CGH Résidence & Spa White Pearl Lodge

I’m still waiting for my deposit or £400 to be refunded and they don’t answer emails. When they refund it I’ll update my review but until they do my rating is correct. I’ve emailed several times and tried calling but there is no answer to why it hasn’t been refunded. If they can’t refund quickly after customers leave they shouldn’t take a deposit.

We were delighted that Plagne Soliel has a 5 star ski in/ski out apartment so booked through Inghams. Our initial impression was excellent. Lovely building, welcoming reception team and a fantastically appointed spacious apartment (we chose the two bedroom apartment for up to six). First the positives. Great position in Plagne Soliel - short walk the centre. Every aspect of the fixtures within the apartment were first class. Great sized rooms, big family dining table, large balcony, on suite shower room, separate bathroom and separate WC. The boot room on the second floor (we stayed in Grenat building) was quiet and had walk in ski lockers! We rarely saw anyone else in the boot room so never had to fight for a seat. The heaters in the locker were great. The spa and pool were also of a very high standard and gave a nice relaxing alterative on a day the weather closed in. The lift in our building felt like our own personal lift and we rarely had to wait for more than a few seconds for it to arrive. The hotel has it's own bar which is always a positive. Sadly, as beer drinkers, the two draft beers on offer were not to our taste so we did not really use this facility. In terms of ski in/ski out, as fairly experienced skiers this was ok for us, however the route in and out was down a short pathway and for ski in was slightly uphill. The walk is you stop on the piste is only probably 50 metres so not a huge issue. The run to access the hotel is a blue run with a pommel lift. There were a few negatives. On arrival in our room, when we entered the bathroom and shower room there was an unpleasant smell from the drains. We kept the doors closed and put up with the smell. On check out we mentioned this to the reception team and were told we were not the only guests to mention this. Given this is a 5-star accommodation I would think it not unreasonable for the hotel to let us know there is an issue when it was brought to their attention. I suppose from our side of things we shouldn't have done the typically British thing and put up with the smell without comment for a week. Second issue was the lack of a safe in our room (or if there was a safe we couldn't find it). We notified the reception team who said they would get someone to look into this and get back to us. This never happened. The final aspect we found a little unsavoury was the end of stay inspection and 'price list' for breakages handed to us on arrival. We always clean our apartments before leaving (as well as constantly during our stay) but have never before been provided with list of what must be done prior to leaving accompanied by the attendant penalty costs if we didn't. We had to strip the beds, fold all the towels and then had to make an appointment for a member of staff to come to the apartment to inspect it before we left. It all felt very uncomfortable and not what we expected from a 5-star residence or experienced in any other self-catering accommodation we

Plus: - new resort so everything works (except one light fixture which was resolved on day 2) and looks fine - close to multiple restaurants and a supermarket - modern fitness, small but nice pool Negatives: - apartments are way smaller than advertised. The 6 person apt measures 45m2 and not the advertised 55-65m2 which means no (closet) space in the bedrooms and cramped bathrooms (see fotos) and living room - check in is not at the regular 15h but at 17h and we and many families got our keys way past 18.30h without any explanation or excuse - it is not true ski in and ski out for all apartments. You have to walk quite a bit getting to the piste and you need a small draglift to be able to ski to a position close to the lodges - the beds are very hard (personal I guess) and the sofabed in the living room cannot be used (see fotos) - the lodges do not have an individual thermostats. If you are cold or too warm, you need to call reception. Good luck with that after 20h - all 6 person lodges face sideways and have no view but the next lodge. Privacy is therefore also an issue as it is either black out curtains or the neighbors looking in - the EV charging stations did not work but some of the staff was unaware - staff is uninterested and not well trained and overwhelmed by complaints on arrival day - the large balcony is useless as there is no furniture