L'Ecrin — Hotel in Albertville

First of all the positives;

The staff in general were fantastic and could not do enough for us on our holiday. This was our first Mark Warner holiday. We have previously had many summer beach holidays with Nielson.

On arrival at the airport and after picking up baggage we wondered outside and were not met by any of the Mark Warner Reps ...we wondered around aimlessly looking for somebody who might know where we were supposed to go and eventually we were directed by another Mark Warner rep to where our coach might be, and discovered this was not the correct area to be. We then wandered all the way back to the airport and eventually found somebody who knew roughly where our coach was and we were then greeted at the coach itself.

The journey was fine apart from a long stop to change into snow chains which is understandable. During the journey the rep was very helpful in trying to sort out our rooms. We had already had email correspondence requesting quiet rooms. At the hotel itself which we arrived at,at roughly 3 pm on the second and third floors which we were situated on, it looked as though the chalet had been hit by a bomb, bedclothes everywhere mattresses lying across the corridor bottles and plates outside rooms. Obviously there had been some kind of chaotic change over, however, it didn’t fill you with confidence for what was to come. After unpacking and going down to the main lounge, We found it was not heated so not cosy and cold. I can’t remember whether the fire was on or not but there was certainly no heat coming from it. I tried to put this all down to teething problems early-season and tried to get on with my holiday but first impressions last.

The first two days were a massive disappointment because of the conditions, the Resort being mostly closed and the heavy snowfall. I don’t know what the rules are regarding this but with only a handful of lifts being open, and the conditions I managed two runs on the first day and four runs on the second day. Lift queues were horrendous. There was no explanation from the staff as to whether lift passes could be refunded or any information apart from “it looks like the weather is going to be nice on Christmas Day”, which it was.

Obviously we made use of the pool and spa area due to the weather. In theory this looks like a fantastic facility. Once again, it was a disappointment. It looks as though there is no sign of any maintenance person to look after it, Consequently, what could be a lovely facility is spoiled by everything not quite working. The fountain does not work, the Jacuzzi does not work, the steam rooms do not work and only one sauna works. The other Sauna could be fixed very simply if the door catch was mended which of course it wasn’t. I managed to locate an old dressing gown cord kicking around in the “gym area” and managed to secure the door closed that way. Most of the machines in the gym area are poorly maintained, the bike is unusable due to the saddle, a couple of the machines work in the weights area, but generally everything is in a poorly maintained state.. This whole facility would be very nice to use if it was overhauled and maintained correctly, again when you are paying a lot of money for a holiday these kind of disappointments spoil the experience.

In general the food was of a good standard, however, it would be nice to have some green vegetables each evening rather than just on one or two of the nights, I was beginning to feel a little bit Iron Deficient. I understand from friends who have been to the chalet in previous years, that they have now cut back on providing bottles of wine and this is now rationed in carafs. The Christmas day dinner was a disappointment because the lighting was very bright and we were placed on a table in the middle of the room and we didn’t feel the atmosphere was great. No Cranbury sauce and no bread sauce only 3 sprouts each! again these are things which are personal to us but would be nice to have. As this holiday cost well over £6000 for our family I feel this was not...

My first experience with Mark Warner.

Travel The travel days were fine, flights and transfers did what the package said. Grenoble airport is small but it was nice to be greeted by Mark Warner staff.

Accommodations The location is quite nice, about 300m from three ski lifts which makes it very easy to get an early start. It was nice to have ski lockers with boot and glove warmers to dry everything overnight. However, the Chalet is quite tired and in need of a bit of love. The pool and sauna area look like they desperately need a deep clean. There were no working jacuzzi’s which I was very much looking forward to after a long day snowboarding. The gym is not as advertised and looks under maintained.

Room The rooms are small and have limited floor space around the bed. There is nowhere to unpack other than 10 hangars and only room to put 1 suitcase in the wardrobe below. The bathroom is tired and the room has no glasses for water. You are also asked to not bring mugs or glasses to the room and when asked if we could take a water jug to the room for water overnight we were told we couldn’t as they didn’t have enough.

Staff The staff were very friendly and helpful! Dinner service was a bit hit and miss…

Food The food overall was a Massive let down!! My wife and I had expected quite a bit more than was delivered on the food front.

Breakfast Breakfast was on par with a 2 star hotel continental breakfast. Choices were very limited and basically the same every morning. Breakfast was often luke warm at best and sometimes verging on cold. Nothing beats cold powdered eggs… YUM!! The porridge was gloop and the Pastries were all mini and never seemed fresh. We ended up going to buy fresh croissants on our last morning as we got so fed up with the bad breakfast.

Afternoon tea This ended up being nothing to rush down the mountain for…. I’m convinced the soup was the soup from two dinners prior. There were often no glasses or mugs nor any water to drink. Often had to go to the bar to get these things. All cakes were seemingly frozen mass bought. Nothing fresh as we have experienced in France before.

Dinner The dinner menu was a choice of three starters, three mains and two deserts each night. The issue was not the number of available choices it was that most of them were not enjoyable. Of the 6 dinners we had at the chalet we only left feeling good about the main meal at dinner twice. None of the desserts were nice or tasted like what they should. Most nights the food tasted like a frozen microwave meal which was Incredibly disappointing!! Wine was not included with dinner. A caraf of wine was €20-40, but you could walk 100m down the road, choose a full bottle for under €10. If you have food intolerances you would severely struggle to eat. Most dishes contained gluten and dairy. Alternative bread and milk were only offered if asked for and not available at afternoon tea.

Summary It is unlikely we will return with Mark Warner. Most issues seem quite easy to fix but having spoken to fellow easyJet travellers who skied with MW last year, they had a similar experience and had left similar feedback. It’s disappointing that the changes hadn’t been made. We would have a hard time recommending it to anyone unless they didn’t care at all...

Having worked for Mark Warner many years ago, I can say with confidence this hotel and its offering are mere shadow of its former self. 2am alarms set for the most budget, uncivilised 6.15am charter flights, no help with luggage at the airport, on or off coaches or from the village carpark to the hotel - made worse with exhausted children in tow, bad weather and a treacherous road crossing. Only 1 operational lift shared between the whole hotel - making the whole saga stretch out for hours. No hotel discount for ski hire, no canapés on arrival, no childcare rep on a transfer day so families are in the dark about all elements of their stay, no call the week prior to discuss childcare detail either. ||The food was honestly, the worst I have ever experienced anywhere. Coq au vin with indistinguishable chicken cartilage and bone swimming in fat, eclairs at tea time - frozen to the core, vaguely warmed fish pie that remained cold on the inside, onion soup at our best guess made with bistro, scrambled eggs sat in a soggy pool of water for breakfast, children's ice cream clearly pre-scooped, sat to melt and then re-frozen. It's just not acceptable to serve food this substandard to anyone for hygiene reasons, let alone guests paying the best part of £10k for the privilege. ||The wifi just doesn't work adequately, the spa facilities have been out of action for years, one of the only 2 guest lifts is broken. The hotel communal furniture and furnishings resemble a sixth form common room. There are creaks and leaks, rips and tears everywhere. None of the board games available in the bar area had complete pieces, all were broken - literally without exception. Our bathroom toilet did not flush. A fellow guest did not wash her hair all week because her shower did not have adequate pressure. Our bathroom had mildew, broken skirting boards, toothpaste marks from previous guests, rubbish left on our balcony, only 2 of 6 bulbs worked so we spent the week in darkness. If you ordered a round, you first need to finish your drinks so the glassware could be washed and reused and even then, the bar was often short of essential ingredients. I could go on and on. Investment and maintenance is needed everywhere.||The childcare itself, did work well. Communication before our stay would have been appreciated, particularly as they are off on arrival day. After some initial chaos, we found our way and the children were happy and well provided for. That said, the Easter Bunny did not show up for children who woke in the hotel of Easter morning, "only for children arriving that same afternoon". The question was asked by parents in advance, providing opportunity for some small token gesture to be provided, but the hotel Management refused. A small indication of the change in standard and reticence to go the extra mile. The children of course woke and were devastated.||The location is also pretty good. You can no longer cross the road to access the piste easily owing to a new development, but instead hop on a regular bus for 1/2 stops to the lifts - perfectly manageable. ||Mark Warner have never occupied the most exclusive residences but previously made up for this with their outstanding customer service. Gone are the days, both...