Le Grand Chalet

I stayed at the Residence Grand Chalets in mid January 2025 and wrote a previous review of this property, but this is a follow up. When I arrived there, as required, I gave them my credit card details to take a 300 Euro deposit for damage etc and this was subsequently refunded, no problems. Imagine my surprise, then, when, over a month after I'd left, I suddenly found a 160 Euro payment being taken from my credit card! I contacted Crystal Ski Holidays (part of TUI) who I'd booked through and they had their agent ask Nexity/ Lamy what this was for. They said that I'd lost both keys (room and ski locker) in the resort and it was 50 Euros each to replace them. They also said I'd left the room in an "unacceptable condition" and charged another 60 Euros for cleaning. Fortunately I am a careful person, so, when I checked out, not only did I clean the room thoroughly, as required, I took a video of the whole apartment to prove this. The video also showed the keys hanging in the door of the room! When I left the room, I bumped into a couple of their cleaning staff in the lift and asked if they wanted the keys , but they said to take them back to the Agency office, so I did, and handed them, in person, to one of their staff. All of these people were, therefore, witnesses to the fact that I had not lost the keys. Crystal said that this was a dispute between myself and the letting agents so wouldn't get involved further, so I emailed Nexity/ Lamy and sent them a copy of the video, but got no reply. I emailed them again a fortnight later and told them that they had 14 days to respond and justify their charge or otherwise refund me. Since they did neither, I was forced to start a Fraudulent Charge dispute with my credit card company and, eventually, the 160 Euros was refunded to my credit card. Now, had they refunded my money or even bothered to reply in any way, even just to say "Oops, sorry, we charged the wrong person", I wouldn't be writing this review, however it seems that they simply didn't care or perhaps they hoped that I wouldn't notice or pursue this. In any case, if you're going to stay at the Residence Grand Chalets, or you've stayed there previously, make sure you not only completely fill in their list of any issues with the room as soon as you get there, but make records when you go in and after you leave and then check your credit card statements for the next couple of months to make sure that you do not have the same problems I do.

The first thing you need to know about the Residence le Grand Chalet is that, as far as I can tell, each apartment is individually owned, but then collectively rented out by the Lamy (formerly Nexity) agency which is just out of the front door and across a small pedestrian plaza. As such, from what I can gather from talking to others there, some of the rooms are better appointed/ decorated than others, depending on what the owners have chosen to do. The room I had was billed as a "Comfort Studio" that, theoretically, could hold four adults, but they would have to be very good friends! It would probably be ok for a couple or family with young kids. The room in total was about 7.5m by 4m, but as you come in the door, there were two bunk beds to one side of a corridor with the bathroom (shower, basin, toilet) on the other which effectively take up about half the total space. In the main area there was a wardrobe (with pillows and blankets to put into the duvet case), fold down table, two chairs and two stools, plus a sofa that folds down into a double bed. There was also a microwave, double hot plate, fridge, sink and dishwasher and a wall-mounted TV but with only limited French language channels and a chest of drawers below that. Crockery etc was behind where the table folds down from, there was toaster, kettle, coffee maker and some other bits below and a cupboard above the microwave that held several frying pans, saucepans were in a pull out section by the fridge. I don't know if booking through different companies (or self-booking via Air BnB etc) gets you different supplies, but I travelled via Crystal Holidays and bedding (a matress cover, sheet, duvet and pillow cases) were provided in plastic wrappers, also there were a couple of towels, however I had brought my own anyway as another review on here had suggested that they charged you if you used theirs. There was a bag for the bin in the bathroom and another black bin bag for the one in the kitchen, additionally a roll of good quality toilet paper was supplied and there was a bag with tablets for the dishwasher and some washing up liquid meaning I didn't have to go to the local Spar mini-supermarket (just up the road) for essentials. There was a welcome letter, but only in French, fortunately Google Translate helped with that, but one thing I found was that the information from Crystal said checkout was 12pm, but the French one said 10am. This caused some problems for another guest I spoke to as we were leaving, as she said that the cleaning staff had walked into her room at 11am with her in her underwear! When you arrive in the room you're supposed to go through a checklist and report any items missing or damaged. The Agency takes a 300 Euro deposit (as a Pending Transation on your credit card) and will deduct the cost of cleaning or damage from that. This meant that I needed to go around the room, recording every bit of damage (chipped ceramic on the shower tray, the toilet roll holder was loose, the shower rail had been bent and then pulled back into shape etc) simply because I was concerned that, if I didn't, they'd say that the previous occupant hadn't reported any problems, so I must have caused them and I'd get stuck with the cost of repairs! I took lots of photos of the room when I was doing the checklist and, when I left, videoed the entire room in case I needed evidence. Thankfully I didn't, but it wasn't until my next card statement that the 300 Euro pending transaction came off my card. The French document stated that you had to empty the bins by taking the rubbish bags along to community bins which were a few hundred meters either way along the main road (supposedly there was another set near the Baths, but I didn't see them) Additionally, you had to clean the sink, bathroom, fridge, dish washer etc before you left as well as stripping the beds and putting the used bedding in the corner of the room otherwise they'd charge you for the cleaning. There was a vacuum cleaner, mop and bucket and dustpan and brush supplied for this. I had been told that skis and boots could be left in a room in the basement, but I didn't bother with this as I paid a very reasonable 20 Euros to store them at the Olympe Gondola for the week to save myself having to carry them up a fairly steep hill whilst wearing ski boots and then back down at the end of the day! So the room was comfortable and warm enough, the beds were ok, but there were a couple of issues: Firstly, some of the doors to the rooms appeared not to have soft closers on them, so every time a person came in or out, if they weren't considerate and just let the door swing closed, there was a *boom* that echoed up and down the corridors. This was especially annoying when someone, presumably, was having to leave at around 3am for an early morning flight. Secondly, I don't know if it was just my room, but it sounded like there was an air lock in the water pipes, because occasionally there was a loud banging noise after next door had flushed their toilet. Since I'm a pretty light sleeper, I had to resort to ear plugs to try to avoid being disturbed. One thing I was very unimpressed by was, when I walked down the stairs, a door to the stairwell (which I would have expected to be a fire door) was off its hinges and stayed that way all through my holiday. There also appeared to be no fire extinguishers or indicated escape routes in case of emergency. There was free WiFi which I had no problems with, although you probably wouldn't be able to stream movies on it. I found the bunk bed I slept on comfortable enough, the mattress was firm, but not excessively so. There's a balcony outside overlooking the plaza with a reasonable view past another hotel, looking out towards the mountains. It had a table and a couple of chairs, although I didn't use this. So, all in all, it was an OK stay if you're not expecting anything fancy. You can cook for yourself in a limited fashion, but I only did myself cereals and scrambled eggs on fried bread or toast for breakfast, eating the rest of my meals on the mountain or in the food outlets in the town. It's cheaper than the local hotels, even if you're paying for your own food, just be aware that you'll get what you pay for.

The accommodation: - Very basic, adequate and does the job. - convenient location - all cooking essentials provided - clean enough, don’t expect anything special at all, you get what you pay for. The town/resort: - the gondola is a fair walk up a hill, and in ski gear it’s not much fun. It takes approximately 25 minutes to reach Merribel from the station and in the holidays it can get very busy - the 3 valleys is great, but the gondola adds a lot of times to the day, so whilst bride les bins is a lot cheaper there is a reason for it. - there is a couple of ski hire shops in Bride, these got exceptionally busy with huge queues at weekends. Because we weren’t able to collect our equipment on the evening we reached the accommodation, we had to collect in the morning and we lost half the day waiting in the queue. - due to the walk to the gondola, and for the above reason, I would recommend hiring equipment in Merribel, there are some cheaper shops if you search and the added expense I’d say is worth it anyway. - I would also STRONGLY RECOMMEND hiring ski lockers in Merribel, but do this in good time, they become fully booked quickly. This would have made our trip much more relaxing, so you can walk up and down the hill to the bride gondola stress free, plus there is often a queue to the gondola so again it’s makes the beginning and end of the day much more bearable, particularly with children I’d imagine. - We had items stolen in bride Les bins. Never leave anything unattended even if it’s just for a second, can’t stress this enough. - bride les bins isn’t a party resort it’s very quiet, these is a bus to Merribel but it’s very infrequent.