FIRST CHOICE SKI holiday rip-off - complaint Jan 99?

Holiday Swiz!: Hotel Champs Avalins, Val D'Isere, Disappointing Standard of Accomodation for the Money.

This web site has been set-up to provide information that may be of use to skiers who are travelling to the Hotel Champs Avalins in Val D'Isere operated by First Choice. Ski Europe or maybe not?

Hopefully it will save you any disappointment and may enable you to negotiate better treatment than we got. The information on these pages is purely personal observation and has been reported back to First Choice for comment.

I hope this page saves you some trouble, I will keep it updated with any responses I receive.

Contents

• Package Details
• Complaints and Complaint Form
• Letter of Complaint
• Additional Information and Updates
• Contact Information

Package Details

Date of Travel : 28th Dec 1998 to 4th January 1999

Flight Gatwick to Lyon, Hotel Champs Avalon

Cost : £1552.00 for two people

Including insurance (mandatory at the time), group seating (i.e. sitting together £5 each), 6 day ski hire (£38 each)

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Complaints & Complaint Form

• Room not clean; previous occupants hair found in bathroom and beds.
• Bedding worn, sheets ‘bobbled’, quilt covers with burn marks.
• Only one towel provided for each guest per week – told this is company policy
• Hot water running out in the afternoon when everyone returned from ski-ing
• Food of poor quality – akin to school dinners; edible but what a waste when compared to simple and cheap food available in the local bars; had to clear own space at breakfast and go into kitchen area to find clean plates/cups
• Staff unhelpful and mostly students, very much a feeling of the hotel being run for their convenience. Comments such as: ‘Its our holiday too’; ‘I’m only paid £180 per month as an assistant manager’.

This is what the official complaint form looks like (228k).

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Complaint Letter

To:

Mr Kevin Ivie

Managing Director

First Choice Ski

Olivier House

18 Marine Parade

Brighton

BN2 1TL

January 7^th 1999

Dear Mr Ivie

I am writing to express my disappointment with the standard of accommodation that I encountered as part of a First Choice Ski package to Val D’Isere booking w98.

I am writing to you directly as both I and my partner work at senior management levels and are aware how valuable honest and timely information is without having been pre-filtered by multiple levels of management.

Specifically:

The package cost £1552 + ski passes for two people.

The hotel provided was two star but had the following problems:

• Room not clean; previous occupants hair found in bathroom and beds.
• Bedding worn, sheets ‘bobbled’, quilt covers with burn marks.
• Only one towel provided for each guest per week – asked for a new towel after three days, told this is not company policy
• Hot water running out in the afternoon when everyone returned from ski-ing
• Food of poor quality – akin to school dinners; edible but what a waste when compared to simple and cheap food available in the local bars; had to clear own space at breakfast and go into kitchen area to find clean plates/cups
• Hotel staff generally unhelpful and not customer service oriented (hotel staffed by students/ex students) , very much a feeling of the hotel being run for their convenience re-enforced by comments such as ‘Its our holiday too’

In summary this was not the holiday that we deserved and does your company a dis-service, I believe that due to the accommodation being so poor the package does not represent value for money when compared to other competitive offerings notably the US and Canada and was over priced by at least £200 per person.

I would welcome your comments by return.

Yours sincerely

Click Here for the first reply from First Choice (13th Jan 1999)

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Additional Information and Updates

1. Ski Pass for the area is 1025ff for six days and requires a passport photograph.

2. Skis hired through First Choice are pretty worn but they do have a couple of new pairs of 170cm 'Carver' skis.

3. The hotel is in a good location with easy access to three lifts that do not seem to get too busy.

4. The town is a mile away but buses run at five minute intervals through daylight and half hourly into the evening.

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Contact Information

If anyone wants extra details contact

[email protected]

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Last revised: January 22, 1999.