Sponars Chalet

Great option for families looking for the on-snow 'Lodge' experience just a short drive to Perisher. Plenty of good places to play and relax with a 28C heated 25m pool with sauna, comfy lounge area with large screen TV to keep in touch with other sports plus rustic touches everywhere reminding you of the grand history of the location as NSW's first alpine haven - Hotel Kosciuszko.

What a great experience after our less than desirable visit in 2020. New owners and managers are brilliant. They are still ironing out issues due to the short time they had to prepare for the 2023 season. The vibe was great, food was tasty, rooms are comfy, pool and sauna are a great plus. The skis we hired there were brand new and brilliant. Also being bussed up and back each day was great. Definitely great value for money. A must stay for next season!

We had a great stay..the other guests were friendly and a pleasure to have a pre dinner drink with after a day on the mountain. Management were always helpful food was tasty staff were pleasant as was our whole ecperience. The bus is a great alternative to driving on the real busy days when carpark fills up early. Wifi available in lounge and dining area. Room and bed cosy

We stayed at Sponars for the opening weekend of the 2023 snow season. We learnt that the new managers had only JUST took over the place, and the full staff had not arrived yet. Which explains the poor customer service (had to regularly find a barman to buy a drink, had to find the barista to make a coffee as the kitchen staff couldn’t). The pool and steam room weren’t available (pool was cold as heater wasn’t going, and the steam room was dirty and used for storage). The included breaky was ok, just bacon/eggs/toast and packet cereal, but dinner was pretty bad. No salad, despite being on the simple menu, steamed veggies were stone cold (and very few). A buffet style sitting would be much better than table service (and prevent long wait times). The rooms were adequate, lounge area good and location absolutely stunning. The lake out front looks amazing at sunrise and you’ll see platypus playing on the surface. Overall the hotel has a lot of charm, it just needs polish (dusting/cleaning, etc). I would only return to Sponars for the location; and when it is busier (as there would be more profit to pay for staff, salad, and to heat the pool), and the management and staff were more practiced.

Good - ski hire, shuttle bus, clean room, comfy beds. Bad - food. Overall, the food was pretty poor and very disappointing. Breakfast and dinner are included in the price. Hot breakfast on one of the three days we stayed was good but the attempts to make frittata, or whatever they were, missed the mark. They were tasteless. Soup and Main on one of the three nights was good - leek and pumpkin soup and chicken parmigiana. The other two nights the soups were awful (minestrone soup was vegetables in a watery tasteless stock) and the mains were not great. Desserts on all three nights were awful - cold pieces of cake were not at all enjoyable. The dining room and bar staff were very friendly. Great location close to the snow but I’d be unlikely to stay again given the price and quality of the food.

We arrived for a 4 night stay at Sponars and have been very disappointed by our experience. Before arrival, we were not given any information about check in, including even the code to enter the building. We also discovered that the advertised shuttle to Perisher was not working, which we did not get notified about until seeing a sign at the closed reception area. This was part of the reason for booking with Sponars. As previous reviews have advised, the staff occupied a lot of the common guest areas socialising amongst themselves. There was no basic hospitality etiquette. The staff were doing their own kareoke and relaxing barefoot in the communal guest area, with the bar closing early every night so the bar tender could have his own drink. We felt like an inconvenience when asking any basic questions about ski hire pick up or our stay. The ski hire wasn’t open in the times we were advised. When we did get to the ski hire, all of us were fitted with ski boots 1-3 sizes too big, resulting in us having to rehire from Perisher to remedy the situation. Food was terrible and we only ate at the hotel one night over our stay, which was one too many. The location was great as was the chance to meet some new people, but overall we were very disappointed given the price we paid which was inflated due to booking in COVID and postponing the trip.

We enjoyed ourselves. It was great value for money, the staff were always friendly and helpful, and the meals were freshly cooked and tasty. The location was excellent. I’m not a skier, although the rest of the family is, so I went on some beautiful walks near the hotel. The staff gave me good advice about where to go walking. The rooms were clean. We’d be happy to go back.

Expectations were high considering this 100 year old hotel seemed iconic in the area. I was thinking old world charm, but was met with just old. The room was very basic, small beds, a Kettle and a welcome pack (off to a good start). I needed to get some work done so logged into the wifi, ‘No Internet’, this is a big problem considering no reception also. The dinner was a bit uncomfortable, I was told that they were doing a sitting at 6:30pm for 97 guests, as I watched them set up fold out tables. We arrived for dinner early at 6pm as I was concerned that we would not get a table, turns out that even a table for two was not available and were asked to eat in the lounge area. Entree was cream of vegetable soup, this proved to be inedible no matter how much salt you added. Dinner was Veal on pasta, with no other option. Desert was chocolate cake and cream from a can. I noticed a lot of guests didn’t eat much. It is a shame there are only one option, too bad if you don’t like what is being served. Be aware that rooms are not serviced and you will need to ask for fresh towels.

We stayed at Sponars for the New Years weekend going from 2021 into 2022 (3 nights). We had a wonderful time. Eric and Rosemary (and their team of able assistants) were friendly and happy to oblige with any requests, as well as provide locals' knowledge and tips of things to see and do in the area. Sponars is designed as a ski chalet, the rooms are great for that purpose, but don't expect all the trappings of a luxury hotel. Precautions required for everyone's safety due to covid were appropriately handled. Overall, good value. There is a heated pool, sauna, pool tables, table tennis, TV room and bar on premises, and a freshwater lake with kayak and paddleboards on the grounds.