We also stayed here week 4-11th Jan but I cannot be as positive as the last 2 reviews.

There are definately some big plus points and the main one is location - the gondalo up to the slopes, and lockers are within the hotel complex ,and you can ski all the way back to the hotel.

The rooms are a little tired and worn inplaces - but generally are comfortable and the bathroom is top notch. We paid for a room with a balcony looking onto slopes which I would higly recommend.

But there are a number of issues.

Staff - whilst not rude they are not very helpful and the ones we dealt with at reception didnt have much knowledge of the actual hotel or the area.

As someone mentioned the lobby area is a nice comfortable area with lots of cosy chairs - but its freezing cold!! Of a night People were sat their in ski jackets and blankets to stay warm.

In our view the biggest problem was the food - we stayed at the Princess parc in Arinsal last year and the food was brilliant and creative, but here we found it to be simply very boring and bland. There were a lot of choices but nothing stood out as being really nice, no matter what was on offer it seemed to taste the same as the previous nights.! We ended up eating out 3 nights of the 7 which was also more enjoyable ayway.
What didnt help either were the kids who were allowed to run around the restaurant all night AND playing with the food at the buffet bar whilst their parents didnt stop them - not british kids either!! This was happening in front of the restaurant manger who also didnt attempt to stop it .

We loved the resort itself and had a look around at some of the other hotels as we would like to come back ,but to a different hotel. I have to say we were impressed with the Himalaya, Bruxelles and The Euro something(?!!) ,which are all much cheaper than the Sport Village as well.

All in all a bit disappointing and in our view the hotel did not live up to expectaions.

We are just back from a skiing holiday, stayed here from 4th - 11th Jan.
The hotel is beautiful, location is perfect for skiers, right by the gondala and the lockers (which are free), the views over the mountain are just spectacular however, this was spoilt a little by the staff and their lack of knowledge.
We booked a jacuzzi suite (which was just lovely) and I expected a balcony, when I spoke to reception about this they seemed to tell me that I couldnt have both they only have rooms with Jacuzzis OR balconies???? when I tried to ask them if they had any rooms with both they just didnt seem to know, which I found very hard to believe!!! So I accepted the fact that I would have to do without my balcony. Our jacuzzi broke on the 2nd from last day and they did fix it straight away, requesting we leave our room while they did so as I think they need to take some of the grilles out of the wall in order to do so.
The food was very nice and there was a great selection, however on some nights the food was luke warm. The dining room was large and comfortable and very clean.
The hotel was kept spotless and the social areas were very comfortable with large armchairs, very nice communal areas.
We have looked to book the same holiday next year to find that the price for exactly the same holiday has risen by £500 per person, the supplement for the same room has gone up by 50% not sure how they can justify that!!!
We went to the spa at the Hermitage and although it was overpriced it was a lovely afternoon and we are glad we spent the money.
We would return to the hotel if the price was right, this year it represented complete value for money, next year the prices at the moment seem a complete rip off!
All in all a lovely hotel in wonderful surroundings, let down in my opinion by poor management and some of the furnishings in our room were slightly tired.. ie the sofa bed was thread bare in places.

I can't recommend the Sport Village highly enough. We stayed at the hotel for a week over New Year and had an amazing time. The hotel is warm, friendly and clean. My first thought when I walked in the lobby was that this was how I imagined Santa's house when I was little. Lots of space, carved wood and a warm welcoming glow.

I stayed with my husband and 2 children aged 12 & 15. The hotel did provide entertainment, but we didn't experience any of it as we were too busy doing other things. There was a pool table which you could use for 2 euros then there were 4 internet stations. Apart from that, there is nothing for young children to do, but there were lots of families with young children who were simply enjoying family time. We played a lot of cards in the evening which was a lovely change from wireless or battery reliant games.

The food was great. They really do cater for an international range of tastes. I am a very fussy veggie, but had plenty of choice. I did have some odd combinations, but it was all lovely. We were there for the New Year Gala Dinner which was great fun. The food was still a buffet style, but the variety had cranked up a gear to really yummy stuff. We had taken smart things to wear, but the outfits ranged from full black tie to jeans and t-shirts. Unlike previous reviewers, we found the normal evenings were very informal. We'd taken things to get dressed up every evening, but it really wasn't necessary. The whole atmosphere is very relaxed.

The rooms were comfortable and toasty warm. We had to turn our radiator right down as we could hardly breathe, but once adjusted, it was lovely. Our rooms, 1201 & 1202 looked directly over the slopes, which was great.

As others have mentioned, the safe is a bit of an odd set up. You have to pay at reception to rent it for your stay.

I didn't ski, but instead spent an amazing week being pampered to within an inch of my life in the Wellness Centre. The centre is joined to the hotel. We were given a complimentary voucher to each use the spa, but we had to go together. This is worth doing as it's around £40 each. Children under 14 are not allowed in though. The spa is set over 4 floors with panaramic views. Swimming out to one of the 2 outdoor jacuzzis in the snow was amazing. I could go on at length about how wonderful it was, but probably best to email if you want to know more as I'm guessing most of you are interested in the ski related stuff.

I will now type as my husband dictates the ski type stuff... The lockers are in the basement of the hotel and are included in your package. The whole set up is really convenient for skiers. The snow was excellent during our visit and we were able to explore the area thoroughly.

We also did a couple of the trips locally. We had a fun evening doing bum-sledging. We also went on the huskie trip, which we thought would mean we were sat in a sled as we were driven, but it turned out we actually learnt how to drive the sled ourselves, which was great fun. If you don't ski, you can get the bus down to El Tartar (just over a euro) then get a walkers pass to the gondola which cost 6 euros. You can then walk over to where the dogs are.

Anyhoo, it was brilliant! If you'd like to know anything else, just send a message and we'll try to help.

Happy Holidays!

I stayed here with my fiancee in Jan 2008. We found the hotel clean and comfortable with friendly staff. Our standard room was well maintained and of an adequate size. The bathroom was always clean. We went over to the Hermitage to use the spa facilities on one occasion which was lovely. The price was a little steep though even with the discount for hotel guests and stopped us from going again during the week.

My only complaint, which was mentioned by others, was being charged for the room safe. The instructions for the safe in the room mention nothing about getting your card activated at reception and I spent quite some time trying to get the safe to work. Eventually I enquired at reception and was told I had to have the room key card activated to operate the safe and that there was a charge for this. I've never before stayed in a hotel that charges for the using the safe. Other than that I don't understand the complaints by other reviewers. I do speak fluent Spanish and understand Catalan reasonably well, but almost all staff spoke good English and my fiancee who only speaks English had no problem. We both found the food excellent. It is generally European food with a Spanish emphasis as would be exopected. European of course includes British and there were plenty of hot dishes, salads, cheese and meets much as we are used to at home as well as in the rest of Europe. There was always a good variety, although some dishes were repeated on several evenings. The people who have described the food as if it is something completely unknown that they couldn't identify are probably the sort of people that like to pretend that the UK is not part of Europe and that we are not European, and wish to eat little more than burger and chips!

We will certainly be gonig back to this hotel