Aspen House Loft 1

Make no mistake, we had a very good holiday over Christmas in Val d'Isère but there were niggles and, with an organisation like yours which aspires to excellence, they were totally unnecessary and so cheap and simple to fix that they should never have existed in the first place. First, the Loft was in a perfect position (though difficult to find when we drove into the village - we might have been warned and provided with a map) and excellently designed for the six of us - except that the lighting was simply awful with absolutely nowhere any possibility to read even a book. Our bedroom was ridiculously dark even with every light available switched on. But, although the apartment was generally well-equipped, there were unforgivable gaps. The serviettes were very small and obviously very cheap; the corkscrew was so inferior that, had you found it in a Christmas cracker, you would have put it straight into the bin; the provision for making ice was pathetic and all the ice trays broken; there was no toaster (apparently every guest party asks why not - the explanation that they might trigger the fire detectors is manifestly implausible/laughable) and no teapot. The kitchen knives were all so blunt that it was a challenge even to cut a lemon. It is quite unfair of you to expect your chalet girls to cook with such impractical tools. When we complained about these problems, Charlie had them fixed immediately; but it should never have been up to us to get them fixed.. The food was nevertheless adequate without ever being excellent (except when my son-in-law took charge of the Christmsas turkey). It was often not very warm, perhaps because it aspired to be over-elaborate rather than simply good. We were disappointed with some gaps in the information provided to us. We were never told that Aspen House was organising a Christmas carol session in reception on Christmas Eve and I only discovered it when I bumped into it as I set off to join the rest of the family in the village. We were never told that ESF were going to hold the torchlit procession down La Face accompanied by fireworks and only discovered it when we heard the bangs and looked out of our windows. It was absolutely spectacular but, had we been on a lower floor and without a balcony, we would have missed it altogether. 

6 of us have just returned from a great early season ski week with VIP who looked after us incredibly well. In particular big big thanks to our wonderful and fun chalet host Conor and Lottie who was helping out until her guests arrived. Nothing was too much trouble for them, ambience and food in the chalet was really good, in particular afternoon tea. Big thanks too to Chalet Manager Mima, always on hand to cheerfully help with logistics etc. We have stayed with VIP on many occasions and their standard of service has always been superb. Looking forward to seeing you all again in March! Happy skiing in the meantime ;). Eileen, Mark and all the gang.

I had zero idea what to expect when my husband booked a fully-catered chalet for our holiday. I honestly didn't want to come and wanted to stay in the States. However, our chalet host Sophie A., highly exceeded my expectations. As a mom of 6, I rarely get a "kitchen vacation". Sophie set out breakfast (with the option of a cooked breakfast), cooked a sweet for afternoon tea, and cooked AMAZING dinners for us. Like crazy good. And our son has nut and egg allergies and everything was tailored by Sophie to meet his dietary needs. I can't recommend VIP SKI enough (and Sophie!!)