Résidence Odalys Isatis

We loved the quiet location, away from the crowds of Chamonix. The bus stop and train are just 50 m away, the best way to explore the valley and reach the city center. Good breakfast, especially the fresh orange juice and the cakes (tartes aux myrtilles), but it starts at 7:30 am which might be a bit late for early bird hikers. Very nice staff both at the reception and at breakfast. Equipped kitchen with also minimum products like dish soap. Nice swimming pool as well, and the balconies with mountain view and sun lounger.

The property looks a bit old inside, the apartments could use some renovation and a refreshed look. The kitchen is equipped but you need to buy everything for cooking (salt, oil, etc.), which is fair, while the bathroom could offer standard products like shampoo and shower gel like hotels do. A few more towels for the bathroom would be nice as well, and overall the apartments might use some deep cleaning every now and then. For groceries we had to go to Chamonix center, there is no supermarket nearby.

Comfortable rooms, adequate facilities, good view, nice balcony, friendly staff, free parking as well as close to the train station.

Breakfast options were a bit limited.

The chef at the restaurant is excellent- her croissant and baguette were small window to see what she can do. regretted not booking the breakfast with the hotel. Very good location- railway and bus stations are just 50 meters. Hiking can be done right from the property. I will book the same property again if I choose to visit Chamonix again.

No washbasin in toilet - this is a quite important issue for the tourists not from European culture. So, every time you have to walk from toilet to the bathroom, which is quite unhygienic.

All the staff we met at the reception were very nice and helpful, and spoke english with us. Pool facilities were ok. Underground parking. 5 min by car to Chamonix city center.

They have posters on the elevator stating they are "a tourist residence and not a hotel". So any amenities related to expected hotel daily cleaning or extra towels sheets are not included (you get 1 set of towels per person and 1 kitchen cloth, in our case, for 5 nights). Also, in the room there are instructions when you check-out: for the guests to clean the kitchen (and dishes) and the toilets (!?), as well as remove the bed sheets from the bed (not the mattress cover), and empty the trash - with a notice that you might be fined in case you don't. Accordingly, the room was very poorly cleaned and maintained. There were hairs on the bed sheets, though they appeared fresh. The mattress cover however was clearly not exchanged between guests and was dirty. Even the floor cleaning was superficial at best, with very dirty corners all around. The bathroom had tiles falling off on the outside of the bathtub. The main corridors of the common space smelled bad. And so on. The booking.com description calls this an "aparthotel", which is very misleading (or even scammish), and has an actual good grade (which we cannot at all understand). However if you read the reviews up close you will find these issues pointed out several times (which I guess,... our fault). The price might be a good deal if you compare it to other hotels or aparthotels in the area. But as they identify as "not a hotel" after all, you have to compare it to other apartments and Airbnb's, in which case you can get much better deals elsewhere, with much better and cleaner facilities. Unfortunately, when you start receiving the emails for online check-in a couple weeks before your stay, and start getting a first impression that something is not quite right with your "hotel" reservation - it's too late to cancel and get another place still available and/or affordable.