My partner and I booked our first ever skiing trip and decided on the Panda hotel, as we were beginners to the slopes we thought cheap and cheerful would suffice. We knew it was a 2 star hotel and never expected the Ritz we were both slightly amused and disappointed.
To have a wire wool carpet throughout the whole hotel may be practical and heavy duty but not very comfortable underfoot, also carpet tiled skirting boards throughout the hotel raised an eyebrow however what we found most amusing was the 'pine effect' cladding on the walls that they had in the communal areas which was not pine at all it was in-fact laminate flooring!!

The rooms were very basic and a bit shabby, the walls were artex and the bed had no head board needless to say you couldn’t sit up in bed, however to further my amusement there was a light switch positioned on the wall right behind your head so one wrong move through the night and the room was lit up! The top sheet on the bed had numerous cigarette burns in and even the clean linen had a stale cigarette smell attached!

The bathroom was well equip with a jacuzzi bath, power shower and twin sinks although some of the floor tiles were smashed which you had to be careful not to stand on.

There is one electrical socket in the room (which is in the bathroom of all places) however this did not prove an issue as the tea and coffee making facilities consisted of a thimble sized cup so there was absolutely no point in making a brew!

Food - where shall I start... breakfast was a standard continental breakfast with cereal (which you ate out of a cup), toast, ham, cheese, croissants, tea, coffee and juices. Evening meal was barely edible. The starters were okay and you did get plenty of bread to fill you up which was quite lucky but the main meal and desert were worth missing. We ate out on a few occasions just to avoid the hotel food.

The staff were okay, but I think they would prefer it if you spoke French or Spanish as there English is very limited.

The resort itself is nice and compact, your never far away from anything shops, bars, slopes. Although we did find it quite expensive whereas previous reviews claimed it was quite cheap. We were paying 8 euro for 2 beers and approx 25-30 euro for lunch and 30-40 euro for evening meal which wasn’t too bad just that we were expecting to pay less. However if you hit a happy hour (which if you time right you can have a night out on happy hour as there all at different times) beers were generally BOGOF or 1/2 price. The nightlife was quite good but getting used to being in a smoky environment again took some getting used to. We did see a few drunken brawls mainly because the ratio of men to women was about 100/1!!

The pistes were fantastic, loads of choice and if you have an all area lift pass there are some fab views and slopes. We booked into ski school for 6 days, which was well worth the money, and we also hired a ski locker at the local ski hire shop just off the slope for 25 euro per week, which was worth it considering the only option at the hotel was in a cupboard next to the food!! Plus it saved you carrying them to and from the slopes (as they are quite heavy!!)

Overall the resort was fantastic and we had brilliant weather (some locals said the best in 10 years). We would definatly return to Pas just not the Panda hotel.