Well, first the positives - the hotel is very pretty, the room we had was not huge but nice and comfortable and the staff, in general were very helpful and friendly. However.....

I had clearly explained by email to the hotel that my husband and I were complete beginners when it comes to skiing and that my son had been before so he could go into ski school. I had taken a lot of time to ensure that we had private lessons booked for my husband and I for the first few days we were there as I wanted to be sure we got the best start possible.

On the night before lessons were due to commence, we went to ask the concierge what the arrangements were, only to be told that our instructor had been called away to teach a group lesson and therefore we had no teacher! As you can imagine, this did not go down very well.....I am certain no ski school would totally abandon its pupils and would have tried to make alternative arrangements (someone at the ski school later confirmed this for me). Furthermore the hotel could not tell us the name of the instructor that we had originally been allocated, which made us question even more whether this booking had ever been made.

What followed was a farcical rest of the week. An instructor was found for us at late notice but he had no interest in teaching that we could see and left after an hour saying he had a class to teach. At that point, I gave up! My husband however was left on the nursery slopes and told to "practice" until it was time to pick my son up (another hour and a half later!). Next day he was put into an adult group class but when he returned to it on the Wednesday the group were going further up the slopes and the instructor told my husband it would not be wise for him to come as well as he had had less instruction than the rest of the class. (I do not in any way blame this instructor as he was only being safety conscious and had obviously put my husband in his class as a favour).

Therefore from Wednesday till Saturday when we left we basically took my son up the mountain for his lesson and picked him up at lunchtime and we tried to keep our spirits up and keep occupied. Had conversations with the conceriege, deputy manager and general manager - all resulting in blame shifting and nobody owing up to having made a mistake. As I said at the time - we came there to learn to ski. If I wanted to sit and look at snow I could have done so at home as it was snowing there. Certainly would not have needed to pay over £8,000 for the privilege.

At the end of our trip the general manager deducted the cost of my son's ski lessons and the lift passes off our bill. However we had clearly told him we were happy to pay for these as my son had had his lessons and enjoyed them. What we wanted was a proper explanation and someone to be strong enough to stand up and own up to having made a mistake. That we could have worked with. This constant shifting of blame and side stepping was ridiculous.

We were promised by the general manager that he would investigate and email us shortly after we got home. Guess how much correspondence we have had (despite me emailing him to remind him)? Correct - zero!

We are left feeling angry, let down and frankly rather depressed by the whole experience. The hotel and its facilities are not actually so fantastic that none of this mattered. The pool area is ok but small and can get very crowded with children. The food is ok but rather overpriced. The massage I had in the spa was good and the hairdresser was a lovely girl but 50 Euros for a blowdry?????

You have been warned!!!

We wanted to experience a nice hotel with a spa but it's not the right place for that.
The room was so small that it was impossible to open the door in full because de bed was right behind it.
In room WIFI was not free, you have to pay 22 euros per day, that's a shame!
The service was very good, concierge and frontdesk staff were very nice and efficient.
The restaurants are OK, the food is good but not amazing.
The biggest disapointment was the spa. We wanted to relax but when we arrived in the pool area it was more a waterpark than a spa. Kids screaming and jumping in the water made us go back to our small room right away. So it was a no spa experience. I have to say that the pool and hot thub are really small but the fitness centre is pretty good.
I would not recommend Les Fermes de Marie, I have stayed in much better hotels in Megeve and will not return.

Some of the reviews are unjustly negative. Les Fermes de Marie is a magical place for a family holiday. Plenty to entertain the kids - as well as the pool, they have games every afternoon and kids supper etc. Admittedly, you do have to choose your room carefully and it's worth upgrading to a suite to have lots of space for a family. Yes, it's expensive but the service more than justifies this - they even sourced a potty for my baby daughter. How many hotels would do that? As for its location - I much preferred being out of the centre and the shuttle goes at all times of day and night. The sister hotel in the centre is much noisier at night and doesn't have the same spa - fine for a couple but not for a family. There's also a good variety of food with Alpin restaurant and main dining area.

Second trip to the FDM, the staff for the most part were very professional & hospitable, the receptionist was particularly nice and friendly. We stayed four nights this time, we love the decor and atmosphere of this hotel, we are a fan of most of the hotels in the Sibuet group. The one disappointment this time was the food, the standard just didn't seem to be the same as the last time. This time there seemed to be more choice with both a traditional and healthy menu, but the quality and presentation of the food was not what it used to be. In addition the wine list is overpriced.