Accommodation varies greatly when working a ski season, think college life rather than adult life.  Space is limited and privacy is often a luxury.

To find yourself not sharing is a rarity.  Single rooms are often reserved for Resort Reps or those at the top of the food chain.  Sharing a room is the norm and when it comes to sharing the only question is how many people you share with.  It is not uncommon for four girls to share a room, which dependant on how well you all get on, can be heaven or hell.  Everything in a resort comes down to the expensive, that’s why they ship you out on buses and herd you in like cattle.  Some operators actually put chalet staff in mezzanine’s, this is a nightmare for a number of obvious reasons and should be avoided at all costs unless you never go to bed early; listening to your punters conversations while trying to sleep is seriously not the dream.

When it comes to where you live some people to live out, this usually involves a big shared house.  In my case this was a house for 30 people with two communal areas and a kitchen.  Rooms varied, there were two single rooms, a handful of doubles and the rest were dormitory type rooms with bunk beds.  The house was good fun but it definitely had it down sides, it was 40 minutes downhill from my chalet, I often missed the bus and walking to breakfast at -26 was definitely not my idea of fun.  That said, having then gone to being a live in chalet girl, I found myself less than impressed when guests failed to register it was my day off and always woke me up on my day off for something stupid like milk. It also goes without saying that bringing a boy home just isn’t an option.

Living out in a small flat is the ideal arrangement, but often this is reserved for freelancers and bar staff who have done a season before and who have arranged to share well in advance.  You can find rooms to rent when you are in the resort but they tend to be on the expensive side.  If your standard of accommodation is important, I’d suggest you work for a very high end Tour Operator, I did and as a result I lived in a two bedroom flat, overlooking the women’s downhill sharing with a nanny, a ski instructor and our ski guide.  Without doubt the most enjoyable season I did.

Sadly it’s often a case of getting what you are given, but if you do your homework you can improve your odds.