Lovely 4 bedroom chalet in glorious location - weekend rentals available

Stayed 1 week 16th Feb, 2 families. We had a wonderful holiday. Chalet is well furnished, everything you would need. Showers are good, plenty of hot water, there were 7 of us. Living area has amazing views, lovely open fire, comfy sofa after a hard days ski. Kitchen well stocked with appliances. The only reason it does not get 5 stars: 2nd double bedroom is very small + car parking - 2 spaces, 1 outside is large, the other in the garage is designed for a small car, so the car stuck out (other one would not fit width). Also it is 1.3 miles from the town, so a fast 25min walk down hill, longer back! Plus the last road up to the chalet is a steep 300m lane, which if it snowed you would not get up, unless have a 4 wheel drive, then you have 50 steps to reach the chalet from car park.

Ski lift Barbossine near the chalet is not busy, but this area is for beginners. We preferred to drive to Pre la Joux where you have the option of 2 chairs & ski back to your car!

My second stay at this lovely chalet. There are wonderful views over the valleys. At night I could see the lights in the sky - piste bashers!

The accommodation was fine and the facilities ample. The good thing about the Chelet's position up in petitchapel is that you are away from the bulk of tourists yet close enough to enjoy the village. Looking forward to next year.

We love Chatel and have rented chalets here for over 15 years. We have loved every holiday and every chalet. Until now.......

From the time of arrival there were a number of points:

1. Because things are stored in the garage you cannot get an estate car in the garage - we had two cars and only space for one

2. None of the beds were made up

3. The duvet in the main double appears to have mouse/rat damage to one corner (photo available)

4. Not even milk left so you could have a cup of tea on arrival - all other chalets have left some form of arrival pack

5. The agent was supposed to come and check that everything was ok. They did not come and made no attempt to contact us

6. Instruction booklet states that you have to do the final clean. We have always left rental properties clean and tidy but have never been expected to do the deep clean requried before next party moves in. This is required apparently as cleaners are 'expensive' on change over days. Yes, that is what we are paying for.

And finally.... So on our final evening having completed cleaning the toilets, hoovering and mopping the floors, we went to bed early as we had an early start. However no sooner than we had retired than the door bell went at 10.30pm. It was a couple who were friends of the owners and wanted to know what we were doing in their car space and indeed their chalet. We explained that we were renting. They wouldn't take no for an answer and implied we had made some mistake as the owners had said they could come out on Friday. This went on for some time until they reluctantly left asking us when we would be gone the following day and implying it was our fault that after a long journey they had nowhere to stay.

We had taken friends with us on this holiday who had not been to Chatel before and although (as usual) the skiing was great the experience at the chalet was an embarassment to us.

The chalet itself is good and the views lovely. However if it is going to be rented out at this level then the level of service needs to be improved. I am giving 2 stars for the actual chalet but the other 3 are lost due to the above

Chalet gwych yn Châtel. Golygfeydd hyfryd o'r balconi. Lifft sgïo yn agos iawn i'r chalet ond ddim yn addas i ddechreuwyr felly rhaid dal bws (am ddim) i gyrraedd lifft sy'n addas. Odd ein grŵp ni yn 5 oedolyn - bydde hi bach yn dynn i 7 fel sy'n cal ei hysbysebu. Ond ar y cyfan, lle ffantastig - Diolch.

Such a fabulous self-catered chalet. We went with another couple in January and had a truly wonderful holiday, to a great deal due to the chalet as the snow and weather partially let us down!

We usually try to go for ski-in-ski-out and were initially a bit worried about distance from pistes, but to be honest, almost nowhere in Chatel has direct access as the best skiing is at the end of the valley away from the main village, which was incredibly easily served by a very regular free shuttle that goes from almost outside the chalet. We had a car anyway and parking was not an issue on the days we decided to drive to the pistes. We were rather surprised by how easy logistics were to be honest! We enjoyed the short 15 min stroll down the road into town for dinner one night.

Owner and agent both very responsive, and it felt rather luxurious compared to most self-catered places we have stayed - high quality matching linen, beds made up, lovely welcome pack, and we loved that the kitchen comes stocked with all the basics for cooking like olive oil, salt, stock cubes, herbs etc.

The chalet in general did a great job of balancing neutral and stylish, good quality decor with rustic authenticity - we ski multiple times every year, have done for many years, and find many chalets are either too modern and cold-feeling, or too cluttered, especially in France. Especially given the very reasonable price, the absolutely stunning views (we wrapped up for beers on the balcony most evenings), very comfortable beds and wonderful log fire really made our trip one of our best yet. Will definitely return next season!