How to reach APEX in Courchevel
Courchevel works four months a year, and everything about our logic here follows the season: the lifts open in mid-December and close in mid-April, with the New Year peak and the February holidays in between. The APEX manager is on Telegram at @Apex_concierge, or on WhatsApp at the same number, on shift round the clock. Reply in 1-3 minutes. In the calm weeks of the season matching runs 30-120 minutes: dinner time, dress code for the specific room, transfer from the hotel — the manager settles it all in one conversation. Over New Year week the conversation is different: few dates are open, and the honest answer sounds like "those dates are taken, let's look at the ones either side." Don't call — communication runs only through encrypted messengers. And don't come to the Rue des Tovets address: it's a coordination point for the season, not a reception.
Time zone and working hours
Courchevel runs on Europe/Paris: GMT+1 in winter and GMT+2 in summer. Since the season here is a winter one, winter time applies almost throughout. The difference from Moscow is two hours: 21:00 in Moscow is 19:00 in Courchevel, aperitif hour before dinner. The APEX manager replies round the clock in local time. Peak load is 20:00 to 03:00 on Friday and Saturday; over New Year week the peak holds for all seven days straight. Bookings for 24 December to 7 January open in September, and the first dates go almost at once. For the February holidays we ask for two to three weeks' notice, for an ordinary season week two to three days, and for the second half of January and March a day is enough.
Languages
The manager handles messages in Russian and English at the same level — write in either. Courchevel is used to Russian-speaking guests: they have been coming since the two-thousands, they take New Year week whole, and in the hotels of 1850, in the rental shops and in the resort's restaurants Russian stopped being unusual a long time ago. Some staff speak it. That doesn't make Courchevel a "Russian resort": the core audience here is French, British and Italian. It simply means getting by in Russian is easier here than in France generally. If a particular language matters for the evening, say so in your first message and the manager will take it into account when matching.
Channels
- Telegram @Apex_concierge — the main channel, reply within 3 minutes, round the clock.
- WhatsApp — the same number, for people who don't use Telegram.
- No calls, no SMS, no email — encrypted messengers only. In the mountains that's practical as well: reception on the slope is patchy, a message will land, a call won't.
- The coordination point is APEX Liaison, Rue des Tovets, Courchevel 1850. No meetings take place there: it's a working base for the season.
What to put in your first message
The more precise the brief, the faster the match. Ideally the first message contains: dates (in Courchevel that's almost always several days, not a single evening), where you're staying — hotel or chalet, and on which level of the resort — the format of the evening (dinner in a Michelin room, an evening in a chalet, après-ski with a continuation, a day on the mountain), duration, and any preferences regarding the model. For New Year week give the exact dates — they determine whether there's anything to discuss at all. For a day on the mountain, say so in advance: matching for that scenario is done separately. For trips to Méribel, Annecy or Geneva — the route and the duration. Without those details you'll lose an extra thirty to sixty minutes on clarifications, and in a peak week those thirty minutes decide whether the date is still free.
