Of all the phrases guaranteed to grate – up there with “post-Brexit”, “Covid-compliant” and “the new normal” – sits that innocuous little homily, “a change is as good as a rest”. Because surely, if the past couple of years have taught us anything, it is that change is difficult, uncertain – and rarely ever restful.
You may already have travelled in this new normal and found the paperwork and tests manageable. But for those planning a winter ski or snowboarding holiday comes another unwelcome surprise: post-Brexit rules mean catered chalets with live-in staff are much more challenging to run without the army of young Brits willing to work for almost nothing in exchange for bed, board and lift pass.
French employment law states that seasonal workers must be paid a living wage, which means that many ski operators have wound down on traditional chalets or taken them out of their programme altogether.
Yet one company thinks it has the answer. Ski France – French-owned but partly British-run – operates more than 50 chalets across the Alps. This winter, it is trialing a new concept it calls Chalet 2.0, or Contactless Catered Chalets.
It gets around employment issues and Covid concerns by taking live-in staff out of the equation. A back-stage crew stocks the fridge and the cupboards and cleans the rooms halfway through the week, meaning guests enjoy the benefit of the chalet experience – homely accommodation, good food (and plenty of it) and fresh towels when they need them.
The...
Jared Kushner’s attorney says his legal team has formally put Vanity Fair and its parent company, Condé Nast, on notice over allegations about President Donald Trump’s son-in-law that the lawyer ch...