Although posting this review some time after staying at this hotel, a new review has prompted me to write. Unfortunately, it would appear that there have been no improvements in a few years.

We stayed at this hotel in January 2004 for our honeymoon! It was a last minute booking and the fact it was non smoking then really appealed. I think that was the only positive comment I can make on this hotel.

The rooms were very shabby and we were provided with sheets cut up and hemmed for towels. The bathroom smelt badly and the electrics in our room were dodgy to say the least.

The food was limited, cold, and consisted almost entirely of turkey escalopes and cheese fondue. We actually wondered whether they had it delivered by the tanker load at one point. I got very excited one evening as we had green beans with our meal - to be very disappointed as they were served ice cold as a salad.

I agree completely with the other posting, the older staff/owners (?) were absolutely horrid. They screamed at my husband who wanted to bring his expensive ski boots back in rather than leave them in the ski locker. They tried it again on the last evening, but I'm afraid I just 'answered back' with WE ARE PACKING and walked away. I don't think they speak too much english which is probably a good thing.

We solved our problems by hitting the bar just up the road (same side as hotel) for at least 3 very large beers and nibbles the owner served up to us with every round. Plus a very, very nice italian restaurant next to the planibel hotel kept us topped up with grappa one evening.

The resort was OK, the skiing good but as for the hotel - I would not stay there again if you paid me!

My husband and I stayed in the Piccolo San Bernardo Hotel in La Thuile on a half board basis with Crystal Ski in February 2006. The hotel building was OK, clean and comfortable. But the food, which was often served luke warm, was generally poor by Italian standards. The worst thing was that the older members of the family who run the hotel were unfriendly. It was always us who would acknowledge them when we entered / left the hotel and going into and leaving the dining room at meal times. Unfortunately this did have an effect on how comfortable we felt overall (not very). When we wrote to Crystal to complain about this, as well as the fact that the toilet cistern in our room dripped (only audible at night when it was quiet but enough to keep you awake and stop you from flushing the toilet in the night) and that the "satellite TV" reception was very poor, we received an extremely rude letter back from the Piccolo San Bernardo Hotel, sent direct to our home address! Although Crystal eventually resolved our complaint to our satisfaction, it goes without saying that this hotel is definitely not recommended unless you fancy "going to Coventry" for a week and want to be insulted by letter when you get home. There are much nicer places to stay in La Thuile. We wished we had stayed at the Hotel Planibel, or at the Planibel Apartments because there is quite a nice little supermarket in the complex at the base of the slopes and we would have had a nicer time cooking for ourselves and eating out in the town. La Thuile itself is excellent for skiing and the ski school staff were great. We would imagine it is also lovely in the summer for summertime mountain pursuits. Be sure to go to Chocolat in the village and have a hot choclate which is literally a cup of melted chocolate - mmmmmm and (not at the same time or you will be sick!) the chocolate fondue - go for the dark chocolate fondue with lots of lovely fresh fruit to dip into it. However, this was the hi-light of the week in terms of non-skiing activities which really says it all and although nice, La Thuile is definitely not recommended for its apres ski. Go somewhere else if you like a lively evening after a day on the slopes. If you want a nice quiet holiday with excellent skiing, this may suit you but stay somewhere other than the PSB.