Hotel l'Ecrin du Val Claret

Do not waste your money. We paid £7k for a family of 4 - complete rip off. Flights booked in the wrong name so nearly didn't make the flight 2 year old and 5 year old not sitting with parents on the flight - had to pay £25 to change seats only for this to be cancelled due to the required name change. Rooms dirty and bits broken/ falling off, carpets stained Ski hire was booked wrong (we were booked as boarders) meaning this needed to be sorted when we got there. Food is cheap and disgusting - children's meals were inedible (fatty pork belly), 'french onion soup' was vegetable stock, water and undercooked onion. Food unhygienic - the milk jug stays out all day and isn't cleaned - thick layer of old fat around it Pool is unsafe and dirty - there are hidden ledges under the water meaning children could have a serious accident. The Sauna is closed because the roof has collapsed because of a leak Wifi is broken Seriously - this company completely rips you off. I complained about the items above and received absolutely no response. Including when I realised my name was wrong on the flight info - i had to sort it out at 4 am at the airport.... Only positive - childcare was professional and well trained staff.

Having worked for Mark Warner many years ago, I can say with confidence this hotel and its offering are mere shadow of its former self. 2am alarms set for the most budget, uncivilised 6.15am charter flights, no help with luggage at the airport, on or off coaches or from the village carpark to the hotel - made worse with exhausted children in tow, bad weather and a treacherous road crossing. Only 1 operational lift shared between the whole hotel - making the whole saga stretch out for hours. No hotel discount for ski hire, no canapés on arrival, no childcare rep on a transfer day so families are in the dark about all elements of their stay, no call the week prior to discuss childcare detail either. The food was honestly, the worst I have ever experienced anywhere. Coq au vin with indistinguishable chicken cartilage and bone swimming in fat, eclairs at tea time - frozen to the core, vaguely warmed fish pie that remained cold on the inside, onion soup at our best guess made with bistro, scrambled eggs sat in a soggy pool of water for breakfast, children's ice cream clearly pre-scooped, sat to melt and then re-frozen. It's just not acceptable to serve food this substandard to anyone for hygiene reasons, let alone guests paying the best part of £10k for the privilege. The wifi just doesn't work adequately, the spa facilities have been out of action for years, one of the only 2 guest lifts is broken. The hotel communal furniture and furnishings resemble a sixth form common room. There are creaks and leaks, rips and tears everywhere. None of the board games available in the bar area had complete pieces, all were broken - literally without exception. Our bathroom toilet did not flush. A fellow guest did not wash her hair all week because her shower did not have adequate pressure. Our bathroom had mildew, broken skirting boards, toothpaste marks from previous guests, rubbish left on our balcony, only 2 of 6 bulbs worked so we spent the week in darkness. If you ordered a round, you first need to finish your drinks so the glassware could be washed and reused and even then, the bar was often short of essential ingredients. I could go on and on. Investment and maintenance is needed everywhere. The childcare itself, did work well. Communication before our stay would have been appreciated, particularly as they are off on arrival day. After some initial chaos, we found our way and the children were happy and well provided for. That said, the Easter Bunny did not show up for children who woke in the hotel of Easter morning, "only for children arriving that same afternoon". The question was asked by parents in advance, providing opportunity for some small token gesture to be provided, but the hotel Management refused. A small indication of the change in standard and reticence to go the extra mile. The children of course woke and were devastated. The location is also pretty good. You can no longer cross the road to access the piste easily owing to a new dev

We came back for the 3rd year in a row. The staff are nice and the food is now pretty good and the tea's are lavish! The leisure area is now quite tired and there are a lot of features around the pool that no longer work. One thing that is absolutely hand-wringingly frustrating is that the wifi simply doesn't work. This is not a one off outage, it hasn't worked for three years in a row. This points to a management failure on a grand scale and is quite a major no-no when most of us now depend on connectivity for work. If you plan on doing any work that necessitates use of the internet, don't bother to stay here.

THE BEST STAY EVER!! - We had the most incredible time here, we have been skiing for over 20 years, year in year out and this by far has been the best experience. The staff are amazing, big shout out to Luca, Georgia, Leah, Sara, Dion and the rest of the team. Nothing is too much for the staff in this hotel, the food is delicious, the atmosphere is amazing and the rooms are clean. Please ignore any terrible reviews as there is nothing bad about this place what’s so ever. Would be back in a heart beat, THANK YOU!

This is a little gem of a place. The staff couldn’t do enough for us, the food was consistently good and the hotel itself was cosy, warm and beautifully rustic. We travelled as 2 families with older children/teenagers and everyone thoroughly enjoyed.

Childcare amazing, food diabolical, we all got ill, food quality terrible. Room good size but filthy, found a lump of cheese under the bed. My daughter was sick, from the food (in my opinion). I cleaned the sick off the floor and the white towel was black with dirt. The room had one tiny bar of soap for a week. The rooms were never turned down or cleaned. Manageress useless despite complaining, she should have been sacked.

The staff at the hotel were absolutely amazing and couldn’t have done more for you. They went above and beyond with the childcare and accommodating a change of ski school location which they didn’t have to do. The manager of the hotel came to check each night at diner how your day was and if there’s anything she can help with. The food was fantastic and served very fast and warm etc. a few parts were run down but what you expect in a ski resort but nothing that affects your holiday. We will be looking at rebooking next year.

I can’t speak highly enough of the experience we had staying here. I’m honestly shocked by the negativity in the previous comments here. The room we had was great. A very good size and it had a balcony with a stunning view of the mountain. The pool was fabulous and the ease of access to Val Claret and Le Lac was superb. The real winners for us were the staff and the childcare. We went with our 6 month old baby who was so well looked after by her key worker, Ella. We were really impressed, particularly as our baby has never been in a nursery setting before. She was always very happy going to Ella in the morning and was really well looked after. We had a couple of accidents in the trip including my husband ending up in crutches and Ali, Rose & Sara were incredibly supportive in helping us arrange assistance at the airport and helping us with anything we needed while we were there. We will certainly be coming back.

Have stayed with Mark Warner quite a few times so we were expecting good things. To say we weee disappointed is an understatement. The pool and Spa were closed, the hotel was tatty, the wifi was useless and the food was inedible. Please heed all the other poor reviews for this hotel, they aren’t understating how bad it is. Contacted Mark Warner complaints and they couldn’t even be bothered replying, probably because they were inundated with complaints.