Les Roches Rouges (Lavachet)

The organisation and initial communication of the owner made it easy to stay in touch(until he got annoyed at being asked to fix all the broken things), and organise our stay. He abruptly stopped responding. The provision of towels was good, the location for skiing in and out was good, and also the boot heater.

We are a group of skiers who didn’t necessarily come to Tignes for a big party, but to ski from 9-5 non-stop every day. This is what we do every year.
From the moment we booked through booking.com, the owner got in contact directly with basic useful information. Seperately, he began emailing a big explanation of how Booking and Airbnb etc are all robbers, and we should cancel the booking and pay him directly for €300 less. He claimed that 70% of his lodgers agree to this, and it is win win for everyone! However, booking had already given us a loyalty discount which mean this ‘deal’ he was proposing would only amount to a saving for us of €136. He continued consistently hassling us, saying that we were stupid not to accept his proposal, and that these big companies don’t deserve a cut of his money! I explained that the value that the companies add is that the put potential renters in contact with him, who otherwise would not have found his listing. When we got to the apartment, we realised a few things aren’t up to standard:

1. The kettle had a hole in the side of it that sprays out water.
2. Both shower heads were broken, which caused the bathroom to flood every time we used it. One of the shower heads could still be used, but had to be supported by the pipe, which meant the only position of the water spraying out was horizontal instead of above. Quite annoying!
3. The sofa bed was in a terrible state, in which it collapses in the middle, making it uncomfortable and difficult to use
4. The air extraction fan for the cooker was not connected to the outside, meaning no extraction at all when cooking. Possible regulation breach.
5. Central heating cannot be controlled by guests as the box to control it is locked.
6. Many kitchen implements were missing or broken. E.g. wine opener
7. The door to the bedroom doesn’t have a latch, so the door doesn’t close. It needs to be held closed with a weight.
8. We had to buy basics for the apartment that should have been provided: washing up liquid, bin bags, dishwasher tablets, toilet roll.
9. Cleanliness was lacking - used condom under couch
10. The owner didn’t want to help with any of the raised issues and said this is part and parcel of living in the mountains :) - Go figure!