Just checking out of Hotel Balcons today. I've read some of the other negative reviews, and I'm a little surprised. OK, so the hotel isn't 4 star luxury, but neither is it supposed to be. We found the hotel to be very good at the important things, but with some small room for improvement in a couple of small areas.

We checked in late on Saturday, past dinner service, but were very impressed that the hotel had kept us a platter of cold food knowing that local restaurants and shops had long since shut, and we were going to be hungry from our journey.

On our first day we did have some frustrations trying to navigate round the hotel, as there are a complete lack of signs! After a tiring day on the slopes that last thing we needed was a frustrating set of trips up and down lifts trying to find the lockers. I was fully expecting Richard O'Brien to appear telling us we were on the Crystal Maze. The entrance to the hotel is bizarre, through the carpark!

The plus points of the hotel far outweighed these minor first day frustrations. The location is fantastic, and you can genuinely ski to the door. You can dump your ski gear in the lockers, and be in your room or the hotel bar within a minute.

The rooms weren't uber cool or luxurious, but are spacious and very functional. Having a whirlpool bath is great for aching legs. We had a stunning view of the piste from our balcony. The tv was a a bit basic, with only a few channels, but lets be honest who comes on a ski holiday to watch tv?! The rooms were cleaned daily, and it was nice to come back from the slopes each day to a clean and tidy room.

The food in the hotel was excellent, particularly breakfast with fresh pastries, cereals, coffee, juices, and excellent hot food options. We ate in the hotel most evenings, and found the food to be good to excellent on each occasion. The Savoie buffet on one night was a nice idea. Service in the restaurant was faultless, even when it was super busy, all the staff had a smile. Drinks were paid for at the end of the meal, and there are a good selection of wines.

The resort of Belle Plagne is relatively small, but with something for everyone. The Village Centre has a great selection of shops, fantastic restaurants and bars.

Taking into account the great snow we made a last minute booking - overall this was better than expected.

It is truly ski-in ski-out which was really great - the loccker was fine although no heater (not unusual) so we just took our boots to our room.

The bedroom was small but had a great balcony to sit out and watch the ski slopes from. In additon the bathroom was large and had a full bath tub which was great for relaxing those tired limbs!

Breakfast was standard continental but fine. Dinner was (as mentioned below) hit and miss and we did go outside on a couple of occassions. The service at dinner tended to be either too quick or dreadfully slow which didn't help.

Yes we would stay here again but would go for B&B not half board.

Despite the not so positive reviews on Tripadvisor me and my friend decided to book a room at Hotel Les Balcons for the week at the end of march/beginning of april. And we did not regret it! The room (nr 55) was clean and big enough for the two of us. The bathroom was spacious and had a jacuzzi bath in it. Our balcony (not on the sunny side) faced towards the slope running down to Plagne Bellecote. There was satellite-tv reception, but the number of stations was limited.

When we arrived on saturday morning the room was not ready yet, and would not be ready until halfway the afternoon. Unfortunately the bar was not open (opens at 5 pm), so we had to get our drinks elsewhere. The staff at the reception and in the restaurant spoke good english and were helpful. Breakfast in the restaurant was good with tea, milk, coffee and orange juice served for drinks. They also had scrambled eggs most of the days.

The quality of dinner (start at 7 or 8.30) varied from average to good with a nice variety of dishes. Quantities were okay and table water was served without asking. Waiting times were almost none existent.

The hotel was perfectly located for ski-in, ski-out, so from the ski locker to the slopes took about one minute each day. Unfortunately there was no drying facility for skiboots in the skiroom. From the hotel to the Les Arcs ski area took about 30 minutes and I think you couldn't get a much better location to cover the whole Paradiski area than Belle Plagne.

First things first - we stayed here for a weekend skiing and Belle Plagne and the resort area is great.

However, during our stay at the hotel there was no hot water, due to the boilder breaking down. Apparently this hotel has experienced a boiler breakdowns before, but continously accepts guests knowing that guest could be without hot water at anytime time during the winter ski season !! Basically the hotel is lying about the service it offers.............
...

DO NOT STAY HERE.