Alpine Elements Review

Please do not book with this company. Shocking service. Use other reputable companies who have refunded holiday makers such as crystal or Nelson. This company has kept our money. I'm a single mum and desoerate it need the money back however they just send generic emails to say we won't be refunded. Absolute disgrace. Delay tactics and shoddy behavior. Do yourself a favour and book with a company who has morals and has a good replication. Wished I had known these reviews when I booked.

Booked a holiday with Alpine Elements, the holiday was cancelled the night before we were due to travel as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

We are still yet to receive a refund for this despite numerous messages and calls. Poor communication, which has left many people out of pocket.

Unlawful behaviour in keeping customers money when they cancelled the holiday. Dreadful customer service.

DO NOT GIVE THEM YOUR MONEY. YOU WILL NOT GET A HOLIDAY OR YOUR MOENY BACK.

I ve been in Greece this summer, at Nautica Bay and I highly recommend it! The rooms were clean and big with sea view, the food was excellent and we had such a young lovely team for water sports! Those guys were doing all that hard work, all day in the burning sun and yet it seems so effortless! They were always smiling and extra friendly! I ve started with windsurfing but I didn t liked it and after a trying sailing for one day I switch to it and I loved it! Special thanks to Clarice and Mara who thought me mostly everything about sailing in the taster day!

DO NOT TRUST THIS COMPANY ! I've been booking ski holidays for the last 15 years with various tour operators and companies and have never had such a shockingly terribly experience and poor customer service. THEY REFUSE TO REFUND ME despite cancelling the holiday, which is against consumer protection laws. Disgraceful.

Had a great experience throughout with Alpine Elements, would 100% recommend to friends!

We wish we'd done more research on Alpine Elements before booking as a cursory glance across the internet review sites reveals that we are not the only people who have had problems with their dreadful customer service.

Our main issues:
1) Broken hot tub
2) Dirty chalet
3) Ineffective customer service

Our Hot tub broke after one day and wasn't fixed. Rather than being concerned about our holiday experience, Alpine Elements shirked their responsibilities and instead took the defensive stance that we must have done something to break it (as a group of mid-30s to 40 year old adults and parents, why on earth would we want to ruin our own holiday by breaking the hot tub?!)

In addition:
1) The chalet was dirty (tissues under the bed, apple core in a wardrobe, stains in the toilet) . Housekeeping only happens once a week (and doesn't involve changing any linen). Beds are not made daily.
2) The rooms advertised as 'twin/double rooms' are actually twin rooms with single beds which couldn't be pushed together properly. So we had married couples living like students for the week - definitely not a luxury holiday experience!

Alpine Elements has a very short-sighted approach to customer service. We've been genuinely surprised by the ineffectual and dismissive way that our complaints have been treated/ignored - not what we would have expected from a supposedly 'luxury chalet experience'.

We had to laugh at the disingenuous 'compensation' we have been offered (5% off a new booking is, to put it frankly, taking the mick) and shows a complete dismissal of our poor holiday experience and a surprising lack of understanding about basic customer service. Very short-sighted.

If you're looking for (and paying for!) a relaxing, luxury chalet-experience, this is not the company for you

Like so many others we have been left waiting for a refund from Alpine Elements which they are legally obliged to provide but instead they seem to have made the most of the uncertain situation to delay refunds for their own benefit. Initially we were told we would have a refund by 31st July - this was then pushed back to 31st Jan 2021(!). We were first told refunds would start to be processed in date order of cancellation - now we are told we must wait until the company can refund all cancellations - which seems ridiculous and which only reinforces their aim to break the 14 day refund time limit still required by law.

Despite refusing the offer of a Refund Credit Notes numerous times and insisting on a cash refund, Alpine Elements then proceeded to automatically issue us with one - against our will - tying us in to the refund timeline terms of the RCN. This is against both ABTA and CMA guidelines on RCNs.

4 months on from the cancellation and no sign of a refund any time soon. Our holiday was cancelled the night before the ski slopes were closed. If Alpine Elements had ring fenced our money in case of cancellation - like many other reputable travel companies who have been able to provide refunds seem to have done - we would not be in this situation. It is a questionable model that puts travellers' hard-earned cash at high risk and one that we would avoid at all costs in the future.

Worst company that I have ever dealt with. 5 months on from our holiday being cancelled and still no refund. Awful communication, very hard to get a response via email and no one returns phone calls. Repeatedly ignoring our request for a refund and continually trying to force us into taking a credit voucher despite multiple refusals. Do not book with them!!

So holiday was cancelled the night before we travelled due to covid-19 (less than 12 hours away). Upon requesting a refund, we've essentially hit a brick wall- we get offered vouchers or a rebook, despite clearly asking for a refund. The correspondence from Alpine Elements has pretty much disappeared now.

I would not book with Alpine Elements again- if there's a problem, they'll just leave you high and dry.

Take notice if you are thinking of booking a ski trip with Alpine Elements -

We travelled to Val d Isere in Feb 2019 and had a terrible experience from the moment we got there, all the way through to their customer complaints. Alpine Elements is, without doubt, the worst travel company I have ever dealt with, in my opinion, and I have arranged a vast number of sports tours and trips for groups of friends.



Not only was the "luxury" chalet not as described, they re-assigned one of our hosts to another chalet as several staff had quit, leaving us short-staffed, despite paying a premium. The host admitted she had had almost no training from Alpine Elements, which is highly concerning. The chalet was filthy and the food hygiene was next to non-existent. Every one of us had severe food poisoning, causing us to miss several days' skiing each. One of our group was an environmental health officer and was horrified when she looked through the fridge (cross contamination, cheapest possible produce and out of date food being served). She said if that was a restaurant in the UK they would have been shut down, in her opinion.

There was little to no concern when we were in the chalet, despite the manager acknowledging the lack of hygiene, but the real problems came when we complained upon our return. The customer complaints team (which seems to be only 1 person, as far as I can tell, and has a horrific attitude) was outright aggressive, refused to apologise and essentially accused us all of lying, then retracted their admission of responsibility made at the resort. When I made the complaint, they admitted that they would wait the full 28 days permissible by ATOL guidelines to get back to me, which I assume was in order to delay the process. I guess many people give up as a result.

There were so many issues when we were there that it would take too long to go in to, but I will never travel with Alpine Elements for a ski trip again and would not advise anyone else to do so. There is a reason they are cheap. The contrast between Iglu Ski, Crystal Ski and VIP Ski etc (who have all been consistently excellent) is worlds apart, in my opinion.

Been going with them for years. Great staff and service

I find it utterly disgusting of this company to refuse refunds to hundreds of people like myself who have had holidays cancelled due to the covid out break,,, we've been told we can choose another holiday but this must be done within 2 weeks and be paid in full.my wife is a covid nurse and as you will appreciate,she cant plan ahead at this moment in time sk we are left with no choice but to loose our deposit, I hope I the near future the CEO of this company will take a sympathetic look at our situation and reconsider...yes we choose the jobs we do but who could have foreseen this out break??? Shame on you Alpine elements I hope you dont one day rely on NHS key workers like my wife, you dont deserve there good and precious time..D and T kelly young...

Terrible service still have not given us back our money for a holiday they cancelled on us in March. No reply to emails/the phones. All in all illegal. Immoral. Dodgy.

Great place buildings to stay but if the food and wine is important to you (as it was to us) look else where.
Frozen mini croissants in France.... unforgivable.

Stay away from this company! Very unprofessional! Once they get your money you are left on your own. They don't respond to your messages, they don't explain things properly. You have no one to turn to when you need help. Management extremely poor!

Unlawfully keeping customers money after THEY cancelled the holiday.

I believe the legal term for this is theft.

My wife, 2 kids and I went on our first "Alpine Element" holiday this year and stayed at hotel Montana, La Tania - it was EXCELLENT ! from check in at Gatwick through to getting off the bus a week later for the return flight, the Alpine Element staff were fantastic - we genuinely felt they were there at every step to make our holiday everything it could be.

The hotel was ski in/ski out which is a huge bonus and close to the lifts for an easy morning ! Rooms were well equipped and there was plenty for the kids to do (daily movie, table football, pool tables, swimming pool etc). The village is easy to navigate and so kids were free to explore and would never get lost. We took the half board option and the food was of a high standard and plentiful - our kids aren't the best eaters and so the flexibility the staff showed was hugely appreciated.

Alpine Elements made ski hire/passes and lessons really easy and quick to sort out.

We will certainly be skiing with Alpine Elements again next year - the whole experience was one of feeling you were in the hands of people who really knew their game and did it well.

Surprised by some negative reviews, we had really good service and the holiday itself (sailing in Greece) was fantastic with brilliant staff. Kids loved the kids club and sailing facilities were excellent. Will use again.

Reading through trust pilot reviews and google reviews, seems not much has changed since 2005 when I first did a ski season, working in France. Alpine Elements even then had an appalling reputation, both among seasonaires and guests I met. It is somewhat surprising that they are still in business ! Unfortunately catered chalets are staffed by young, just out of school teenagers, with little catering or managerial experience. It is unfortunate that the ski industry ( British ) as a whole run their businesses with very low paid ( would be illegal in the UK ) teams of staff whilst charging premium prices to their paying guests

Had an amazing week at chalet bonleau in la plagne, chalet host was great and excellent value for money. Great food, great company and amazing weather for early January. Previously only used Crystal however I will Definitely use alpine elements again.

Stayed in the La Tania resort, with Alpine Elements at the Montana hotel, just got back. Amazing staff, great food and super comfy bed. I walked directly out of the boot room onto the slope in the morning and then skied back in the boot room from the last run, couldn't have been better located. Would recommend Alpine Elements to everyone, they know how to make a great holiday. Will be booking a holiday in Greece with them this summer based on the Paul the Managers advice.

You look on their 'ski deals' page and it gives you a price, then you click on it and the actual price is a lot higher. As they use Easyjet, when you progress through the booking process you then have to pay to take luggage with you on More

Had a great holiday with these guys at the Montana in La Tania, first ski trip for the kids, 7 and 11, they had a blast. I don't normally write reviews but if you are trying to find a starting point for a family holiday this was perfect...laid back staff, small village, comfortable hotel, but access to the 3 valleys, excellent fun

I ve waited four months to post this review to give Alpine Elements the chance to do the decent thing and refund me the money for my ski holiday and ski passes as per their Terms and Conditions. Needless to say despite numerous requests from me I m still waiting and apparently have to keep waiting until January next year, a whole 10 months after they cancelled my holiday, the day before my holiday. Had I breached their Terms and Conditions in any way whatsover I m absolutely certain they would have held me to the letter of them but apparently they work under different rules as and when it suits them. So be very wary of what you re signing up for.

The money for our two lift passes was paid on a separate day to the holiday booking, and had I bought direct in the resort would have been refunded by the lift pass people immediately so where is it? Because they ve definitely been refunded that by the resort already, if they ever actually bought them. Why hasn t it come back to me? Le Ski refunded all their clients extras straight away. Intersport refunded me my ski hire straight away so why have Alpine Elements decided that it s their right to hold on to that money, my money. Utterly dishonest.

This all comes back to the senior management team guided by their managing director who have decided that loyal customers are of no importance. And why were they not covered against this? The world has had SARS, Ebola, Zika virus and flu pandemics, didn t want to pay the extra insurance I m guessing. It s all about protecting their precious bank balance.

Don t touch this Company, they re a disgrace and their working practices are appalling

THEY cancelled our holiday, now they won't refund.

Against all the legislation that says a refund should be given within 14 days.

DO NOT GIVE THEM YOUR MONEY, IT IS NOT SAFE

We had a great stay at Hotel Philibert with Alpine Elements this summer. This is a great hotel in a good location, and has a real traditional alpine feel. Food was fantastic and we were really looked after by the Alpine Elements team.
We had two 15 year olds with us (my son and his best friend), who loved all the activities, mountain biking, white water rafting etc so much so that they are already talking about wanting to go back next year. 5 stars!!

Worked half a season with these clowns, don't give them your money. They are unprepared and unskilled in providing any sort of holiday. Corners cut and shortcuts taken everywhere, even in the safety and wellbeing of the guests.

Terrible company and Chaler Nyon left a lot to be desired. Avoid at all costs. Unable to provide details due to a Settlement Agreement place.

Stayed at hotel Montana in La Tania. I have always stayed in rented accomodation when skiing. Never in a hotel. What a treat! Skied in and out from the hotel bootroom. Ski hire was 20m away and main lift was 40 m away from the hotel front door. The food was simple, well cooked and filling and the staff were friendly and helpful. Couldnt recommend this hotel more for a well-priced family or singles ski holiday!

Absolutely awful experience with Alpine. In March, they cancelled our ski holiday the night before we were due to leave and have illegally held on to our money with no sign of a refund in sight more than 6 months later. They are now advertising hassle free cancellations if you book for next year, however I would strongly advise against this as their claims of protecting your money are completely false. They have shunned any sense of responsibility and ethics.

Refused the offer a refund after my holiday was cancelled due to COVID 19.

Awful company, terrible customer service and do not abide by travel regulations- my partner has now filed a claim with small claims court. Will update review with outcome.
I WOULD NOT RECOMMEND THIS COMPANY - They delete all facebook reviews of customers complaining, shambles.

This will hurt their reputation for sure, decent travel companies have refunded as per travel regs - 14 days after cancellation.

Unable to accommodate anyone flying in from a different airport, just told there's nothing you can do, no customer service, no alternative options offered (computer says no!) why spend the money with them?! Doesn't fill me with confidence that much care would have been given, had I booked with them! Much better providers with flex and service in their mantra out there! Just wish I hadn't wasted the time looking on their website

Terrible customer service.
Quotes were not adhered to and when I challenged it, I was told I needed proof....how do I prove a quote over the phone. They do not record calls so they accused me of misunderstanding! They do not care if they upset customers. I organise a group and this is worth a lot of money which makes no difference to them.

I am flying in less that 3 weeks and they still can't give me answers.
DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY.
If you do, get them to email you everything you expect them to honour or you will get shafted.

WORST COMPANY I HAVE EVER DEALT WITH - TAKEN THE REFUND ISSUE TO SC COURT.
ABSOLUTE SHAMBLES - WILL UPDATE REVIEW IN DUE COURSE.

UPDATE - 21/08 /20 - I HAVE NOW RECEIVED ALL MY MONIES FROM ALPINE ELEMENTS AFTER SUBMITTING AN APPLICATION THROUGH THE SMALL CLAIMS COURT, LONG TEDIOUS PROCESS BUT 100% WORTH IT. THIS COMPANY WILL NEVER EVER TAKE MINE OR A FRIEND / FAMILY MEMBERS MONEY AGAIN.

Alpine Elements cancelled our ski trip in March. They still haven't paid the refund we are legally entitled to, due to "cashflow issues". Do not give a deposit to this company, chances are they will go bust before your holiday.

So we have had two previous holidays with Alpine Elements, both in the summer. After some problems getting a group booking sorted, the holidays were great, no real problems.
THIS YEAR however, since Covid 19, they have been a shambles. Emails take forever to sort (I was down as being age 125!). Anyway these issues did finally get sorted but then we had tob pay the balance for this summer. One of our group's credit card payment didn't work properly and it seems now the ONLY way to pay is by bank transfer. The method most fraught with fraud. As they have already suffered fraud this way they want to pay by credit card but alpine Elements are refusing!!
Then of course they are only issuing credit notes or rebooking when our holiday is cancelled, which seems very likely at the moment, with france having a 14 day quarantine period, which doesn't really work for a 7day holiday....and if my friend has paid with bank transfer it's harder to get a refund...... sadly a good company is looking like it's finished.....

Just visited to deliver some wheels. Nicely tucked away and pleasant staff too.

absolutely shocking service and code of conduct, at a time of crisis we was advised by them not to travel, and now they refuse to give us our money back.

In 14 years of ski trips, this was my first time with Alpine Elements. The 4* chalet in Tignes was at best a 1*. Place was dirty, unloved and falling apart. The chalet was in desperate need of repair and the listing was a complete fantasy. More

Ignore the 1 star avoid this company. The customer service is terrible and any issues you have are palmed off with lies. Which we shouldn t of had any issues but we did.
Chalet Austin morzine is a 5 star chalet so you should expect the best but in this case we were wrong.
On arrival to the chalet our host was no where to be seen to greet us.
We walked in and the chalet was dirty, sticky floors and dusty, the kitchen was like a bomb had gone off and the grease and finger marks all over the cabinets. The host appeared from around the corner who was a 18yr old girl by herself. Alpine elements sort this out as a young girl shouldn t be on her own hosting 8 guests.
We were then told the hot tub was broken and it wasn t usable for the first 2 days. Once it was up and running it wasn t topped up or even looked at during our stay.
The heating in the chalet wasn t working all week and was told by the host it had been broken for a while. It was freezing and we had to steel the electric heater from the boot room. The host and the chalet girls from next door would keep leaving the front door wide open all night as they kept popping in for chats with each other. Alpine elements did not offer us electric heaters for our rooms like they said they did in a email back to us. Again lies!!
Food was terrible. Canopies were stone cold ,they were from the freezer and not freshly made.
The main meals were also cold every night and the host also forgot to plate up for all 8 of us. Meaning she had to run next door and steel the leftovers from the neighbouring chalet.
Breakfast was terrible every morning, sausages were barely cooked and we were served runny scrambled eggs with no option for fried eggs. Out of the 6 days we only had the cooked breakfast for 4 days. The host had another morning off.
The host wasn t really a host, all she did was cook and go. She was difficult to get a conversation out of and just stropped around like a miserable teenager. She spent most her time looking through her phone.
Every morning we woken up by the front door being constantly slammed as she went in and out to talk to the chalet girls next door.
The chalet wasn t cleaned at all during our stay and towels not changed. As you think they would be because we had no heating for them to dry. And had to use the same wet towels all week.
We have sent an email to alpine elements regarding these issues and the response was like they re not bothered and palmed it off. They offered a 5% discount next time we book with them. But I assure you we will never be using alpine elements again.

Appalling customer service throughout, the whole team doesn't know their products. Missold things the entire way through the booking process. When quoted a price, the invoice then said different amounts, always charging us more! No communication within the office. Everytime I called they were unavailable to talk, managers all out in a meeting. Been waiting over a month for any decent communication! Never use!

Just returned from Christmas week at Chalet Caroline, Tignes Le Brevieres. The chalet itself is a nice space. Our very young chalet hosts, Lauren and Ed were lovely and their cooking was good given the circumstances. However we were extremely disappointed with the quality of the food. If you like tinned soup, cheap frozen sickly desserts, sausages, green beans and peas etc. etc., then you will be happy. Apart from chicken, turkey (Xmas day) and duck there was no other meat or any fish at all served.
Very little veg (frozen) served and when we got it the portions were far too small. The general opinion of the chalet guests was that we had eaten 'beige' all week.
Lauren did make a lovely home-made cake each day for afternoon tea, thankfully.
Avoid booking Room 2 as it provides access to the balcony where the outdoor hot tub is. When it snowed heavily and the outside steps from the floor above were covered in snow guests were going through our room to get to the hot tub. Got back from skiing to find our door to balcony open, as they couldn't get back in otherwise. Spoke to Ed about it. Very nice other guests so we felt we couldn't stop them having access to the tub but it is obviously not acceptable! Room 1 also has access.
Also bed headboard is against the wooden 'wall' with the hot tub directly behind so you can hear every word spoken - they might as well have been in our room. The bedroom smells very strongly of chlorine when the hot tub is going. It meant we could not relax in our room at all after skiing.
Bathrooms and toilets were not cleaned once during our stay. A quick wipe-down is needed!!
We have stayed in a lot of catered chalets and this food was the poorest quality. You really need to serve a lot more vegetables and simple home-made desserts!

If you want to book a holiday with a trusted, customer focused company, DO NOT book with Alpine Elements. Despite being told not to go our ski trip on 15th March after Alpine cancelled our holiday, they have outright refused to give us a refund (despite the fact that we are fully entitled to one legally). They have continually fed us generic and downright pathetic excuses why they can t refund us and have only offered us a voucher. I would NEVER book with Alpine ever again, the way that have treated us has been terrible. We know we are entitled to a refund and there will continue to fight for one.