Just back after a week skiing in Sauze D'Oulx. Great skiing but this is not the hotel to stay in. The food was really bad. Salty stale cereal, cordial for orange juice, dinner is served at 7:30 every night, set menu and takes a minimum two hours. Everything is deep fried, the marmalade tart for dessert was hard as a rock, Even the staff were laughing at how bad it was. We did have our towels changed every day. And the room was adequate, mattresses were very soft, and the shower was tiny. We rang up to enquire about some clothes we'd left behind in the wardrobe and after hanging up on me twice eventually the manager answered just to say the staff found nothing. When I told him I'd need to report to the police for insurance he said go ahead and hung up the phone. Completely ignorant.

Stayed for one week in the Hotel Terrazza and having read some of the reviews I wasn't sure what to expect. It's location is fantastic being one of the closest hotels to the ski lift. Food was lovely and it didn't stop coming. We all complained about eating too much and how lovely it was. You'd have to be a very fussy eater not to enjoy the dinners. Breakfasts are continential but nice all the same. Rooms are basic but clean, warm and comfortable and they're the most important things in a bedroom.

The resort itself is very buzzy with a lively apres ski and lovely shops. Set on a hill so walking can be an issue if you're lazy or have sore legs.

Would highly recommend this resort to the intermediate/advanced skier. Don't think it's that great for a beginner as the choice seemed to be limited from what i could see.

This hotel would probably have been okay if you were expecting 2 star, but it certainly shouldn't carry a 3 star rating.

Problems: Mattresses sagged horribly in the middle, forcing you to sleep in a deep hollow or balance yourself on the edge. Food was fine but the practice of spreading the evening meal over two hours or more doesn't suit everyone, even if it is the Italian way. Breakfast was pretty poor: cereal with UHT milk, bread ham & cheese, manky fruit. There were no towels in the room when we got there so we had to ask for some, then they were removed midweek and not replaced, so we had to ask again. Also they took our passports for checkin and pretty much staunchly refused to give them back until we checked out - certainly a polite request was met with a no. This would have been less of a problem if they were in a safe, but they were kept behind the reception desk within easy grabbing distance, and the desk was by no means manned at all times despite the staff protesting that it would be. I also found the staff a little brusque, although that could be a cultural thing.

Anyway, it didn't ruin our stay in Suaze, it is very close to the Clotes lift, but i'm afraid I couldn't recommend this hotel to anyone

I spent a week at La Terrazza and overall found it to be an an excellent 3* star hotel. There are a few cons' but these are outweighed by the positives.

La Terrazza's school report card would like something like this.

Location: A+
Bedrooms: B
Bathrooms: B-
Bootroom: E
Dinner: A
Breakfast: F
Cleanliness: B+
Staff: A

In more detail:

Location.

This is a mountain resort, at some point you are going to be walking up and down some steep roads. La Terrazza is located 1 minutes walk from The Clotes chair lift, at the top of the village. You'll be walking down to the chair lift in the morning but up to it after a days skiing (or drinking) or vice versa. Your choice, 'pain' in the morning or the evening ;o)

However, you couldn't be nearer the chair lift, which was ideal.

Tip: A local run ski hire shop is at the bottom of the The Clotes lift, it proved to be more convenient getting/returning the equipment and 12 Euros cheaper than the Rep-recommended hire shop.

Facilities:

Bedrooms:

Reasonably sized, not too claustrophobic for two. Good condition: carpets, bed linen etc, clean, serviced daily.

Two Towels provided, these could have been replaced more frequently. Maybe this is an Italian thing, but the smaller of the towels was more of a cloth than a towel. Twice the size of a tea-towel and half as absorbent.

Tip: Pop down to the spa and get yourself a large bottle of water. For some reason, even though the heating wasn't on very high, during the night the room sucked the moisture out of our bodies, we'd find ourselves waking up with 'Sahara-mouth'!

Must be the altitude.

Bathroom:

Bathrooms would be a reasonable size if they'd put in smaller sinks, our was huge!! You could sit on the toilet, facing the sink, and rest your head on the sink if you were a bit tired. I guess this could be seen as a selling point if you've over done the apres' ski and are feeling queazy yet need the loo - who says men can't multi-task!

The showers were small, swing a cat? Try something smaller like a gerbil!

However, hot water was never a problem and they were kept v.clean.

Sauna: What sauna?

Boot room:

Like an exclusive nightclub, operating a one-in/one-out system. Very small with seating for 3 people and the rest of the space taken up by racks. Very strange for a ski hotel to be ill-equipped in this respect. Less of an issue but still odd, you can only access the boot room from outside the hotel.

Dinner:

Someone from La Terrazza must have read the first Trip-advisor review from 2005 regarding the food. Food was not a problem.

In true Italian style they take their time, starting at 7.30pm you'll be fed right up to 9-9.30pm.

Salad: Mixed lettuce leaves, raw carrot + vegetable of the day.
Pasta: Changing everyday - two kinds, on the same plate. ie: Spaghetti + gnocchi.
Soup: (as the third course!) Flavour changing everyday.
Main meal: Changing every Pork, Chicken, beef with sides.
Dessert: Changing every day. Ice cream, creme caramel etc..

But for the sake of your waist line, don't catch the eye of the friendly-fun staff when they bring round the portions for the other guests who haven't turned up! You WILL be eating it. :o)

Tip: 1.5l of Valpolicella - 18euros - Bargain.

Breakfast:

They called it 'Continental', we called it 'rubbish'. Basic bread roll with a slice of cheese and ham, juice, cereals. This sounds ok in principal but it didn't have the variety or quality I expect, and have received, from a Continental breakfast. They need to redirect some energy/funds from one of the 5 dinner courses into the breakfast bar.

*You just lost The Game*