Together with snow and drive lovers, we figured out what is important in a hotel in a ski resort and how to choose the right option on the Island. We warn you right away: we are not responsible for the lack of snow. But we know for sure how important it is to be able to ski down the slope directly to the hotel’s porch, steam in the sauna after an active day on the slopes, get a good night’s sleep and have a quick breakfast in order to be able to roll out corduroy and puffy first thing in the morning. We sincerely share tips and recommendations for skiers and snowboarders.
Content
- Type of housing
- Location
- Cost
- Rating and reviews
- Nutrition
- Spa
- Facilities
Type of accommodation: hotel, cottage or apartment
We advise you to choose accommodation depending on who and what kind of train you are going to actively relax with. For example, it will be cheaper and easier for a group of friends of 5-7 people to rent a guest house than several small rooms in a hotel. In addition, they may end up on different floors or even in buildings far from each other.: Getting everyone together in the evening to play board games and discuss plans for the next day will be problematic.
On the contrary, it is more profitable for solo travelers or a couple to stay at a hotel. Those who want to save money on restaurants and cook by themselves should rent an apartment with a kitchen. The Accommodation Type filter on the Island allows you to choose the right housing format. It includes 11 options, so you will definitely find the right one. Here are the most popular ones:
- Hotels are for those who do not want to look for keys in the mailbox and think in the morning where to have breakfast.
- Apartments are suitable for families with children and pets.
- Guest houses are for large and noisy groups of friends.
- Hostels are for the eternally young and socialized, who prefer to spend money on equipment.
The “Type of accommodation” filter on the Island allows you to select the desired housing format.
8 mistakes when choosing a hotel
Tips on choosing a home from the article About!Blogs are useful for any occasion in your life: it doesn’t matter if you’re going to a ski resort, a beach, or planning city tours.
Location
There are hardly many skaters who don’t like the Ski-in/Ski-out format. He eliminates problems with shuttles, ski busses, and taxis: put your shoes on in your room, grab your gear, step out the door, and you’re already at the elevator. In the evening, it’s even more pleasant: the ride ends right at the hotel’s porch, and you don’t have to wait for everyone to leave, the traffic jams will resolve, the excitement will subside and taxi prices will decrease.
A special filter on the “Ski slope nearby” Island in the “Hotel services and facilities” section helps to quickly sort hotels of this format. To make sure exactly what you and the hotelier mean by the word nearby, carefully study the description of the object in the hotel card: the distance to the nearest ski lift is indicated there. It is possible that in some cases it is a 10—minute taxi ride nearby, which is far from consistent with the Ski-in/Ski-out concept.
You can check the location of a hotel or apartment using the Ruler tool, a check box (reference points on the ground) and an interactive map. This way you are guaranteed not to miss and you will know the distance from the hotel to the ski lift with an accuracy of one meter.
You can check the location of a hotel or apartment using the Ruler tool.
Cost
Accommodation is one of the main items of expenditure in the budget of a trip to a ski resort. To find a cost-effective option, use the “Cost per night” filter : with a light movement of the hand, move the slider and focus on what you need.
Keep in mind seasonality, holidays and other peak periods for resorts: it’s one thing to book a hotel at Rosa Khutor during the New Year holidays, and quite another at the beginning of April, when the skiing season has almost come to an end. We just have a recent article about prices at Sochi ski resorts.
The GURU loyalty program will help you save on accommodation: every user of the Island can become a member of it. It is enough to register and you will have access to profitable offers.
There are four levels in the GURU loyalty program. They are updated depending on the number of trips and give a discount from 10 to 40%. That’s not all.: program participants can count on bonuses: complimentary services in the form of room upgrades, free breakfasts, spa visits, early check-in and late check-out.
A two-star hint on the preview of the object and a special filter on the Island will help you find accommodation with discounts on GURU.
A special filter on the Island will help you find accommodation with GURU discounts.
Rating and reviews
Reviews from former guests are a treasure trove of valuable information that can and should be used for your own benefit. Psychologists could write a dissertation on the types of people, depending on which objectsthey choose a rating based on reviews. We’re not them, so we’ll just remind you about the rating filter on the Island.:
- Super: 9+
- Excellent: 8+
- Very good: 7+
- Good: 6+
- Not bad: 5+
As a rule, facilities with ratings of “Super” and “Excellent” satisfy the most demanding guests, and “Very good” is suitable for connoisseurs of the golden mean.
And, of course, we recommend that you read (and ideally write) reviews after your stay. Fresh ones are especially valuable: you can find out if the room is warm enough, how the Wi-Fi works, whether everything is in order with the sound insulation, where you can hang wet clothes to dry and not only. Just in case, we remind you how to choose a hotel based on reviews.
We recommend that you definitely read the reviews.
Hotel collections to help
If you don’t have the opportunity or just don’t want to spend a lot of time choosing a hotel, take a closer look at our thematic collections:
- 10 hotels in ski resorts in the Caucasus for different budgets
- Krasnaya Polyana hotels
- 10 Sochi hotels for winter holidays
- How the ski resorts of Krasnaya Polyana are organized: choosing a hotel
Meals
To ride for a long time and enjoy yourself, you need a hearty breakfast. And to be among the first on the lift — an early breakfast. Yes, thin snowboarders can get by with muesli and a cup of coffee, but this is clearly not enough for a freerider under two meters tall. Therefore, if you are staying at a hotel and want to have a quick breakfast and rush to ride in the morning, pay attention to the filter “Breakfast included”. It is located in the “Power Supply” block. You can also choose the options: boarding, half board or free swimming, that is, “Meals not included”.
In addition to the availability of breakfast, it is important to know the time of its start: if the lifts are open from 8:30, breakfast from 9:00 is the most useless thing in the world. Here you will find a detailed description of the services in the hotel card and comments in the guest reviews.
It’s easier for apartment guests: you can cook your favorite morning meals almost without opening your eyes (and who has them after skiing and a stormy après-ski at 7:00?). Just don’t forget to check the filters for the kitchen in the room. Well, if you don’t want to stand at the stove, but your soul is asking for a hearty breakfast in a beautiful place, check the reviews in advance to see what’s going on with the queues.
If you are staying at a hotel and want to have a quick breakfast and go for a ride in the morning, pay attention to the “Breakfast included” filter.
Who gets up early…
On a snowy day in Gubakha, people queued first at the entrance to the canteen, and then for another half hour to the ticket office of the lift. Of course, the virgin lands were unrolled by earlier birds during this time. Whether they were hungry, history is silent: alas, the author was not one of them.
Spa complex
What is the dream of a skier freezing on an open ski lift and a freerider plunging into a stream? That’s right: about a life-giving hot sauna, so that all the icicles will finally thaw together with clenched boots. Warming up in the sauna after skiing is an unearthly pleasure, especially if you don’t need to get dressed and go somewhere, but just take the elevator down.
You can filter out hotels, cottages and guest houses with their own thermal complex by checking “Spa services”, “Swimming pool” and “Jacuzzi” in the “Services and facilities” section.
You can filter out hotels, cottages and guest houses with their own thermal complex by selecting “Spa services”, “Swimming pool” and “Jacuzzi”.
Amenities
An inventory storage room and a drying room are not a luxury, but a necessity when traveling to a ski resort. If they are not there, it will be difficult for even two people in a standard room to dry all their clothes after intense skiing. Therefore, we open the card of the hotel we like and carefully look at the section “What other amenities are there?”.
In addition, here you will find all the details about the facilities at the hotel or guest house.: what’s on the Wi-Fi, is there parking, a tour desk, ski equipment rental and laundry services, is it possible to book a transfer, is there a luggage storage service, is there a playroom for children.
We open the card of the hotel we like and carefully look at the section “What other amenities are there?”.
Choosing a ski resort on the Island is almost as important as choosing the right equipment for the trip. We hope our recommendations will help you find the perfect option and fully enjoy your adventures on the slopes and between the fir trees. Plan your vacation in advance, pack your favorite gear and see you at the ski lift!
Cover photo: Andrew Angelov/Shutterstock.com
