Hôtel Beaulieu

The staff were super friendly, and the hotel felt very cozy, with great views of La Clusaz resort. We also enjoyed a very traditional dinner at the sister hotel, Hotel Carlina.

What a fantastic hotel, in a great location. Our room was lovely, with an amazing view of the town and mountains.

Room 606 was so small that I had to move the chair into the closet just to open my small suitcase. The curtains only closed fully if I let them hang over the desk. There's no fridge in the room, though reception can store your things in theirs, and the bathroom soap bottles are hard to squeeze. The room seemed clean. The reception was unattended more often than not, but when I did find someone, they were very nice and friendly. I was told I might be able to use the pool and spa at the sister hotel next door. The Beaulieu staff said access was available, while the sister hotel's reception said it was only allowed if you booked a spa service, and only during the hour before it. I booked a service and used my allotted hour, but I'm still not sure whether I could have used the facilities otherwise. For skiing, the hotel isn't especially close to the lifts. It's about a seven-minute walk uphill from the main lifts. If you rent skis, the shop should be able to store them so you don't have to carry them up every day. Check-in is at 5pm, the latest I've ever encountered in decades of travel around Europe and the world.

The views from the terrace were fantastic, and the compact room was fine. Hotel Beaulieu is well placed for bars and restaurants in La Clusaz, about a 10-minute walk from the Merle Chair lift and a little farther from the Gondolas. The ski and boot lockers have no helmet hooks or pegs for boots, so it's hard to fit everything in and keep the boots from getting wet inside. That seems like an easy, inexpensive fix. The walls between rooms also don't block much sound. We had very noisy men next door and had to ask them to quiet down late one night. Check-in at 5pm was the latest I've ever experienced, and an earlier time would help. The bar closed before 10pm every night, which felt too early. We went to the bar at the sister hotel Carlina once, but I think this one should stay open until at least 10.30pm. One evening it was busy with lots of people, yet it still closed really early.