We've skied with VIP many times before, since 2011. So we're obviously confident that we'll get well looked after. There were a few minor issues with this one - a sauna and jacuzzi are provided but the robes needed to get to and from the 'spa' were only available on request. The food was generally very good (including all the vegetarian alternatives) but seating thirteen (and a bear) was a little bit cramped. And, effectively all at one long table, passing salt and pepper, water, or coffee in the morning, was sometimes a bit frustrating. Why not provide at least two or three sets of salt and pepper, two cafetieres of coffee - and so on?
The staff were friendly and helpful throughout.
The extent to which the chalet is really ski in ski out depends on snowfall - some days it was, others not so easy with tarmac and ice. But it was always only a matter of a few minutes to get to a skiable piste.
Alpe d'Huez offers a comparatively small ski area but it has quite a lot of challenging runs. Queues at the lifts were sometimes painfully long and slow (French half term) and we would avoid the busy weeks (our favourite has always been the last week of January at Altitude Lodge in Les Gets - but that's no longer available). We also had too many near misses and one actual collision while skiing.
Lastly, our room (6) had too many low beams, no significant views and not much space to stretch and recover after skiing. Other rooms seemed better in all three respects.
We'll book with VIP Ski again but would like to see Altitude Lodge back for next year!