Top Tips for Choosing Ski Holiday Accommodation

The standard and location of your ski holiday accommodation can easily make or break your holiday experience. While you’re not in the resort to spend lots of time indoors admiring the décor of your chalet, even so, you don’t want to find that your instinct when you see your accommodation for the first time is to start digging an escape tunnel.

In the following tips, you’ll see some basic ideas about how to go about selecting your ski holiday accommodation. Some might seem like common sense, but you’d be amazed how often they’re either forgotten or overlooked.

Check the Photos

Photographs can lie but generally they’ll be a pretty good guide to what you’ll be getting. Ask for more if certain things aren’t clear.

Don’t Be Too Swayed by Positive Feedback

Although it’s a little naughty, some unscrupulous owners have been known to purchase positive feedback – yes, it can be done. So study the photos, read the description and incline towards accommodation offered by established providers of skiing holidays.

Think About Location

This is really all about resort centre locations versus those on the edge of town or slightly outside. The latter might be a little more picturesque but less convenient for town centre amenities. The former may be great for being at the heart of things but that might come at the price of being a little noisy at night – particularly if you’ve chosen one of the more boisterous resorts.

Be Sure About the Basis of Your Stay

Some ski holiday accommodation is on a ‘room only’ basis. Other options might include B&B, part or fully catered. If it's fully catered, you’ll probably get breakfast and an evening meal. There are pros and cons to all of these options and much will depend upon your personal preferences, but be sure in advance that you know which of these will suit your needs best.

Try to find out what the menu will be like if you’re going for a fully catered option. Typically the food will be good (if homely and carb-rich), but some accommodation might offer better menus than others. Many ‘old hands’ also advise checking the wine in advance (on ‘wine included’ catered deals), as the quality on offer can be an indication of how good the food is likely to be.

Select a Sleeping Basis to Suit

Few people mind sharing, for example, communal dining facilities. Some accommodation though is very much ‘collective’ in terms of shared facilities - including bathrooms and sometimes even dormitory type bedrooms. There’s nothing at all wrong with that if you’re gregarious and can live with the foibles of strangers easily. On the other hand, if you’re choosier about who you spend time with or just have a low tolerance for the eccentricities of others, you might want to look for something rather more self-contained or perhaps even a full chalet. There are lots of options in between the two though.

Take a little extra time when it comes to selecting your ski holiday accommodation to make sure it’s right for you. It will always be time well spent.

Belinda Smythson works for Ski Amis, a specialist ski travel agency and booking service offering bonded holidays in La Tania and other fantastic locations. If you're looking for the best ski holiday accommodation in a catered or self catered chalet, we can help. For a luxury or good-value skiing holiday call Ski Amis.

Writer and Online Marketing Manager in London.