Chalet Host Q&A - Ruth & John
Our Story: We started doing seasons in 2019. It all started over a bottle of red wine when we were thinking about starting our retirement with a 2 month long ski holiday. We knew it was going to be pricey so we started to explore other options, and a friend recommended seasonal work. We put in some applications thinking no companies would be interested in an older couple. We applied for a bit of a laugh really to see what happened and we got offered every job we applied for! We wanted to do this this for a different lifestyle, to socialise and to ski, and now with four seasons under our belt we'd still jump at the chance of doing another one with SkiWeekends.
Before The Ski Season Begins
How many seasons have you worked?
4 in total, 2 winter seasons as Chalet Hosts with SkiWeekends.
What did you do before you started seasonal work?
I was a registered nurse and John was a police officer.
What prompted you to work a ski season?
We started doing seasons in 2019. It all started over a bottle of red wine when we were thinking about retirement. Ruth was a registered nurse and I (John) was a police officer. We wanted to start our retirement with a 2 month long ski holiday. We knew it was going to be pricey so we started to explore other options and a friend recommended seasonal work. So we started looking. We put in some applications thinking no companies would be interested in an older couple, we applied for a bit of a laugh really to see what happened and we got offered every job we applied for! We thought we're retired, we've got no ties and whatever happens it’s not going change our lives detrimentally, so we just went for it!
Once you got offered the job did you need to put anything in order before you left to work abroad?
The first season we just left the house empty - it was a bit of safety net because if we didn't like it we could just come back home. It was just an issue sorting out insurance for an empty house. We've got really good neighbours so they could keep an eye on things for us too. We didn’t take the car on the first season so we left that too. The following seasons we’ve had family housesitting for us. We thought about renting it out, but for us it was the practicalities of moving our personal possessions etc, it seemed like a lot of hassle.
How did you get a work permit to work in France?
The very first season we did was pre Brexit, so no permit was required. Post Brexit, is quite different. We both have British passports and SkiWeekends helped us with the visa process both in the UK and when we were in France.
During The Ski Season
How did you get to the ski resort?
This time we drove to resort, we've flown in the past but this time we wanted to have our car. SkiWeekends gives a travel allowance so however you want to get to resort is up to you and they'll cover some of the cost.
What training did you do to learn how to be a chalet host/assistant/chef at Ski Weekends?
We had 2 weeks of training where everyone gets a go at learning all aspects of the host role, so we can all jump in and help each other.
Week 1 was all about cooking & food safety. We went through the chalet menus, cooking 3 courses every day in small groups so everyone got to see what the menus and dishes look like – by Friday evening everyone was stuffed!
Week 2 is focused on housekeeping, bed making, cleaning, health & safety etc.
For first timers it's good training and it shows in the season. As returners it was good to have a refresher.
What responsibilities did you have in your role?
Ruth: I was the chef so dealt with all the food prep, cheffing, planning ahead looking at dietary requirements for the coming guests. Keeping the kitchen tidy, food storage & labelling, following health and safety around food etc. everything you'd expect. If I was finished before John, I'd then help him where I could, like cleaning the communal areas and helping out with the rooms on change over days.
John: I was housekeeping, so responsible for the cleanliness of the chalet (bedrooms, toilets, communal areas). If I was finished first then I'd help Ruth in the kitchen - she'd let me wash the pots!
We got a system in place pretty quick and once we had it down then we could be in and out of work, then the day was our own until we came back for dinner service. Our advice for anyone working in a chalet would be to get into a routine and then you’ll know exactly where you both are in the chalet and how long you’ve got left to go. We felt being a more mature couple we tended to plan ahead more than the younger staff, which made our lives easier at work.
What support did you receive to continuously develop and to help with any challenging situations or illness?
This year was a very supportive environment, from both management and staff. My (Ruth) dad was in hospital so I came back to UK and the resort manager sorted out shift swaps to help me get back to the UK. The staff this year were more supportive than the previous season and we put this down to everyone being a bit older. The youngest staff were around mid 20's, so we found that there was more give and take between the staff which was good. The previous season everyone was a bit younger and it didn’t have the same feel.
How did you feel being in a mixed age team? Were you able to make friends? Were there any team building activities? Did you feel part of the team?
Honestly, the first season we did with another ski company we felt a bit like grandparents! But with SkiWeekends there are more mature people on the team and the younger staff are all generally older than you’d expect. The season just gone, there was a really good team sprit, we naturally migrated to people of a similar age, but that's not to say we were excluded or excluded ourselves from the younger team. We still met up for drinks and went out for meals with everyone. We've kept in contact with people in resort too.
Where did you live? Who did you live with?
We lived together in an apartment in resort, just the 2 of us.
What did you do for food? Were any meals included? Did you have facilities to cook/ store food?
Meals were provided in the chalet, we'd eat what the guests ate. Often we'd have breakfast in the chalet after the guests had finished and we would have our evening meal in the chalet too. Lunch we tended to sort ourselves out, if there we're left over baguettes from breakfast we would make sandwiches or we'd buy something in resort. Sometimes we'd want something different so we would buy our own food.
What did you do on your days off?
Mainly skiing!
Who did you ski/ board with?
Generally just with each other, sometimes we'd go out with colleagues. But we didn't want to ski too much with them in case they wanted to go and do more exciting things, we didn’t want to hold them back. But we never felt excluded from going out with them.
Did you always ski/ board in the same area? Could you leave resort and explore other ski resorts? If yes, how?
We stayed in the Portes du Soleil, we could ski from our apartment door, so why would we bother with the hassle of going somewhere else! We really didn't feel like we needed to go to other resorts as the Portes du Soleil is so big, we had everything on our doorstep.
Did you have any transport when you were over there? Did you feel like you needed transport?
Having done a few seasons now, we sometimes feel a bit restricted without transport so this time we took our car. It's nice to get out of resort and see some different things, or nip to a bigger supermarket if we wanted to get dinner for ourselves.
Who did you socialise with outside of skiing? What did you do?
It was mostly après based. We had two bars that we mainly went in, which were our locals, and as soon as we walked in they knew our order!
As we were working most evenings and getting up early we didn't go out late that much, we would have a couple drinks on the way back but because we wanted to ski we were not getting hammered all the time!
Did you feel part of the resort community / get to experience the local culture whilst you were there?
There’s not a huge amount of local culture in Avoriaz as it's a purpose built resort but we really got to be part of seasonaire culture. You get to know faces and everyone is really friendly.
What did you get paid per week / per month? What else gets paid for you? For example: lift pass, ski hire, accommodation, food, insurance, travel out/back?
We got paid a wage, 2 days off a week, food and accommodation.
We bought our own lift passes but if you finish the season, you get some of that back in your end of season bonus. And we paid for our own insurance. We also received a travel allowance.
What other perks did you get?
Part of the package is ski hire for season but we took our own skis.
REFLECTING ON THE Season
Did you have any concerns about working a ski season?
On our first season we were just concerned whether or not we could actually do the job, continuously catering for people night after night. But we quickly found the routine and we've improved each year. This year we fully knew what to expect and what was expected of us, so we were able to just crack on.
What were the worst bits?
Not necessarily the worst bit, but something we think people need to remember is that it's extremely hard work. Anyone who goes there and thinks they are just going to party and have a long holiday is mistaken. There's no other way of putting it, it's extremely hard work but it is very rewarding.
Working as a couple can be challenging too. It's easy to get under each others toes, but you learn to let things go. It's important to know what each others roles are and to avoid tensions. This way you can leave each other to get on with your job, if we didn't have these kind of boundaries, we’d end up interfering with each others work and wind each other up.
Missing the family back home is hard. It's important to think about how are you going to feel on Christmas Day when the family is back at home or if you're going to miss birthdays and special occasions.
What were the best bits?
Having a second chance at life. We worked all our lives in demanding careers and then all of a sudden, you've got a second go at something totally different.
It's really nice working with people who are happy to be on holiday. We generally had nice guests and it's great to meet people from different backgrounds and different parts of the country. Because of the types of careers we had, we wouldn't necessarily have these types of interactions at work so for us this is a real positive aspect of the job.
And of course, waking up and seeing the mountains in the morning!
Would you work another season? Why?
From a job point of view, we'd go back to a chalet with SkiWeekends in a heartbeat, we wouldn’t even bother looking at other companies. We've got a few personal circumstances as to why we might not be able to do this coming winter season – or at least not all of it. We might try and get in a couple of months towards the end, we'll see!
Finally, Is there anything that you'd like to add or any advice you’d like to give to anyone over 40 who might be thinking about doing a season?
Go for it, you're a long time dead!
You've got to do things whilst you can live life. You're not going to get rich from working a season, but it's an incredible experience! Experiences are what life is about, not how much money you can earn.