Wear and tear

There is a popular belief that when one goes on holiday, some wear and tear to the accommodation is included in the price. French law, and YSE, make a clear distinction between wear, which is normal and inevitable, and tear, which is not.

Much as we hate doing anything which could limit our guests’ pleasure, we have a duty to ensure that later guests do not have to suffer tatty chalets or grotty furniture, and regret to say that it is a condition of booking that anyone who damages any item will pay the full cost of repairing or replacing it before leaving.

If the cost is not known, an estimated cost must be paid, and any balance will be returned by us. That damage is accidental goes without saying (if it were not, we would call the police, not the repairman!).

Fortunately, most insurance policies cover genuine accidental damage.

But people who do not know the difference between ashtrays and armchairs, who spray champagne on the ceiling or ruin marble stairs with ski boots, are also expected to make good the damage. Cigarette burns and wine stains count as damage.

The alternatives would be either to allow our chalets to become run down or unfairly to budget into everybody’s holiday price the likely cost of the damage caused by a careless minority.

We levy a deposit of £1000 from every party taking any of our top chalets, and concentrate the minds of young parties or largely male parties by levying the same charge. Party Leaders are responsible for their groups.

This Damage Deposit is payable by debit/credit card (1.5% surcharge for credit cards) prior to departure, and refunded after the end of the holiday upon satisfactory inspection of the chalet. We would much rather not have to take a deposit, but because a few people need this disincentive to carelessness, we unfortunately have to charge everybody.

It is a condition of booking, so please do not shout at our office staff if you’ve overlooked it!