional fees. We would have walked 3 minutes up the road if we had known - not a big effort). Either the hotel manager didn't have the power to remove the fee or he simply refused. Weird when 2 couples just spend 6500 euros on a holiday in the hotel. Finally after about 20 minutes of back and forwards it turns out paying via bank transfer doesn't incur a fee. Clarity from the start would have helped avoid such an experience. ||||There are a few small things which are worth mentioning. (a) Spa Aqua area a little chilly - expected more of a jacuzzi temperature in the hydro beds but its more like a normal pool. It notes online 28 degrees so my bad for not knowing what this feels like, but you can't get a good soak on post ski. Sauna lovely tho. (b) Nice complimentary cakes post ski, but you need to pay for tea/coffee. 30 euros for 4 teas seemed steep, but the downstairs sofa area is the only place you can really relax if friends are staying in a different room. (c) Breakfast was amazing. Great options, friendly staff. Really sets you up for the day. (d) Every member of staff was great apart from the experience with the hotel manager on that silly fee.||||End of essay :) TLDR; we'd stay again, but explicitly note prior to arrival which room we'd like, and be aware of additional surcharges which isn't clear prior to arrival. And hope I don't lose anything in the hotel which would be promptly...

Nice, modern hotel with amazing staff, but some bad experiences give it 3/5. Would I stay again? Possibly, but only now knowing the below.

(1) THE ROOM YOU COULD GET MAY NOT BE REFLECTIVE OF THE PICTURES ONLINE, We booked a 'standard' room whilst our friends booked a 'small' room. We were given 604, a tiny attic room which was identical to our friends 'small' on the 4th floor, but 50% more expensive because it was 2m sq larger - 1000 euro extra was tough to swallow. We complained and the fantastic staff moved us to a 'proper' standard (as shown in the photos on the website). But what if there was no space to move us? My partner doesn't ski (why we booked a nice room, floor to ceiling windows, and a balcony) so it would have been awful if she had to endure an attic room with a post stamp window. If we went again it would be a complete gamble on which room you'd get allocated. I want to reiterate the front of house staff were amazing in the room move, so thanks to everyone.

(2) HOUSE KEEPING THREW AWAY MY ELECTRIC TOOTHBRUSH. On moving rooms I accidentally left my electric toothbrush in the first room. I went to reception within 12 hours to enquire, and was informed that the house keeping did find it and threw it away?! Why was the wider team not informed about the room change? Why was there no policy where lost property is held for 3 days / 1 week? Whilst it was my fault for accidentally leaving it in the rush of moving rooms, that silly policy cost me £120 to buy a new one on my return to the UK.

(3) PREORDERED LIFT PASSES HAVE A 4% FEE YOU'RE ONLY TOLD ABOUT AFTERWARDS. Our friends ordered lift passes via email before we left the UK and we picked them up on arrival. On check in we were informed that anything we ask the team to purchase outside the hotel has a 4% surcharge. We assumed lift passes didn't count as a) we had preordered and collected them on arrival, b) at the time of ordering we were not informed of this surcharge, c) I've worked in hotels for 3 years in the Alps and the three companies I worked for never charged for this service. At the end of the holiday a 40 euro charge is neither here-nor-there, but not being informed prior to order was a frustration. Even weirder, on explaining our view the hotel manager refused to waiver the fee (despite us showing the email correspondence prior to ordering which didn't explain additional fees. We would have walked 3 minutes up the road if we had known - not a big effort). Either the hotel manager didn't have the power to remove the fee or he simply refused. Weird when 2 couples just spend 6500 euros on a holiday in the hotel. Finally after about 20 minutes of back and forwards it turns out paying via bank transfer doesn't incur a fee. Clarity from the start would have helped avoid such an experience.

There are a few small things which are worth mentioning. (a) Spa Aqua area a little chilly - expected more of a jacuzzi temperature in the hydro beds but its more like a normal pool. It notes online 28 degrees so my bad for not knowing what this feels like, but you can't get a good soak on post ski. Sauna lovely tho. (b) Nice complimentary cakes post ski, but you need to pay for tea/coffee. 30 euros for 4 teas seemed steep, but the downstairs sofa area is the only place you can really relax if friends are staying in a different room. (c) Breakfast was amazing. Great options, friendly staff. Really sets you up for the day. (d) Every member of staff was great apart from the experience with the hotel manager on that silly fee.

End of essay :) TLDR; we'd stay again, but explicitly note prior to arrival which room we'd like, and be aware of additional surcharges which isn't clear prior to arrival. And hope I don't lose anything in the hotel which would be promptly...

This is a 4-star hotel but, in many areas, very much verging on 5-star. There are a few areas where they exceed and some which seem lacking.||Bedrooms: we stayed in room 415, which is one of their small rooms. Unlike other reviewers, we were thankfully fully aware of the size of the room, and we got exactly that. Yes it was small, but we weren't planning on spending much time in there, so it was just about big enough. The fluffy carpet was especially nice, although we didn't get on with the French-style pillows. Housekeeping were excellent, and the little treats with their turndown service always made us smile. Our room could do with the grouting being refreshed in the bathroom, but otherwise couldn't fault. ||Spa: the spa was lovely and we never found it crowded, sometimes being the only ones in there. Sauna was great at the end of a day skiing and there were always plenty of towels. Only criticisms are firstly, there's no toilets nearby; secondly, there's no supply of water. Thirdly (and most importantly), the floor is lethal when wet - we watched a number of people fall as a result.||Breakfast: a wonderful selection and plentiful supply every morning. Really set us up for the day. Could choose from breads, yoghurts, fruit, pastries, cold meats/cheeses, hot food... ||Afternoon Tea: we were told by Reception that there was cake available each afternoon between certain hours. We understood from them that this was free of charge, but that if we wanted drinks we would need to purchase them. Later in the week we were refused access to the cake unless we purchased a drink - given that by this stage we'd also racked up a 300 euro bar bill and that a cup of tea was 7 euros, this left a sour taste with us.||Dinner: almost all the food we had was delicious and many dishes exceeded expectations. We were on half-board, and got very bored with the half-board menu by about day 3 (as it doesn't change). What was not publicised (but we confirmed with the hotel) is that we could transfer to the a la carte menu and pick items up to a certain value (paying any surcharge). We did this very successfully and, while we were initially concerned that all our receipts showed the full amount, the Reception staff did indeed deduct all the allowances as agreed. Unfortunately we also encountered others on half-board who weren't aware and who'd started eating elsewhere purely to get different food. One final point to flag is drinks are not included with the half-board, so need to factor that in.||Bar: the bar is really well-stocked and a couple of the bar staff are very friendly and definitely made our stay more enjoyable. The drinks aren't cheap, but it's mountain pricing in a 4-star hotel, so to be expected.||Ski Storage: you can store all your skis/boards in their linked shop - this is across the road and is not terribly spacious, meaning it can be a bit of a annoyance in the morning. We chose instead to rent lockers at the bottom of one of the main lifts, which worked out far better for us (especially as didn't have to carry our gear back to the shop every night).||Overall this is a really nice property, but it's let down in a few areas. Given that and the overall cost of staying there, we're currently undecided if we...