A day in the life of a Chalet Host

A Day In The Life of a Chalet Host.

Being a chalet host is a fabulous opportunity to spend 5 months in the mountains, to meet great new people, to ski or board pretty much daily & of course to really improve your culinary skills.

Every day is a bit different, but most follow a certain pattern. You have got responsibilities to your guests, to your team mates & to your line manager.

Your main tasks will include keeping the chalet clean & tidy & of course preparing delicious meals, this is normally 2 meals a day plus an afternoon tea cake.

My day used to start at about 6.30am, I offered breakfast to my guests from 8am, so tried to be at the chalet for at least 7.00am. However, some weeks, you'd get really keen skiers & breakfast would have to be a little earlier.

Breakfast has come on a lot from the traditional ‘porridge & eggs’ offering. These days, hot options, yoghurts, croissants & fruit are all widely expected. Not as difficult as it seems once you get into a rhythm & believe me there are loads of ways to offer an egg in the morning!

Whilst serving & organising breakfast I used to make a start on baking my afternoon tea cake & some dinner preparations too if it suited the dish I was going to serve.

Most guests will be out of the chalet by 9.30am which means you can then make a start on cleaning their rooms & the communal areas. It's completely realistic to be finished by 11am, which then gives you until about 4pm to yourself.

Back to the chalet late afternoon to clear up afternoon tea debris & start preparing the guests culinary highlight - three course dinner cooked by yourself. All companies have a food budget, so your skill is to be able to provide delicious meals within budget. If you are sensible & can plan your meals & menus this is completely achievable.

Most days between breakfast & dinner, your time will be your own - this usually involves getting up the mountain & meeting friends. However one day a week shopping may need to be done, which is usually in a large supermarket out of the resort.

You also have paperwork responsibilities, compiling your weekly accounts & any weekly guest reports.

Generally the resort rep will organise ‘après-ski’ events for guests, these are things like bar crawls, quiz nights, piste picnics etc. These are great social events for all & if you can get invited or just want to tag along to help out you’ll find it's a really nice way of spending more time with your guests. Obviously the company makes money from these events, so you do need to be able to know your stuff when talking to guests so that you can recommend the events. I also had an ‘honesty bar’ in my chalet, selling chocolates & drinks mixers, a great way to provide a service to guests & make some money too.

Transfer day - when guests arrive & depart - can be a long day for everyone. A start at about 5am is not unusual & guests may want breakfast before they leave, so it's down to you to make this happen. As soon as guests leave though you can make a start on your big weekly deep clean & bed & linen change. Assume you will need to be in your chalet all day on transfer day & definitely next to your phone – transfer day is a team event & whilst your resort rep may be at the airport anything could happen in resort which you may have to get involved in. That’s why it's essential that you understand & know all that is available for guests in your resort too.

If you enjoy the sporty outdoor life of the mountains, enjoy meeting people & love your food, then this is the job for you. Being a chalet host is often described as the ‘best job in the Alps’ due to the amount of ski time you can get if you are organised. Do remember though its not all fun, fun, fun. You are operating a commercial kitchen so your hygiene standards have to be 100% all the time. As an absolute bare minimum you should have completed the UK ‘Basic Food Hygiene’ course. Also, changing beds & linen organisation is hardly glamorous but of course hugely necessary in order to keep your guests happy & their stay a real ‘home from home’.

COME ON - LIVE THE DREAM AND BOOK A CHALET HOST COURSE TODAY!!!