Hôtel Village Montana by Les Etincelles

Sorry its a bit of a long one. I booked the holiday and then looked through the reviews. TBH I was slightly worried as there seemed to be a lot of negative review mainly around the food and food service. Arrival. We drove and I had pre booked parking at the hotel. Check in was very easy and very welcoming. The parking was much better than I was expecting. I have a big car so I was worried about the size of the parking bays but they are much bigger than we have experienced in the past. The Room . We opted for the standard room. It was much bigger than we were expecting with loads of storage and we had a great view of the mountain and the pool. It is ski in and ski out but when we went there was a bit of a up hill hike to take advantage of the short ski down into the resort. The Food and Food Service. We were on the half board package. You have a choice of options. The hotel option was great. The food was much better than I was expecting and the service was good. Breakfast was very nice There did seem to be a bit of a rush to get you in and done as quick as possible but I am guessing this is because they have 2 sittings. One of our meals was served to us one of the days completely cold almost straight out of the fridge. We then realised this was going to be popped straight into the microwave and re served to us. It was. We also tried the LePlace Option. I wasn't so keen on the starter options that were offered as part of the half board package so I opted to upgrade to the croquet potatoes (very nice) but when my wife's main arrived the lasagne it was burnt to a crisp almost solid. When we questioned it they said everyone complains about the lasagne so they said they would remove the cost of my starter from the bill. We also tried the upgrade option for 15 euros a head. It was okay but I could not really see the difference from the standard menu to the upgrade although the service was a bit more attentive. A couple of bits that I need to point out. They didn't remove the starters from my bill at Leplace. we checked a couple of days later and we had to ask at the hotel reception and they removed them from my bill. We had read a report that someone had something stolen from there room. We are very careful about leaving stuff laying around in our room but we had decided to go to the village for a coffee so my wife placed some money in her jacket. We went to the spa before we left for a quick swim and sauna. when we returned to the room we got ready and my wife put her coat on and checked the pocket and 60 Euros had gone. We did report this to reception and they promised to speak to the manager. I understand that this is very difficult to prove so we have written this off as a learning experience but it was really upsetting to think that someone had gone through our stuff.. The receptionist was great she removed the 60 Euro charge from our bill for the food upgrade. Would we stay here again. Definitely We were due to leave the day over a metre

Good location, nice hotel but expensive for what it is. Choice of 3 restaurants but half board menu limited, particularly for children and vegetarians. Portions small for hungry men who have been skiing all day. Pool is nice but limited use for children. Rooms nice but shower was poor (hot water took ages)

Cleaners took my Airpods Pro from my room - told the hotel and they said that they would investigate and keep me updated. Many times they have said they would call/email me, but they still won't even after I have chased them many times. It seems as if they don't care and are hoping that I would forget about it. The hotel itself is good but there were a few things that could have been better: - outdoor heated pool is advertised as 30c, which is it definitely was not. it was rather cold which is really disappointing - hot tub was not hot at all. - breakfast food was ok but not hot. - spa/pool closed at 19:45 which seemed a bit early.

This is the first time we've stayed in an hotel whilst skiing and we were very pleased with the Hotel Village Montana. We had a very warm welcome from Reception and they were incredibly helpful for the whole of our stay. We did try the hot tub and heated pool, although felt they weren't quite warm enough for us - we were expecting a warm bath experience but it was more tepid! The solarium was wonderful, though, particularly in the sunshine which we were lucky to have! The room was comfortable and the curtains dark. There was plenty of space to hang up or store clothes, and the shower was fine. The hairdryer was adequate for our needs too. Our only (minor) complaint really was that there was only one mirror, in the bathroom, and none in the room otherwise. The breakfast was fine and replenished regularly although it became a bit samey after a few days (we were there for a week). They had plenty of tea (including green tea) and coffee options, although no cappuccino (hubby) or herbal teas (me). I tried to buy some herbal tea in the local Spar, they did have some but not to my liking. Therefore, if you like herbal teas then you might wish to take your own. For the evening meals, it was great to have a selection of restaurants to choose from. We had the most in the hotel restaurant, Les Chanterelles, which is a fixed menu changed daily. Friday's meal was the best with a lovely fillet steak as the main :-) We tried La Chaumiere (local specialities) for fondue twice - whilst it tasted lovely, we felt that it wasn't quite warm enough as the cheese congealed in the centre of the fondue bowl which made it rather more difficult to swish from halfway through! It came with a lovely fresh crunchy dressed salad and hams. We went to La Place (Italian) twice and enjoyed it both times. We didn't manage to go to the Gourmet restaurant in the Montana Apartments, we just didn't like the menu enough to spend an extra €15 each before even starting! If you like your tipples then that is all extra, and a bit on the pricey side in the hotel. However, we did find a nice Bordeaux and a Pinot Noir for around the €30 mark for the bottle. There was a good service at the bar, though, and it has the feel of a lovely ski lodge. Location-wise, the hotel is close to the main bus station, and the best bit is that it is ski-in ski-out just outside the ski lockers. We found that the best way out in the mornings was to ski down to Les Almes chairlifts (at the end of the path from the hotel), do one circuit on that and then move on from there - otherwise you might find yourself poling down to the Parafour. Getting back in the afternoons is just as easy either from the Parafour run or Les Almes, just veer left just after the Montana Apartments and you can ski to the door! There's a local wine bar that we enjoy, it has '2 Boules' in its name and is next to a gift shop. Small glasses of wine for €5 each, beers are reasonably priced including an IPA, and they se