Le Hameau du Borsat

To keep the cost down, Le Hameau du Borsat employ very few cleaning staff. This results in guests being required to turn down their own room, so that it's clean for the next visitor. Fair enough, not a bad a policy - I'm all for keeping prices cheap, and a bit of elbow grease never hurt anyone. To ensure that guests adhere to this policy, credit card details are taken as a deposit. I was travelling with a group of friends and volunteered my card to be used. A week after our trip, I was disappointed to find that my card had been charged the not negligible sum of €56. This was in spite of our efforts to clean the room very thoroughly, following the provided instructions to the letter. (This was after we had purchased all our own cleaning products, as the residence doesn't provide any.) The room was actually cleaner when we left than when we arrived. When I phoned to enquire about the billing, I was told that the "floor, kitchen and toilet" were all "not good". They must have exceptionally high standards of cleanliness if that is the case. However, it's strange how these standards are not maintained in the rest of the residence - the locker room where skis could be stored was disgusting, and the corridor leading to it smelled of cannabis and urine.

Just back from our second visit to Hameau du Borsat and we're already planning for next year. Lots of reviewers pan this place, but the ski-out, ski-in location is good and Le Hameau offers great skiing at a fraction of the price of most Tignes accommodation. The apartments are warm, snug and very basic, with tiny kitchens, but there's a Boulangerie opposite and a brilliant takeaway Pizza place right next door to the entrance. Some things they don't tell you in the travel brochures: 1. Your transfer bus is likely to be stopped on the edge of Val Claret by the local gendarmes, to reduce traffic congestion. As you drag your bags the whole length of the town up to the Borsat, it gives you a great opportunity to see all the ski shops, bars and the smart hotels where the rich folk stay. 2. Expect to wait 1-2 hours to give your credit card details to the reception staff for the 300 Euro deposit. This allows you plenty of time to meet and chat to all the other guests in the apartments. Those who arrive on early flights have the joy of an even longer wait, because they don't release the keys until 1700. Top tip is not to pay the deposit in cash, as Reception is unlikely to be open when you leave. 3. You really can enjoy a week away from it all, as the wi-fi doesn't work and you probably won't want to pay 40 Euro for TV rental with only French TV channels (no satellite). 4. If the lights don't work in your apartment, it's quicker to make the 20-minute round trip to the Sherpa supermarche and replace the bulbs yourself, rather than wait two days or more for the maintenance staff to do it. 5. Guests are expected to clean the apartment themselves, so if the previous users were a house-proud family, you may not have to start the week by cleaning the bath, wc, microwave, fridge etc. On the other hand... 6. No need to take your alarm clock - although there are picture signs and written notices reminding guests not to walk up to their rooms in ski boots, many guests seem to ignore them. Likewise, each apartment has its own ski locker on the lower ground floor, but they're too old to fit snowboards, so boarders leave a trail of snow as they take their boards up to the their own balcony.

For the price we paid we weren't expecting a a palace but we weren't expecting it to be that bad!! After waiting at the airport for 1.5 hours for other flights to arrive so we could get our transfer to tinges, and a 4.5 hour transfer(which was advertised as 2.5), we were greeted with a line of around 15 parties waiting to check in. After an hours wait to finally get checked in we went to our room, which was frankly disgusting, stains on the walls, dirty hole covered sheets, a fusty smell and dirty cutlery. After a short while it became apparent that there was a group of eastern european youths across the way and they were intend on partying, being loud,being aggressive and smoking drugs. After 2 days of this we finally called our rep, who claimed to have called the police, who never showed. We called the management who were literally useless and did absolutely nothing. This carried on until the "permitted" 10. However the next night was a different story, we were subjected to another night of lunacy, again with nothing done by the useless management. This carried on till 3am, by which time we had piled our suitcases in front of the front door because they had tried to beat the door down. The ski lockers we big enough for a set of skis and that's about it, hardly adequate for 1 skier and 3 snowboarders. Also i'd expect the locker room to smell of feet a little, thats usual, but this area smelled like feces. The kitchen was under equipt, it has 3 of most things, hardly useful for a party of 4. If i was to make a recommendation i would say please pay a little more and go somewhere else as the skiing here is superb in the area.