Sponars Chalet

Being an intrepid traveller and writing many many reviews, I immediately was thinking that I would give Sponars a 4 star rating when I entered as the building is quite old and basic but after 3 nights there I could give it no less than 5 stars. Why? Josh. Pure and simple. He is the on-site manager and lives and breathes Sponars. His mission every day is to give the guests everything they want or need. Personable , cheery, present . The other staff who come for the winter were also very nice. Make no mistake, Sponars is not a luxury lodge. It however, has everything you need to make your stay fun , cosy and comfortable. From the convenient and well priced ski hire, to the free shuttle bus daily to the lifts, skiing is made easy at Sponars (for an off site lodge). The breakfast is plain but plentiful , there is always tea and coffee available , and the 3 course dinners were really good too. We had a great musician over the weekend to provide live music whilst we played darts, pool and ping pong. The pool is a tad cool unless you are doing laps (very quickly) but there is a sauna to heat up again right next to it. If you are looking for a nice but basic lodge at a great price point with all your needs met, this is the place for you!

Amazing and friendly staff, with great facilities, a welcoming atmosphere and good services. The staff were very helpful with allergies and the provided food was very good. Interesting history that is displayed all throughout the building. Overall a great stay!

What a great experience after our less than desirable visit in 2020. New owners and managers are brilliant. They are still ironing out issues due to the short time they had to prepare for the 2023 season. The vibe was great, food was tasty, rooms are comfy, pool and sauna are a great plus. The skis we hired there were brand new and brilliant. Also being bussed up and back each day was great. Definitely great value for money. A must stay for next season!

We had a great stay..the other guests were friendly and a pleasure to have a pre dinner drink with after a day on the mountain. Management were always helpful food was tasty staff were pleasant as was our whole ecperience. The bus is a great alternative to driving on the real busy days when carpark fills up early. Wifi available in lounge and dining area. Room and bed cosy

Good - ski hire, shuttle bus, clean room, comfy beds. Bad - food. Overall, the food was pretty poor and very disappointing. Breakfast and dinner are included in the price. Hot breakfast on one of the three days we stayed was good but the attempts to make frittata, or whatever they were, missed the mark. They were tasteless. Soup and Main on one of the three nights was good - leek and pumpkin soup and chicken parmigiana. The other two nights the soups were awful (minestrone soup was vegetables in a watery tasteless stock) and the mains were not great. Desserts on all three nights were awful - cold pieces of cake were not at all enjoyable. The dining room and bar staff were very friendly. Great location close to the snow but I’d be unlikely to stay again given the price and quality of the food.

We arrived for a 4 night stay at Sponars and have been very disappointed by our experience. Before arrival, we were not given any information about check in, including even the code to enter the building. We also discovered that the advertised shuttle to Perisher was not working, which we did not get notified about until seeing a sign at the closed reception area. This was part of the reason for booking with Sponars. As previous reviews have advised, the staff occupied a lot of the common guest areas socialising amongst themselves. There was no basic hospitality etiquette. The staff were doing their own kareoke and relaxing barefoot in the communal guest area, with the bar closing early every night so the bar tender could have his own drink. We felt like an inconvenience when asking any basic questions about ski hire pick up or our stay. The ski hire wasn’t open in the times we were advised. When we did get to the ski hire, all of us were fitted with ski boots 1-3 sizes too big, resulting in us having to rehire from Perisher to remedy the situation. Food was terrible and we only ate at the hotel one night over our stay, which was one too many. The location was great as was the chance to meet some new people, but overall we were very disappointed given the price we paid which was inflated due to booking in COVID and postponing the trip.