The only flight to Geneva for us from South West Ireland was Saturday to Saturday. When we booked accomodation with Club Med they told us that we could only book Sunday to Sunday. The girl who took our booking at Sunsail (agents in Ireland) said she would put in a request for Saturday to Saturday accomodation but suggested i ring beforehand to see about availability. I randg the week before arrival and was told to ring on the day of arrival as they would have a better idea. I rang again on the evening we arrived and was told that they did have availability but it would cost €372 euro for the room for the night. I explained that we had already paid for 7 days but as our flights were Saturday to Saturday we would only be using 6 of those days. The Girl from Club Med (Alexandra) was totally inflexible in her approach saying that this was the rate and it was a take it or leave it situation. As i thought the rate was exhorbitant for 1 nights B&B we declined the offer. When we checked in on the Sunday morning the same girl came out to meet us and told us that we could not check in until 3pm and if we wanted lunch we would have to pay for it - €26 each. Again we explained that we would have credit for not staying Saturday due to our flight but once again the woman was not for turning and the attitude was very much - if you don't like it thats tough. Club med really need to address the standard of customer care in this regard. The attitude of this individual really left a bad taste and we questionned whether we would ever go Club Med again (we have been Club Med Skiers for the past three years staying at Les Deux Alpes and Serre Chevalier)
Once we had finally checked in things improved dramatically, other staff were much better. Monica on Reception was very pleasant and accomodating, Tarik was very good, Sara in the bar was brilliant, the Waiter Felipe was excellent and the star of the show for us was Thomas in the mini club and entertainmet team. He provided us with a guitar for singing sessions in the bar and played the harmonica for us at a Club Med gig we did (FOC) Thomas was a great guy who might just have convinced us to try Club Med again.
As for the hotel it is typical of the others, small rooms but adequate with all facilities you need, good shower and comfartable bed. Food is good, not as good as Les Deux Alpes or Serre Chevalier but still good all the same. The skiing is excellent - Ski in and out with excellent instructors who know the region. We found lift system to be excellent and very few queues, snow was great although visibility was poor on several days.
A big let down for this resort is lack of Spa / Sauna / Pool etc. As that is definitely required after a hard days skiing.
Pick up / drop off area in Avoriaz is about 10 mins walk or 5 mins on sleigh.
A little flexibility from Club Med would not go amiss and some staff could certainly do with some Customer Care training. We spoke with several other people during the course of the week who had experienced similar problems. So unless you can fit into the Club Med timetable you should certainly think twice.

I've been skiing for over 30 years now and this was my third trip to Avoriaz in as many years. Before this I had stayed with Pierre & Vacance self catering and thought that was cost effective, but Club Med for me tops it all. I travelled with a group of 5 other guys, so not the traditional 'family' holiday, and yes it was pretty clear that most of the other guests were not brits (Thank goodness). The whole experience for me was superb....the food (wow) was the best I have ever experienced when skiing. The staff were superb generally, with only one exception of ignorance at the bar, and only once.
Special mention has to go to 'Fred' the 'Chef du Village', who not only runs a tight ship but must do a 100 different jobs throughout the week.

You can quite literally go to this club med hotel and not take any money whatsoever if you have organised your rental upfront.

From arrival to departure we were made to feel incredibly welcome and looked after, which is more than I can say for most ski trips I have ever taken with Crystal, First Choice, Inghams or Bladon Lines.

I love Avoriaz as a destination and would happily go there year after year. Would I go to Club Med again? You bet! As soon as I can book for 2013, i'll be taking my family there next year.

We stayed at Club Med Avoriaz from 8 to 15 January 2012. Our only other Club Med experience was Bali, and I have heard that Bali is probably the best Club Med club, so we were spoiled there and our expectations of Club Med are high. I knew Avoriaz was a three trident club, and had to keep that in mind throughout our stay there.

Avoriaz is a "No-car" zone, in other words, for your transfer you are dropped off by a "taxi" at the parking lot, and a snow tractor type vehicle fetches you from there and takes you to Club Med. Thus, when you are dropped off you will be outside in the snow, and it is cold. Be prepared for this!

Checking in was easy enough, got our keys and a brief welcome, followed by a list of instructions of things to do before the end of the evening (get ski gear, ski pass, etc). Getting the ski gear is a bit of a mess, the instructors don't have enough time to pay attention to your needs. I received a crooked ski pole, boots that ended up not fitting properly, and ski's that didn't lock together properly. And if you don't get the right gear that first night, you're going to struggle to get it later in the week because the operating hours are quite short. You will most probably be able to get better gear if you attend the lessons, which we didn't do unfortunately.

We were lucky because we had a club room with a balcony overlooking the town - amazing views and the room was definitely bigger than the other club rooms on the other side of the hotel. We heard that the other rooms were like cupboards, but we didn't find our room to be too small. They do put two single beds next to each other, which probably takes up more space than it needs to - a double bed would be better. But despite that, the room left nothing to complain about.

The food was average in comparison to Bali. The quality was good, but the variety was lacking, as I would expect from a three trident club. We still had our cheese fondue and pierade (cooking our own meat on a hot stone), which was excellent! The beverages at the bar are also adequate, with a nice variety of cocktails and the standard soda machine, together with the usual beer and wine.

We did not really have anything to do with the GO's, but this didn't bother me. I can't say whether the service was amazing or not. There was a bit of "lost in translation" going on, specially with the cleaners and kitchen staff, but this wasn't a major worry, and can be expected of the French since English is not their home laguage. The GO's seemed to all understand enough English to help out when you needed them, which is all you need.

Lastly, and most importantly, the skiing. That is what makes Avoriaz amazing, and why I would go back (together with the amazing value for money of the package). You walk out of the hotel, put on your skis, and ski. There are more slopes than you can probably cover in a week. They range from easy green slopes for babies and for beginners (where I spent my time), easy to difficult blue slopes, red slopes and black slopes (which we didn't attempt). You can ski all the way to Switzerland. It is a wonderful town for skiing, and we loved every second!

Overall, I will go back to this Club Med. By no means a high quality hotel, but value for money wise it is definitely worth it, if you keep in mind that it is a three trident club. I would recommend it!

We spent one week in January, it was wonderfull! Very friendly and good animation team and particularly junior and mini club - MELODY , FUNNY and HAZAR are wonerful from miniclub animation team. My 11 daughter Anna is still missing them.

If you had a chance to choose a ski instructor Jean Paul will be the best choice!

The food was excellent!

We had a great time!!!