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Descent International, the iconic luxury ski company of the bubble years, has gone bust - leaving a trail of creditors across Europe that includes the Duke of York.

The five-star chalet business whose guest list also includes the Beckhams, J.K.Rowling, Rowan Atkinson, and shamed banker Sir Fred Goodwin, has become the latest victim of the recession, leaving debts of nearly £1.5 million.

In the heyday of its 12-year reign across the Alps, parties of well-shod skiers paid up to £55,000 a week to stay in the lap of luxury in spacious homes in resorts such as Zermatt, Verbier, Val d'Isère, and Sainte-Foy. But today, following the failure of a last-ditch refinancing package, and faced with a French tax bill for nearly £400,000, the directors have decided to take the company into voluntary liquidation.

Descent's Chalet Eugenia in Klosters, Switzerland

The Duke of York is among the company's many creditors. We can reveal here for the first time that Prince Andrew chose to stay last January in the unbridled luxury of Chalet Eugenia in Klosters (pictured, above) for the World Economic Forum in neighbouring Davos. The Duke of York hosted a drinks party for guests who included Business Secretary Peter Mandelson and Shadow Chancellor George Osborne.

Chalet Eugenia sleeps 15 in extraordinary comfort and has arguably the finest and largest master bedroom in the Alps - with a roaring log fire in the bathroom as well as in the bedroom itself.

The duke enjoyed his stay so much that he booked his party in again for the same week next year, January 24-31, which again coincides with the WEF. It is not known what he actually agreed to pay for the property, but the brochure price was £5,833 per person, travel not included. The booking was in the name of Inverness - one of the duke's titles is Earl of Inverness - and a deposit of more than £30,000 was paid to Descent.

Prince Andrew's party is one of 42 groups of guests who have already paid deposits on chalet holidays for this season of 30-40% - totaling around £450,000.

The chances of these deposits being recovered are slim. Descent did hold a restricted, small-business ATOL licence, but did not routinely offer flight-inclusive packages. Most if not all the bookings for 2009-10 were accommodation-only, and were not therefore financially protected by the ATOL agreement.

Commenting on the company's demise, Descent CEO Kit Harrison said, "It's a very sad situation. We've tried very hard to save Descent, but in the end that has not been possible. I'm doing everything in my power to try and help those of our guests who have already booked with us for this winter."

One possible route for skiers trying to save their holidays lies with rival chalet operator Scott Dunn. The company, which has taken Descent's place as the number 1 provider of luxury chalet holidays, has announced that it will try to accommodate in its own chalets some of those groups who have already booked with Descent.

Andrew Dunn, managing director of Scott Dunn said: "I want to make it clear that we haven't bought Descent or taken on any of their portfolio of chalets. All we are trying to do is to help in what is very difficult situation."

The double height living room at Descent's Chesa Albertini in St Moritz, Switzerland

For staff and skiers who have stayed in Descent chalets since 1997 it's a messy and unfortunate end to an ideal that went sadly wrong, in part through over-expansion into a second and potentially lucrative property company at what proved to be the wrong time.

Descent was founded by Peter Scott, a polo-playing friend of Prince Charles, who had made his fortune from an advertising agency and out of bottled mineral water that conveniently bubbles up in the grounds of his Hampshire home.

He already owned 12-bedroom Chalet Brames in Méribel and was looking for a partner to start the ultimate five-star chalet business. He teamed up with Eton- and Oxford-educated Kit Harrison and together they launched Descent with just a couple of chalets in Méribel and Verbier.

The concept was not a new one. Back in the '80s, publishing accountant David Kemp founded The Ski Company which brought an entirely fresh level of luxury to the then 30-year-old concept of the ski chalet. All went well for a while, but in an eerily similar way Kemp was brought down by recession, selling out first to A&K and then to a consortium called Brown Rock before The Ski Company finally foundered.

A Descent chef at work in the Chesa Albertini in St Moritz, Switzerland

Descent pitched the standard even higher. Instead of chalet girls Harrison introduced world class chefs and sommeliers, and professionals trained at the EHL (Ecole Hôtelière de Lausanne). Instead of the usual stipend-and-season's-lift-pass he paid them commercial rates.

His target market was a 10,000 strong hardcore of fabulously wealthy individuals who largely came from Europe - West and East - along with a smattering of Americans, Brazilians, Indians, and even Chinese. These people wanted the luxury of a six-star hotel with the privacy that a private chalet environment could afford. And they got it.

Success led Scott and Harrison to found Botiga, which was to have been a private retreats club, a kind of timeshare for billionaires, a concept created in 2003 in the United States. Descent was sold to Botiga for £5 million and Harrison left Descent in order to concentrate on the new project. But sadly Botiga was an obvious victim for the recession. With millions wiped off share prices, even billionaires were curbing their spending and counting the pounds if not the pennies. Sumptuous holidays at private clubs in the Caribbean, the Indian Ocean and in the Alps were no longer on an acceptable agenda with shareholders and employees alike.

Botiga Management collapsed last December and Harrison returned to Descent, which is still owned by parent company Botiga Holdings.

By then, Descent was already looking vulnerable. With weekly prices of £12,000 to £55,000 its potential income was always enormous - but the expenses and the risks were high.

We estimate that it would cost around £100,000 to run each of the 19 properties on Descent's books (a total of £1.9 million). It's no wonder that the collapse in bookings last season, coupled with big currency fluctuations, left the company mortally wounded.

Ironically, bookings were almost on target for this year, with 42 weeks already sold, most of them in high season. But outstanding costs had simply become too high to handle, with some chalet owners still unpaid and with the French tax bill due, there was nothing left in the pot. Kit Harrison fought to save Descent, But sadly, like Botiga, it was doomed.

In the wake of the failure two separate groups of Descent's wealthy chalet owners in both France and Switzerland announced plans to set up alternative companies. One of them, Consensio Holidays has already launched a website. Their idea is to market directly similar style holidays in these properties this winter on a cooperative basis with the assistance of some of Descent's former staff.

Stuart Pinnell, who was CEO of Descent before acrimoniously parting from the company at the beginning of the year, said: "It's early days, but it seems possible that guests who have already booked with Descent and lost their deposits could be offered discounts if they wanted to rebook direct with the owner."

Whether the Duke of York will be in a position to avail himself of such an offer remains to be seen.

Descent's £55,000-a-week Chalet Brames in Méribel, France

Chickens, raw onions and 'green'
A sumptuous chalet in Méribel was rented by Ukrainian mafiosi who arrived with prostitutes, guns, and a case full of drugs. They shook their heads when the chef told them the menu for their first dinner. "We want chickens, cooked chickens, lots of them, and raw onions," grunted the leader. Meanwhile one of his companions had come across a bottle of Green Chartreuse in the free bar and taken a glug. He liked it.

From the on the chef and his team were up at all hours roasting an endless succession of chickens and peeling onions. Sinister calls to the kitchen came at all hours of day and night "Bring me chicken, bring me onions, bring me 'green'".

Finally it was all too much to stomach. The onions and the green congealed in pools of vomit on the once white carpet.

Money no object
One Saturday morning in November a businessman from Frankfurt rang the London office and was put through to Kit Harrison. "I've just been reading about your chalet in The Daily Telegraph. I'm in London, would you meet me for tea?" Kit went along and told him more about the chalet. At the end of the meeting the stern-faced businessman stood up and said, proffering a black credit card: "Good, I will take it for New Year. Do you take American Express."

"But you haven't asked me the price!" replied Kit

"That is not necessary. If the house and the service is as good as you say, the price is unimportant." And, for the first time, he smiled.

Eid El-Kebir
A party of Arabs had taken the Méribel chalet for a week in March which, unknown to Descent staff, coincided with the Muslim festival of Eid el-Kebir. One day the party leader accosted the chef: "We need a sheep," he announced.

"Yeees," said the chef, mentally revising his planned menu, "I could cook a crown of tender spring lamb later in the week, if I can get it."

"No, we need live sheep today - and we will ritually slaughter it according to halal rules outside in the snow." Ok.

Religious slaughter outside an abbatoir is illegal in France. But hell, in Meribel, you see a lot worse sights at nightclub chucking out time.

The Beckhams
Most famous of all the Descent holidays was the one 'enjoyed' by David and Victoria Beckham in 2004. The couple stayed in a chalet the company was running in Courchevel, which was one of the least private in its portfolio. Which was a pity, because only days earlier the Rebecca Loos scandal had broken and the world's paparazzi camped outside the door. David looked none too happy with what was going on outside or inside. His Real Madrid contract forbade skiing and the missus was laying down the law on what else he couldn't do with his body.

editor@welove2ski.com