Belambra Clubs Arc 1800 - Hôtel Du Golf

“Great Hotel at the foot of the slopes representing extremely good value for money.”

This is a review of the Hotel du Golf where my group of 10 adults stayed for a week through a Crystal Ski 'all inclusive' package. This was our first time at this hotel, though we have used other Belhambra ski hotels before. This was about our 10th ski trip to the French Alps and without doubt thi… Più

This is a review of the Hotel du Golf where my group of 10 adults stayed for a week through a Crystal Ski 'all inclusive' package. This was our first time at this hotel, though we have used other Belhambra ski hotels before. This was about our 10th ski trip to the French Alps and without doubt this was the best hotel we have stayed at. If you have a short attention span, then all you need to know is that overall, it was REALLY GOOD AND EXCELLENT VALUE FOR MONEY! For those who want a bit more detail..... STAFF - ALL staff encountered were extremely friendly and helpful. Although I speak French, they all spoke sufficient English if needed. ROOMS - The hotel design - specifically in the corridors and around getting to the rooms is.... different! But you get used to it by the 2nd day! The rooms are cleaned daily and towels only replaced if you left them out to be changed. Rooms were warm and beds comfortable. It's a ski hotel, so they are not huge, but ample in our case for 2 adults. A nice and rare touch - for French hotels is the inclusion of tea/ coffee making facilities in the room. There was a TV, but we never used it. The room had a combined toilet/ bathroom. There was a hand held shower over the bath, but no curtain, so a bit of care was needed when using it. WIFI - This was effective in all the public areas and in our room. I can't comment on other rooms, but none of my group moaned! BAR - This tended to get rather busy at the end of the ski day, but soon thinned out as people prepared for dinner. Our group of 10 never had a problem getting seats, though we did occasionally have to collect empty seats from nearby tables. Yes you were not served instantly, but the bar staff all worked very hard and we didn't have a problem waiting never more than couple of minutes for our turn! There were welcome snacks (crepes, pastries, etc) available at the end of the ski day. There was a wide range of included drinks, RESTAURANT - The main restaurant is buffet-style. There was PLENTY of choice and the food was always hot (when it was meant to be!). Having read some of the recent negative reviews about the food, I think some people's expectations are very unrealistic. Yes it's not 'Michelin starred', but considering they are catering for several hundred people, we thought it was of a very high standard and far exceeded previous hotels we had used. It does get busy, but staff cleared the tables efficiently, etc. There are 2 other restaurants which can use once during the week. The Mont Blanc is your typical fondue restaurant and the Zinc restaurant provides 'a la carte' dining - both are included in the all-inclusive. For our group this provided a different dimension to the dining and there were no complaints. BOOT ROOM - This is arranged over 2 floors. Like the corridors, finding your allocated ski locker is..... different/ challenging at first as there does not appear to be any logic to the numbering. But once you found it, you be fine and we only got lost on the first day!! SPA - This is not part of the package, but one of our group used it 4 or 5 times and had no complaints. SKI/ HIRE SHOP - There is one attached to the hotel, but we used one of the 5 or 6 others which are about a minute's walk away in the shopping area. LOCATION - The hotel is 'Ski in/Out' with the nearest lift about 1 minute flattish ski away. IN CONCLUSION: We found this a brilliant hotel and given the high standard of service and high quality of the food and drink. extremely good value for money, So much so, that we are almost certainly going to return next winter. And that has never ever been considered by the group before!

Meno

“Overall review”

Location is excellent, but for the hotel to be a 5b is questionable. The restaurant is nice however out of a week stay we’ve had to clear and set the tables ourselves every breakfast and evening meal. The tables are often left piled up with dirty plates and there is clearly not enough staff to ser… Più

Location is excellent, but for the hotel to be a 5b is questionable. The restaurant is nice however out of a week stay we’ve had to clear and set the tables ourselves every breakfast and evening meal. The tables are often left piled up with dirty plates and there is clearly not enough staff to service it all. Coffee machines around the restaurant generally don’t work or run out of milk (they were out of order for 2 days) Some days/evenings it’s a hunt for glasses, cups, cutlery and plates. Food is good when there is any left, they don’t replenish very quickly if at all and if you fancy a later dinner (830pm) then there is limited food left. The bar area and drinks are good with some nice cocktails on offer and quick service. The rooms are clean and basic but you aren’t in them that much so that doesn’t matter. There’s no overhead shower, just one in the bath requiring you to sit in the bath. It’s a shame because the actual shower bit is nice and powerful, just would be easier if you didn’t have to hold it yourself. They were serviced daily which was good. The hotel was busy but where the rooms are is quiet. Not so good was the smell of cannabis on the corridors leading to our rooms on floor one. Quite a few staff rooms were down there so it might be worth management addressing this as this is not what I want to smell in a 5b hotel.

Meno

“Overcrowded and chaotic”

I'll start with the positives. The location at the foot of the slopes, within 100 m of a main chairlift, is good. The staff are lovely. And the skiing is genuinely astonishing But... We were there in the last week of January. It was a chaotic experience. The facilities cannot cope with the number … Più

I'll start with the positives. The location at the foot of the slopes, within 100 m of a main chairlift, is good. The staff are lovely. And the skiing is genuinely astonishing But... We were there in the last week of January. It was a chaotic experience. The facilities cannot cope with the number of guests. The bar is massively overcrowded with long waits to get a drink. Many people end up sitting in the chilly reception area. Weirdly, there is a downstairs bar that would spread the load, but this was mostly not available (and it feels somewhat neglected). Mealtimes were even worse. The buffet is bedlam, with too few tables and too many people trying to get food. This especially true at the weekend. Many tables are reserved for groups, meaning that the rest of the guests have to hover to find a table. The food itself is ok - but, for example, they cheese area was often completely ransacked. At breakfast, a ten minute wait to get a coffee was common. It would help if the vacated tables were cleared quickly. The staff tried hard, but there just not enough people working. The rooms are generally ok - the beds are excellent but the pillows are very poor. There is a lot of noise from the corridors, due to the weird design of the hotel. If you can, avoid any room close to the Reception area. The noise here is particularly bad. The bathrooms are dated. A particular annoyance is that there is no shower, just a sprinkler attachment from the bath that you have to hold. There is no shower curtain. The water temperature switches at random from cold to hot. The toilets are badly stained. Cannot imagine what this place would be like in the main French half term holidays. The bar has entertainment every evening. This was not to our taste, but at least some guests seemed to love it Overall, it was a disappointing experience for the price. I have huge admiration for the staff, who are genuinely excellent. But the way that the hotel is organised makes it a far from relaxing experience.

Meno

“TOO MANY PEOPLE AND NOT ENOUGH SOCIAL SPACE AND SEATING”

This was our third visit to The Du Golf Hotel. Our first visit was possibly 20 years ago and our second visit was 2019. We decided to revisit this hotel as we like ski to door accommodation. On arrival the reception staff were very pleasant and helpful. We requested a room close to reception as we … Più

This was our third visit to The Du Golf Hotel. Our first visit was possibly 20 years ago and our second visit was 2019. We decided to revisit this hotel as we like ski to door accommodation. On arrival the reception staff were very pleasant and helpful. We requested a room close to reception as we know the layout of this hotel and some of the room can be a fair trek! Our request was granted and we were shown to room 210. This was a south facing room with a pleasant view. There is a steep step in this room by the window. The bathroom was clean with copious amount of hot water for a lovely deep bath at the end of each day on the slopes. However, there was a small deposit on the toilet floor, which was not cleaned for the full week of our visit. The reception area was very cold as the sliding doors on the lower level were not working, this made the area unpleasant to sit in (we were told the hotel were waiting for the doors to be repaired). The bar was extremely busy when people came in from the slopes, pre dinner and after dinner. There was some sort of entertainment every evening with a singer or a compare geeing up the audience. There is not enough seating in the bar to accommodate all the guests, we took our drinks back to our room most evenings. Guests were just walking around waiting for someone to vacate a seat. To be honest this is not our thing and it would be nice if there was a quiet chill bar for those guests who wanted a less noisy atmosphere. We did find a casual bar on the lower floor, however, every occasion we attempted to use this facility, it was either shut or used for a private function. This is a fully inclusive hotel which serves Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner with afternoon cake being served in the bar area. There are two other restaurants which you can visit on one occasion each. We eat in both. The Zinc Restaurant was table waiting service and this made a nice change from the hussle and bustle of the main restaurant. The food was excellent. We also visited the Mont Blanc Restaurant which serves Raclette. This is a buffet style restaurant, however if you want starters and a dessert you have to walk across the corridor to the main Buffet Restaurant. The Raclette was delicious. Dinner was served in the main buffet restaurant at 7pm and guests were lining up like a school dinner queue. The restaurant is over two floors which mirror each other. However, food was only served on the lower level and again not enough seating and tables to accommodate a rush of guests all at once. The upper level was much more pleasant but inconvenient because food was only normally served on the lower level. Although there was a serving area on the upper level it was not in operation so you had to carry your food up and down the stairs. The staff could not clear the tables quick enough and this caused mayhem with guests looking for clean tables. The ski room was over two levels, it was a little cramped and the lower floor was extremely hot, luckily enough there is some seating by the doorway which is a little cooler. The ski shop was very convenient being just outside the ski room. The staff in the shop were excellent. We did not use the Spa. Overall I think this hotel has gone down hill since it has become part of the Belambra group, There are far too many guest and not enough social space. We did not use the Spa. The staff are the star of this hotel and I cannot praise them enough.

Meno