alf_fly
Apr 17, 12, 4:12 pm
[Thanks to Musken for the report "template"]
Before we start, maybe just a comment on the destination: Crans Montana is one of the most famous ski resorts in the Swiss Alps, a sort of local Aspen - complete with celebrities (Roger Moore lives or lived there), golfing, skiing (hosted some World Cups)... and a couple of luxury hotels.
Le Crans Hotel & Spa (http://www.lecrans.com/ (warning, annoying flash web site with looped music)) is Leading Hotel of the World, opened a couple of years ago, and has 15 rooms/suites. It is located above Crans-Montana in the fashionable Plans Mayens area.
Train and station
We travelled using the train from Geneva to Montana Gare. The hotel has free valet parking but traffic from/to Geneva and ski resorts on week-ends is a nightmare.
General
We stayed 2 nights in superior room Chamois (Leader's club update from standard room) from Fri to Sun with our 7 yo son, had dinner in the restaurant both nights and went skiing both days.
We liked the hotel, loved the restaurant and had a very nice stay. It was sunny on Sunday and the view from the hotel restaurant is just incredible.
Pre arrival service
Booked in a hurry 2 days before from the hotel web site. The concierge confirmed the pick-up within a couple of hours.
Arrival & welcome
A nice Audi A6 (long version) was waiting for us right outside the station. The trip to the hotel took around 15 minutes. The receptionist showed us to our room and offered us glasses of champagne. A small bed was ready for junior. The fireplace was ready to be lit. They were fruits, a Nespresso machine and water + a welcome card. Non alcoholic beverages in the minibar are complimentary. The nice Leader's Club gift arrived a bit later with another card. No direct contact with the GM or anyone seemingly in a managerial position.
Design and general
The hotel looks like a luxury chalet, with tasteful modern alpine decor, cozy couches and fireplaces everywhere. Each room is individually decorated with high quality materials. As mentioned there is a great view, so from a aesthetics perspective, we thought it worked really well.
As one would expect from a 2 year old high-end hotel in Switzerland, everything is as good as new.
http://imageserver.dhalias.com/flyertalk/LeCransView.jpg
A drawback of the hotel is its location, far from the action (down in the clouds in the picture). There is a fleet of cars ready to bring you efficiently around for free (in around 10-15 mins), but waiting 10 mins for your hotel car in freezing weather is not really a luxurious experience. Sure, you can take your own car, but you're back into managing traffic, parking (and snow) by yourself in Crans. [And you better have a car that looks the part - orange peels thrown in downtown Crans have a hard time avoiding Porsche Cayenne SUVs (and similar)]
Accommodation
We were in superior room Chamois which looks good but is really small and with too much furniture and stuff in it (never had that many books on a hotel desk, 15 maybe?). We're not quite sure how staff manages to bring a room service table in there. With our son's bed in the room, it was cramped and we really felt like camping (as vuittons would say). The bed was very comfy however -- and there was a fireplace!
The bathroom was nice, with a japanese toilet, separate shower, and jacuzzi bath complete with TV and waterproof remote control. Maybe not enough space to place one's items, however. (It had facilities for disabled persons - that may explain some of the design choices).
The room's main window faces an internal terrace (of which a small part is yours), so there isn't a lot of view and not a lot of privacy either (unless you keep the shades drawn).
http://imageserver.dhalias.com/flyertalk/LeCransViewChamois.jpg
The room comes with a home automation system with control panel and illuminated buttons everywhere. The idea is good (we have sort of the same home) but it took us to 2 days to understand some of the scenarios it implemented - so it's a bit too complicated. And there are many buttons and the control panel and it just adds to the room "visual noise" (too much stuff). And all the blinking LEDs make a lot of light at night.
Service
The hotel offers excellent service. For some reason in Europe, good service always comes with a certain aristocratic stiffness, but it's excellent and attentive nevertheless. The place was spotless.
We asked to dine in the fully booked restaurant and they managed to accommodate us. Cars came and went quickly to shuffle us around.
The hotel never managed to get the wifi to work in our room, but that would be our only service-related complaint.
Food
The restaurant is just fantastic. The food is fresh and excellent. The restaurant has many more tables than it accommodates hotel guests and no surprises, it was packed (with outside visitors) on Saturday night. They can accompany the meal with excellent local (or international) wines. Of course, this ain't exactly cheap - but worth it.
Breakfast is included in the rates and is also very nice, the hotel makes its own bread and pastries and jams and it's all very fresh and delicious.
Costs
Aman-like rates and principles. 1000 USD gets you started. Double that for the nice rooms/suites (which you want to get some space and/or view).
Like Aman, a lot comes "free" with the room, like the cars, the minibar, the glasses of champagne on arrival, the fireplace management, kids bed in the room and kids breakfast, etc..
Spa/Gym
We visited the facilities on arrival but had no time to experience anything. It's a pity because the indoor pool really looked nice. There is an outdoor one at 30+ degrees if you want (like in Amangani)
Children
Our son was not the only kid around. The hotel had a bed ready for him, along with a kid sized bathrobe. There is a 3 course fancy kids' menu in the restaurant so they can follow the adults, which is a nice idea. Staff was very friendly with our son.
Ski
The hotel advertises itself as ski-in-out. It is possible: one has to walk 100+ meters through a small car park and than a slightly uphill forest trail to reach one of the slopes (and of course to come directly back to the hotel at the end of the day).
We had to rent equipment however and had to go down (by car) to one of the base station. Same routine on Sunday to return the equipment. The hotel cars are equipped to carry ski and stuff around. But it's a lot of up and down the mountain. A solution is, again, to bring your own equipment in your own car.
For skiing, we felt other setups worked better: Amangani (with the lodge at the base station) or le Melezin (which sits right on the base station). Or even modern appart-hotels like Rockresorts in Laax.
Conclusions
So there: it's very nice, service and food are excellent and Crans is (one of) the places to be in the Swiss Alps. Splurge for a suite since the rooms are so small and busy. For skiers however, in this price class we think there are more convenient choices.
Before we start, maybe just a comment on the destination: Crans Montana is one of the most famous ski resorts in the Swiss Alps, a sort of local Aspen - complete with celebrities (Roger Moore lives or lived there), golfing, skiing (hosted some World Cups)... and a couple of luxury hotels.
Le Crans Hotel & Spa (http://www.lecrans.com/ (warning, annoying flash web site with looped music)) is Leading Hotel of the World, opened a couple of years ago, and has 15 rooms/suites. It is located above Crans-Montana in the fashionable Plans Mayens area.
Train and station
We travelled using the train from Geneva to Montana Gare. The hotel has free valet parking but traffic from/to Geneva and ski resorts on week-ends is a nightmare.
General
We stayed 2 nights in superior room Chamois (Leader's club update from standard room) from Fri to Sun with our 7 yo son, had dinner in the restaurant both nights and went skiing both days.
We liked the hotel, loved the restaurant and had a very nice stay. It was sunny on Sunday and the view from the hotel restaurant is just incredible.
Pre arrival service
Booked in a hurry 2 days before from the hotel web site. The concierge confirmed the pick-up within a couple of hours.
Arrival & welcome
A nice Audi A6 (long version) was waiting for us right outside the station. The trip to the hotel took around 15 minutes. The receptionist showed us to our room and offered us glasses of champagne. A small bed was ready for junior. The fireplace was ready to be lit. They were fruits, a Nespresso machine and water + a welcome card. Non alcoholic beverages in the minibar are complimentary. The nice Leader's Club gift arrived a bit later with another card. No direct contact with the GM or anyone seemingly in a managerial position.
Design and general
The hotel looks like a luxury chalet, with tasteful modern alpine decor, cozy couches and fireplaces everywhere. Each room is individually decorated with high quality materials. As mentioned there is a great view, so from a aesthetics perspective, we thought it worked really well.
As one would expect from a 2 year old high-end hotel in Switzerland, everything is as good as new.
http://imageserver.dhalias.com/flyertalk/LeCransView.jpg
A drawback of the hotel is its location, far from the action (down in the clouds in the picture). There is a fleet of cars ready to bring you efficiently around for free (in around 10-15 mins), but waiting 10 mins for your hotel car in freezing weather is not really a luxurious experience. Sure, you can take your own car, but you're back into managing traffic, parking (and snow) by yourself in Crans. [And you better have a car that looks the part - orange peels thrown in downtown Crans have a hard time avoiding Porsche Cayenne SUVs (and similar)]
Accommodation
We were in superior room Chamois which looks good but is really small and with too much furniture and stuff in it (never had that many books on a hotel desk, 15 maybe?). We're not quite sure how staff manages to bring a room service table in there. With our son's bed in the room, it was cramped and we really felt like camping (as vuittons would say). The bed was very comfy however -- and there was a fireplace!
The bathroom was nice, with a japanese toilet, separate shower, and jacuzzi bath complete with TV and waterproof remote control. Maybe not enough space to place one's items, however. (It had facilities for disabled persons - that may explain some of the design choices).
The room's main window faces an internal terrace (of which a small part is yours), so there isn't a lot of view and not a lot of privacy either (unless you keep the shades drawn).
http://imageserver.dhalias.com/flyertalk/LeCransViewChamois.jpg
The room comes with a home automation system with control panel and illuminated buttons everywhere. The idea is good (we have sort of the same home) but it took us to 2 days to understand some of the scenarios it implemented - so it's a bit too complicated. And there are many buttons and the control panel and it just adds to the room "visual noise" (too much stuff). And all the blinking LEDs make a lot of light at night.
Service
The hotel offers excellent service. For some reason in Europe, good service always comes with a certain aristocratic stiffness, but it's excellent and attentive nevertheless. The place was spotless.
We asked to dine in the fully booked restaurant and they managed to accommodate us. Cars came and went quickly to shuffle us around.
The hotel never managed to get the wifi to work in our room, but that would be our only service-related complaint.
Food
The restaurant is just fantastic. The food is fresh and excellent. The restaurant has many more tables than it accommodates hotel guests and no surprises, it was packed (with outside visitors) on Saturday night. They can accompany the meal with excellent local (or international) wines. Of course, this ain't exactly cheap - but worth it.
Breakfast is included in the rates and is also very nice, the hotel makes its own bread and pastries and jams and it's all very fresh and delicious.
Costs
Aman-like rates and principles. 1000 USD gets you started. Double that for the nice rooms/suites (which you want to get some space and/or view).
Like Aman, a lot comes "free" with the room, like the cars, the minibar, the glasses of champagne on arrival, the fireplace management, kids bed in the room and kids breakfast, etc..
Spa/Gym
We visited the facilities on arrival but had no time to experience anything. It's a pity because the indoor pool really looked nice. There is an outdoor one at 30+ degrees if you want (like in Amangani)
Children
Our son was not the only kid around. The hotel had a bed ready for him, along with a kid sized bathrobe. There is a 3 course fancy kids' menu in the restaurant so they can follow the adults, which is a nice idea. Staff was very friendly with our son.
Ski
The hotel advertises itself as ski-in-out. It is possible: one has to walk 100+ meters through a small car park and than a slightly uphill forest trail to reach one of the slopes (and of course to come directly back to the hotel at the end of the day).
We had to rent equipment however and had to go down (by car) to one of the base station. Same routine on Sunday to return the equipment. The hotel cars are equipped to carry ski and stuff around. But it's a lot of up and down the mountain. A solution is, again, to bring your own equipment in your own car.
For skiing, we felt other setups worked better: Amangani (with the lodge at the base station) or le Melezin (which sits right on the base station). Or even modern appart-hotels like Rockresorts in Laax.
Conclusions
So there: it's very nice, service and food are excellent and Crans is (one of) the places to be in the Swiss Alps. Splurge for a suite since the rooms are so small and busy. For skiers however, in this price class we think there are more convenient choices.