Philosophy and environmental policy
What no hot tub!?
Since setting up in 2000, we have based chalet decisions on the needs of our guests and staff, but have had to balance these with our personal principles. It has sometimes been tricky matching our ideals with people's ideas of a stereotypical tour operator chalet holiday.
We like to help people to avoid flying whenever possible, so offer discounts to those arriving by train. Bourg-st-Maurice is in the centre of several awesome mountain ranges and the train comes straight here from London. So not only is it environmentally the best way to travel, it's also amazingly convenient. See our Travel section for details. If you do need to fly you can transfer to Bourg by public bus or train, or we can book you a minibus.
We like luxury as much as the next person, and debate getting a hot tub every season, but the massive carbon footprint of heating a bath of water for 24 hours 7 days a week just makes us feel too guilty. Particularly because we are only a short walk from the local swimming pool which has a Jacuzzi and sauna for kicking back after a full day on the hill.
We buy all our food and ecologically sound cleaning supplies at Super U, even though it is more expensive than the cash and carry, because they use local suppliers and pay them a fair rate, and we want to do our bit for the environment.
We know that happy staff = happy guests so we pay nearly twice the minimum wage and only expect full time staff to work 35 hours a week. Although this is the legal level, incredibly, it's quite rare in the Alps. Chalet staff who work for big tour operators are generally treated very badly, so we make sure that our staff have time off between 10am and 5pm (except Saturdays) so they can also enjoy the mountains while you do.
Since setting up in 2000, we have based chalet decisions on the needs of our guests and staff, but have had to balance these with our personal principles. It has sometimes been tricky matching our ideals with people's ideas of a stereotypical tour operator chalet holiday.
We like to help people to avoid flying whenever possible, so offer discounts to those arriving by train. Bourg-st-Maurice is in the centre of several awesome mountain ranges and the train comes straight here from London. So not only is it environmentally the best way to travel, it's also amazingly convenient. See our Travel section for details. If you do need to fly you can transfer to Bourg by public bus or train, or we can book you a minibus.
We like luxury as much as the next person, and debate getting a hot tub every season, but the massive carbon footprint of heating a bath of water for 24 hours 7 days a week just makes us feel too guilty. Particularly because we are only a short walk from the local swimming pool which has a Jacuzzi and sauna for kicking back after a full day on the hill.
We buy all our food and ecologically sound cleaning supplies at Super U, even though it is more expensive than the cash and carry, because they use local suppliers and pay them a fair rate, and we want to do our bit for the environment.
We know that happy staff = happy guests so we pay nearly twice the minimum wage and only expect full time staff to work 35 hours a week. Although this is the legal level, incredibly, it's quite rare in the Alps. Chalet staff who work for big tour operators are generally treated very badly, so we make sure that our staff have time off between 10am and 5pm (except Saturdays) so they can also enjoy the mountains while you do.
"I think it's admirable that you've put your ideals above profit. I just hope it doesn't end up costing you too much" Lucy's Dad
