Résidence Pierre & Vacances le Machu Pichu

Pierre Vacances should be completely ashamed of this residence and its staff. From arrival we were extremely worried about what we had let ourselves in for. The reception area was dirty with bits of rubbish strewn over the dirty floor. It remained like this during our stay. Reception staff were the least helpful I’ve ever come across. We arrived at midday and were told our apartments (three) would not be ready until 5pm. Yes, they had a baggage room for €5 per bag! For our party of 11 and with ski equipment etc this would cost €120!! A security deposit of €200 per apartment was requested - not unreasonable for apartments and duly dealt with by passing on our credit card details as requested. We were told the deposit would be refunded after our holiday when the apartments had been checked. Eventually we got our keys to our apartments, the public areas everywhere were disgusting and so we were pleasantly surprised to find the apartments quite acceptable. Clean linen and towels were left - you have to make up your own beds - and a small but adequate cleaning kit which included five dishwasher tablets. We were given a check list to return to reception with any damage we identified. There was no bad damage as such just the usual wear and tear, which we noted anyway. We had booked half board with Crystal Ski which included breakfast and dinner in the La Grange restaurant next door and nothing to do with Pierre Vacances. The restaurant was excellent with lovely friendly staff and together with the piste side location saved our holiday. The reason for the one star review is the result of the scam played on us upon our return. Initially we were very pleased to receive our deposits back in full two days later. We knew we had left the apartments immaculate. However, upon checking our bank accounts a few days later money had been taken (stolen) from all our accounts by Pierre Vacances! One amount of over £90! Is this the company, Pierre Vacances or the staff at Machu Pichu stealing from guests? We have received no explanation and immediately phoned Crystal Ski who expressed their shock and declared this action as fraud. They asked for an email detailing this which we have sent and still awaiting response. If a refund of this money is not forthcoming it will be reported as fraud. Please beware if you have booked the Machu Picchu Pierre Vacances apartments.

In over 35 years skiing including many visits to VT, this is the worst apartment we have ever rented. Booked through *********** the apartment turned out to be privately owned and not associated with the building directly. We stood in reception for over an hour waiting for a key box code to enter the apartment. Tiny in size and in a very poor state of repair. Front door handle hanging off, very difficult to lock/unlock. Bathroom and toilet were shocking , in a very poorly maintained state with shower/ bath broken. We rented two apartments via ***********, at opposite ends of the building, without exageration, a 10 minute walk. No luggage storage unless Friday or Saturday forcing us to lug our gear all the way through town on our last day. Its only saving grace was that it’s on Rue de Soleil and ski in/out. My advice is avoid at all costs.

Val Thorens is a lovely place with some great slopes, however this hotel does not fit this description at all. We started off arriving at around 14:30, only to be told our 2 rooms would not be ready until 17:00, and that we’d have to pay €50 per room for the early check in. We agreed to pay for one, however found it quite strange that the rooms were clearly ready for us yet we couldn’t check in. We were glad we paid it as by 17:00 the reception was packed with guests waiting to check in. We were also told we had to put a €400 deposit on each room, which took us by surprise. What was even more interesting was on their website where it states you only have to put a €200 deposit. The staff behind the reception were rude during the check in process and didn’t seem interested in us at all. Couple of interesting parts about the room; Despite such a late check in, we had the expectation to set up all of our beds with bed sheets. We also had to clean the living room as the floor was filthy with dust. The cutlery was dirty. The cups & mugs were tiny. The towels were hand sized and limited. There was only 1 toilet roll. There was only 1 bin bag. The shower pressure was non existent in our room. The expectation for checking out is for the kitchen room to be completely cleaned and the rubbish to be sorted. We could just about fit inside the toilet room with knees up against the door We chose Half Board for our stay, as there is a restaurant on board. The wait for the food was ridiculously long, typically waiting 2 hours from sitting down to leaving. The majority of the staff at this restaurant were very rude, however Marvin Marius and Yohann were all great on every night. The location of the hotel was good, with direct stairs from the ski lockers to the slopes.