Skiworld www.skiworld.co.uk

Before we left Uk it took several emails and phone calls for Skiworld to actually get all the booking information right this delayed us getting checked in so one of our party couldn’t sit by us on the plane

Supposed to be a 4star plus chalet but was an apartment overlooking a bin store and kindergarten.

One towel to last a week and use for shower and sauna - told if we want a towel change we need to pay

Bathrooms not cleaned all week

Served mouldy fruit and out of date yoghurt

Never served coffee after meal

Staff not interested

Left outside for 20 minutes with no update when fire alarm went off no one knew who to call

Week before Christmas and we had kids with Iano tree or decorations apparently the alpine resort had sold out of trees

St Anton was lovely but ski world totally ruined our holiday would never use them again.

Our stay at chalet Estrella, booked through Skiworld, was marred by initial communication issues upon arrival, causing confusion. Room readiness was delayed until 5 pm, and for the first two days, there was no internet. Though a router replacement brought internet to the communal room, individual rooms lacked WiFi. With a capacity for 21 people, the two hosts serving meals struggled to reach everyone timely, and the small room sizes were limiting. Additionally, the departure experience was less than ideal, as we were instructed to stand outside in the cold at 4:45 am despite the bus being nearby. Overall, a disappointing experience.

Skiworld We as a family have been on ski holidays over Christmas for last 4 years and we generally take a couple of ski holidays every year, I have never felt that the standard of service I have received previously would warrant a poor review

letter of complaint since any problems we have encountered previously have been very minor and not worth mentioning .

On this occasion i felt this was an exceptional circumstance where the standard of service has been shocking. We are familiar with the set up and flow of catered chalet holidays since when we were on the bus the skiworld rep only gave a short piece of info about the journey time and break stops on the way, there was no information provided about the resort or events over Christmas but we thought this would probably come at the chalet from the host. When we arrived I thought we would get the usual cascade of information about what was happening in the resort however this never came. There was a catalogue of problems which it was clear that no one was taking ownership of nor did we get communication about the issues raised.

The rooms were very basic and small and pokey!

We never had any tea or coffee made for us, at breakfast or at any other point, The plates were never warmed for our breakfast or dinner making our meals cold very quickly, except on one day when someone different served breakfast. We complained about the temperature in the room for 4 days as the radiator didn't work, then on the 5th night a oil heater was left outside our door to address the situation.

We complained about the smell of sewage in our room (5) on arrival at the same time as the radiator and it was clear that our complaints weren't being taken seriously and despite complaining every day the smell was ALWAY present which meant it was very unpleasant returning to our room and apparently skiworld were already aware of this issue of sewage.

One of the days when I came back from skiing several people said they had had to have a cold shower, and when I waited for the water to heat up there was still no hot water, however someone did come around to address this problem. I had to wait a further 5 hrs for the water to heat up to have a short warm shower. It was never explained what had happened to cause this problem or what had been done to put it right and my wife had to let the heating engineer in to do his work as there was no staff member at the chalet.

The chalet seemed to be generally poorly equipped, although we were told it had been refurbished this season. It was difficult to see how it had been refurbished since I couldn't see any new items in the chalet.There was mould on the bathroom ceiling also the chalet had very little sound proofing and every morning we were disturbed by Staff arriving and going up the stairs with shoes on and being noisy banging around in the kitchen. No first aid kit in the kitchen or anywhere else and no fire procedure briefing.

No television,. No key for the door to the individual rooms or the communal door for 3 days leaving all our possession at risk, there were 2 guests we had never met before that we were sharing with which made this situation awkward.

No shower gel, but a 1 inch square piece of soap! Initially no Christmas tree or Christmas decorations, and then when one did arrive there was nothing to put on it.

This meant there was no special Christmas feel to our holiday for the first half of our holiday. No firewood for the log burner, and when we asked for some repeatedly, it took 3 days to arrive.

The table has a bench arrangement which means that everyone has to move if one person on the end wants to get out from a corner.

We asked for a change of towels towards the end of the week since we couldn't dry our towels properly due to the radiators and heater in the bathroom being out of commission and whilst we were promised them we never got them.

The skiworld website states the bathroom will be cleaned once a week and this never happened.

Waste bins were never emptied!

We had to ask for toilet rolls and when they arrived we had to distribute ourselves and replenish throughout the holiday.

There was a heater in the bathroom which was meant to keep that very small area warm however it worked for 5 mins and then stopped and never worked again.

There was a snow shovel however it appeared that it wasn't part of the hosts duty to clear the treacherous path from the steps to the door of the property.

The steps leading to the road were never cleared although perhaps the duties for this should be shared between skiworld and other chalet hosts using the same steps which iced up regularly making the steep decent into the chalet difficult.

The afternoon cakes were well made but then this was left out until 9 pm some nights before being cleared away generally by ourselves .

The cleanliness of some of the crockery was a little poor.

On the morning of the last day it didn't seem that it would be a problem to make the breakfast 30 mins earlier to send us off with a hot breakfast instead of a bacon sandwich, which we weren't allowed to eat on the coach during the 3 hour coach journey.

When we were leaving and trying to get a coffee and move our cases before we went, there were crates of food all over the kitchen being unloaded ( Not sure why The staff chose this time to do this task creating a trip hazards not to mention the leaking pipe under sink giving me a wet sock to go home with. There was no ownership, feed back or explanation around any of the issues raised, I was sadly disappointed with the whole experience and the service of skiworld.

A group of 14 of us stayed in chalet cerise in the balcons 5 region at the beginning of February 2018 which was run by ski world. This was a fully catered chalet on ski worlds basic package.

The biggest issue was the evening meals. They were tasteless with very small portions. Everybody was filling up on bread and still feeling hungry at the end. Three courses were provided along with wine while we were eating. It did appear that the cheapest ingredients possible were used. The beef that was served one evening had more gristle than meat. This was the point we had had enough and asked for the management. The result from this was an extra person to help in the kitchen and given extra food. Though the extra food helped the quality did not improve. I think it was clear that the ladies running the chalet did not know how to cook the basic of meals. This I would maybe put down to Ski Worlds training or lack off.

Personally i found the wine so bad i didn’t drink it. I don’t expect much from wine in these places but I have never stayed anywhere with wine this bad. Cheapest of the cheap is my guess.

Breakfast consisted of cereals, bread, yogurts and a hot option. Porridge available on request. There were no patisseries. Self service tea, filtered or instant coffee was available. No fresh milk, this was all long life.

The chalet its self is in a great location to the slopes, some shops and a bar all within a few minutes walking distance.

The chalet was of an ok standard. Beds comfortable enough. Rooms were roasting at night even with the radiators turned off. Luckily each room had a door to the balcony so we could wedge it open at night. Not ideal but it worked.

There were two cupboards to leave skis and boards in just inside the front door. No boot drying available. Kept my boots in the bathroom as there wasn’t much space by the front door.

Definitely the worst food I’ve had in a chalet in over 19 years of ski holidays.

A really great week away. Well organised, great flight, great service in resort, great food in the catered chalet...... This is the first time we have been skiing with ski world and we would book with them again. Chalet was cosy, beds were comfortable and the location was fantastic.

Having previously stayed with SkiWorld in their Signature Chalets and being very impressed by the food every time I was expecting similar this year. Unfortunately standards seems to have slipped greatly. The food was extremely disappointing especially for the price we paid. Having run catered events myself for a variety of budgets and anything from 10-150 people over the last 10 years I know a thing or two about cutting corners and cheap options. As soon as soup appears on a menu you know not to expect much. The menu Ski World published on its site and sounds great like I said previous year have been very good but this years menu what just really cheap. I raised it with SkiWorld Customer Services and I've been told this is representative of a Signature Chalet menu so beware! This is what we actually got.

Starters

Onion Soup - Just tasted like very salty beef stock cubes.

Sweet Potato Soup - Just tasted like very salty stock cubes.

Chicken Liver Pate - Nice pate but just a small piece on a plate with two pieces of bread, no garnish.

ArlBerg Salad - A few salads leaves with a dressing, suppose to have local ham and black pudding but no one could find that.

Tomato and cheese puff - a small piece of puff pastry with a slice of tomato and a small spoon of cheese. Again just that on a plate with no garnish etc

Curry worst - Small bits of sausage, the sauce had burnt on the outside so wasn’t pleasant to eat.

Mains

Chicken Parcel - 2 cubes of chicken in a parcel with mushrooms. Tasted ok but very small and very basic presentation.

Lamb Slow Cooked - Again tasted ok but just 2 small pieces.

Salmon herb crust - Again tasted ok but very small and very basic.

Goulash - A plate of brown sauce/gravy with two small cubes of meat on top. This wasn’t very pleasant to eat.

Duck Cassoulet - Again a plate of brown sauce/gravy with two small slices of duck on top. This should be mainly Haricot beans but there wasn’t any. This wasn’t pleasant and most people left this.

Pork Snitzel - Again small and very basic.

Chalet Petit Etiolle Alpe D' Huez

January 2017

The Chalet is on the small side but there were only 5 of us so it wasn't a problem. There is no way 8 people could share this chalet comfortably. The bathrooms and bedrooms were standard chalet quality. All beautifully clean.

It is a 2 minute walk to the bucket lift and the ski hire is practically next door.

Our chalet host, was amazing. The food was the best I've ever had on a ski holiday and he made sure we all had a good time. Ski World certainly know how to choose their staff. He couldn't have been more accommodating.

To start with I booked with skiworld because the last few ski holidays I have been with big groups with skiworld and I have been happy with the service overall. I booked a "Luxury" holiday with skiworld this ski trip to treat myself after a rough year and feel like this was mis-sold and over priced to say the least on their website.

After landing and being greeted by a lovely skiworld rep I was placed on a lovely little coach at the airport I was told would take me straight to the Chalet. 10 minutes later I was then moved to another coach, while still in the airport car park having to move all my bags over my self. After half way down the journey into the mountains I was moved back to that original bus. We were then all taken to a main skiworld hotel in Val d'isere and the others from my Chalet went straight to the Chalet from that hotel after having to unpack and repack their bags. Unfortunately, I was waiting at this Hotel for another hour or two plus till I was taken, it seems I may have been forgotten.

THE CHALET MADELEINE ROOM

1. No room heating or heat control what so ever. Room was cold especially when the wind was up and it was minus 17-21 outside in the night.

2. Toilet didn't flush properly and took 2-3 flushes to even take a few sheets of toilet paper.

3. No room key and so felt a unsafe leaving items in my room with a cheap front door that didn't close correctly.

4. Only just enough space for one bag in the room and this was meant to be room for 2 that I paid a subsidy to be in.

5. No heated towel rail (these were apparently brought from England and were not compatible with the french plumbing?).

6. Front door doesn't close properly.

7. Front door was left open a couple times by the baker so from 6am - 7.30am cold air had been blowing in.

8. No main light in my room which was only fixed the following evening.

9. Hardly any light in the bathroom to see yourself in the mirror so shaving was impossible. There were only 2 weak lights in there?

10. Only one plug socket that was hard to reach behind the side table with broken glass in the room.

11. Massive crack in the glass on the side table that looked like it was going to split/shatter at any point.

12. All room doors slamming with no catch to slow them down.

14. No WiFi in the rooms.

THE CHALET MADELEINE

1. No wifi or so weak normal web pages wouldn't load like BBC News.

2. No TV first 4 nights and just the first 5 terestrial channels after the other guests in our chalet fixed the wiring on the sky box, DVD player didnt work.

3. No food on time first 3 night and the wait between courses was up 45 minutes on more than a few occasions.

4. Hot dishes were served cold and then when sent back came out cold again.

5. No orange juice after the 2 day till the last day. Same with bananas.

6. Bad organisation on transfers.

7. The fire was only on Tuesday night and had wood provided for that only, the mess was there for the next 3 nights. I thought on the website it says we were going to be greeted by a warm chalet with a fire?

8. The lounge and communal areas were not cleaned properly most nights and food was left on the floor over a few nights.

This was my 3rd and last trip with Skiworld as the service this time felt like an insult. I spent a lot of money that I worked long hours to make and felt that this was a stressful week that was missing most of the common ammenaties that I would of expected from a "Luxury" trip. My last trip was with a group of 10 and my next trip this year will be with a big group, but with how this was run it will definitely not be with skiworld.

Just returned from La Plagne, 13 of us stayed at Moutain Flowerss chalet, Campanula in Plagne Soleil. Our lovely chalet hosts delivered great food and we're friendly and welcoming all the time. Chalet was high standard and perfect for our group, toffee vodka shots kept us going which we happily shared with the girls! Chalet rep was very attentive visiting everyday and sorting out the hired skis as the first ones were not good quality, booked us a lovely restaurant on their day off La Vega and we even bump into them all at Scottys and drank Green Bear! To finish off a good night a lovely guy,  another ski world rep joined us for the last drink of the day, quilt an all!

We travel in this group every year and will be looking at Ski World chalets againgreat standard and our transfers and flights were great.

Big shout out to the girls I dealt with, our supervisor and the lovely chap (sorry I didn't get your name) who serviced our skis your made a good trip even better.

We have just returned from a ski holiday in La Plagne which was spoiled by Skiworld changing the flight times, excessively long transfers (7 hours to get from La Plagne to Grenoble Airport!!), stopping the transfer and waiting in their bus depo to collect people from other resorts to pile them onto one coach. The result was we lost almost two days of our holidays.

We booked almost a year ago and had 5 flight changes prior to departure. We originally booked an early morning flight as we wanted to be in resort by mid afternoon. We ended up with a late afternoon flight and didn’t get into our chalet until after midnight on the first night.

Be warned what ever flight times Skiworld tell you when you book means nothing. Their T&Cs state they can change your flight to any time they want on the day of travel. Even when you get your flight numbers and flight details all confirmed this means nothing. We had the last of our 5 flight change issued to us 5 day before we departed!!

If you do book with Skiworld and you have an issue you will see the real ski world customer service. They refuse to reply to emails, it’s very difficult to get hold of them on the phone and they couldn’t care less.

A truly terrible company.