Ihr Hotel Villa Emma

Location: Strategically situated near Canazei and Alba ski lifts, with easy access to town centers via short walks or nearby bus stops.

I’m surprised this is the first English language review in 2024. As there’s quite a few brits that stay at this hotel. Let’s talk about the positives first - plenty of food at dinner time and a good selection and a little free wine. We never went hungry. Though, as others have said, you do need to use the microwave as the vegetables are served cold. Also the portions given to you by the servers are those you might expect in prison. You have to ask for more each time. Not too sure why they’re so careful with their portion sizes. Breakfast was okay though. Of course, the sausages and bacon are European in nature and wouldn’t perhaps be suitable for those of us who are brought up on British food. This is a hotel that is mostly Italian and therefore it’s fine. The showers are very small. And if you try and shower after 6.30, the water is tepid at Best.. so be careful with your apres-ski. The rooms we were given are very small and the storage facilities are very limited. On the positive side, the beds were very comfortable and the temperature in the room generally acceptable. I would suggest the hotel rooms haven’t had a makeover since the 1980s. The bar area was very pleasant, and the prices not too bad . As others have mentioned, you do have to buy a prepaid card. This made a lot of sense in taking cash out of the equation. All of the staff were very pleasant indeed. The hotel was generally not noisy and so one that could be enjoyed by families . However, if you wanted some nightlife, the local town was a good 15 minutes walk away and buses stop at 8pm. Mind you, the local town isnt a hive of nightlife - this is not apres-ski central! With the restaurant timings it is good to be down reasonably on time as arrival anything over 30 minutes later than opening means that the food left is pretty much what you are left with. Sometimes this means no bread and other items, like desserts. Really disappointingly, and this is nothing to do with the hotel, we booked with Crystal who couldn’t be bothered to turn up at the hotel and also didn’t advise us on the resort/buses/ski hire/ski passes/ timings or anything else . We’ve had amazing holidays with Neilsens, including to the same town, and were amazed that Crystal pretty much got you on a bus at the airport and left you to it. No customer service whatsoever. The boot room is small and tends to be taken over by large groups. The spa facilities have to be pre-booked and are only free for one hour per week. The rest of the time it’s £15 per hour per person. There is no evening entertainment at this hotel.

I was very surprised at how good this hotel was. Okay, some of the rooms need a refurbishment but they are fine for a skiing week. Food was very satisfactory, with a good buffet breakfast and a buffet Evening meal. There was an extensive salad buffet, followed by soup and a choice of three starters, three mains to choose from and a dessert buffet. The house wine was very reasonably priced and of a good quality. Drinks from the bar were well priced and we were given lots of nibbles to go with them. The staff were extremely friendly and the two bar staff had a great sense of humour. The Wi-Fi was a bit intermittent while we were there but this wasn't really a problem for us. The heated ski room was fine, with enough boot heaters and enough space in and around it to get ready for skiing. The bus stops for Alba or Canazei were about 50 metres away and service was regular and on time. The path from the ski room to the main road can be tricky in ski boots when icy. Some of our party left skis and boots in Zondra Sports in Canazei village and highly recommended doing this.