What a Catered Chalet Includes in 2026 — and What It Quietly Doesn't

The catered chalet is one of the great inventions of alpine tourism. A whole house, a chef, someone to look after it, and a week where nobody in your group has to think about lunch.

It is also a format that has changed quietly over the last decade, and the changes have almost all been in one direction. Most of what people remember from ten years ago is still available — it is just increasingly available as an addition rather than as standard.

None of this is scandalous. Staffing costs have risen sharply, working-hours rules have tightened, and the model has adapted. But it does mean that two chalets advertised at the same price as "fully catered" can contain meaningfully different weeks, and the difference lives in the small print.

What is still standard almost everywhere

• Exclusive use of the property for your group

• Breakfast daily

• Afternoon tea

• Dinner on most nights of the week

• A chalet host looking after the house

• Daily housekeeping and a mid-week change of towels

• Wine with dinner, usually a house selection

• Wifi, and the fire lit when you come in

That is still a very good week, and it is still the reason the format dominates.

What has quietly moved to an extra

Staff nights off. Nearly universal now, and the biggest single change. Most chalets do not serve dinner on one or two nights of the week — commonly the changeover evening and one mid-week night. This is entirely reasonable, and it is also the thing guests are most often surprised by. Ask how many nights, and which ones, because a Wednesday off is easy to plan around and a Saturday off means arranging dinner on the evening you arrive tired.

The driver. Once close to standard in the upper tier, now frequently either absent, shared between properties, or limited to set hours. If evenings out matter to you — and in Courchevel they usually do — establish whether the driver is dedicated to your chalet, shared, or something you're arranging yourself.

Lunch. Rarely included, and rarely expected. Worth noting only because chalets that do provide a light lunch on arrival day make the first afternoon considerably easier.

Childcare. Nannies and crèche arrangements are almost always separate now, and in peak weeks they need booking as far ahead as the chalet itself.

Premium drinks. House wine is generally included; anything beyond it usually isn't. Policies vary widely, from a generous cellar to a strict list, and this is worth a direct question rather than an assumption.

What is never included

Straightforward, but worth listing so it can be budgeted rather than discovered:

• Lift passes

• Ski and boot hire

• Ski school and private instruction

• Airport transfers, unless explicitly stated

• *Taxe de séjour*, charged per person per night

• Staff gratuity, which is customary at the end of the week

The questions worth asking before you book

We answer these unprompted. Not everyone does.

How many staff nights off, and which nights? The single most useful question on this list.

Is the driver dedicated, shared, or not included? And what hours does it cover?

What time can we get in on arrival day, and what time do we need to be out? Changeover timings are tighter than people expect and shape both travel days.

What is the drinks policy beyond dinner wine?

Is there flexibility on dinner times? Some chalets serve at a fixed hour, which matters enormously if you have small children on one schedule and adults on another.

Who is the chef, and can we see a sample menu? For a week of dinners, this is not a small question.

Where self-catered has become the better answer

For a growing number of groups, it has — and it's worth understanding why.

If you want to eat out three or four nights, a fully catered chalet means paying for dinners you won't eat. A self-catered property with a chef booked for the nights you actually want, a daily housekeeper, and catering arranged around your plans frequently costs less and fits better.

The catered model remains the best answer for families with young children, for large groups who want to eat together, and for anyone who wants the week to simply happen. For everyone else, it is now a genuine choice rather than a default.

How we handle it

We publish what is included and what isn't, in plain terms, on every property. Where a chalet has two staff nights off, we say so before you ask. Where the driver is shared, we say that too.

And when a self-catered property with service added would serve you better than the catered chalet you enquired about, we tell you — because a guest who gets the week they actually wanted is worth considerably more to us than one who books the more expensive option once.