Ford likes skiing, and I like points hotels. While I’ve stayed at many of SPG’s better US ski properties (including the St. Regis Aspen and St. Regis Deer Valley), in general you’ll find that most of the cuter ski resorts don’t belong to the major hotel groups (especially outside the US).
Continue reading: Review: W Verbier
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
Ben,
I’ve been eagerly waiting for this report! I stayed at that hotel during it’s first open winter season and had the same issues (though over Christmas we couldn’t switch rooms so our room remained hot and loud).
Sad to see the pool is still cold and area is unkept. Looks like these weren’t teething problems for a new hotel.
Do you have any images of the ski room? It was a joke when we were there as they gave away my skis twice and the days they didn’t, we had to wait 45min as the locker system could only let one person in a row of skis at a time due to the moving shelves of skis and it’s design.
All in all even as as SPG Plat I felt like since it was the only W and new hotel of that style in a lot of Swiss ski towns, the hotel’s management did not care, because they did not have to. Opposite the St Regis in Park City!
Had this on my bucket list for the past several years, but despite having an excellent corporate rate, I canceled with no plans to rebook. Not everyone has 120,000 Starpoints available and the only month with any snow, and reasonable cash rates, is December when the lifts have barely opened.
You really should review other hotels then chains, especially in Europe. There are plenty of awesome hotels in the alps. You have to be out of your mind to stay at the W in Switzerland.
Splendid review! I truly enjoyed reading all the wonderful details, even though I have no interest in staying at a W in the Alps.
One of the great joys of Alpine villages is staying in a small, charming, family-owned inn. I will always treasure my stay at the spectacular Hotel Almhof Schneider in Lech, Austria.
Why didn't you simply turn off the air conditioner in your room?
The air conditioner is a must for me in summer while it is a must-not for me in winter no matter how cold the outside is.
just counting the skiing experience (regardless of hotel), how would you compare Verbier to nearby options like Chamonix, Zermatt, St Moritz, and Davos ?
Ben, you want to be a smart traveler; but you pay 60 CHF for a train ride Geneva - Le Chable - Verbier? Thats like paying the rack rate for a hotel. SBB offers every day for every train 50% discount when booking online.
What an amazing report. Switzerland is indeed expensive but so beautiful and this area in particular is no exception. Glad you enjoyed and thank you for posting about an area I have spent so much time in and remains one of my favorite corners of the world.
"our room consistently got pretty hot at night"
"The {next} room had the same temperature issue"
Sounds like a great hotel stay to me!
😉
Oh Lord honey - you and your sneakers again. One of these days, we're gonna get you all "grown-up" and maybe then we can get you into something other than your beloved sneakers!! I hear Garanimals make some nice looking shoes. 🙂
@Sandra, do you really think every train ticket in Switzerland is 50% off just by buying online? LOL.
@Sandra: the price that you see online is the starting price and means that you can get 50% if you have the half-fare card. The half-fare card is only for permanent resident and with an annual fee.
You went to a mountain village which has had record-breaking copious amounts of snow falling for some weeks now with sneakers? There's so much you could've done there with a decent pair of walking boots while Ford was on the piste & you weren't on your laptop.
While the hotel is undeniably luxe it has a style which just screams BLING in the same way Emirates' First does - it's not becoming of its surrounds & just looks garish (inside) which is a dreadful shame.