Crestron Installer Alps — Smart Home Automation for Alpine Chalets

Unique in EMEA: 5 x Crestron Award Winners, Dealer of Distinction

Custom Controls are a certified Crestron Dealer of Distinction with an Alps office in Montriond, Haute-Savoie — at 297 Route du Cret, 74110. We have been delivering Crestron home automation systems for luxury alpine chalets across the French and Swiss Alps since the early 2000s. Our Alps portfolio spans intimate ski-in ski-out chalets in Morzine and Les Gets through to large chalet-hôtels in Méribel and Courchevel. We are five-time Crestron Integration Award winners with a pre-build methodology specifically designed for the alpine chalet market.

Alpine chalet installations present a unique set of challenges — and opportunities. The seasonal nature of chalet use means remote monitoring and automated arrival preparation are not convenient extras but essential requirements. The construction of alpine properties — thick stone, timber and reinforced concrete — demands professional-grade network design. And the expectation of guests and owners arriving at a chalet that is warm, lit and ready demands a level of automation sophistication that only Crestron consistently delivers.

Five-Time Crestron Integration Award Winners — Unique in EMEA

Five Crestron Integration Awards, won in five consecutive years. No other installer in EMEA has done it. The awards are judged by Crestron itself against entries from across Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Our award-winning entries were a Dubai estate with eight processors and 72 audio zones, a whole-home Derby lighting scheme built entirely on Crestron’s own fittings, two wins for Best High Rise in Europe at Claridge’s and the Beetham Tower, and the first Crestron Digital Media installation in the UK, on Baker Street. Open any award below to see the project behind it.

Best International Project — A Whole-Estate Crestron Installation, Dubai

Our most celebrated Crestron case study — and the project that won us the Crestron Integration Award for Best International Project — is a complete Crestron system spanning two large villas, extensive gardens, a swimming pool, a basketball court, a lake and a stream on a private estate in Dubai. Eight Crestron processors provide integrated control throughout, distributing audio to 72 zones, video to 32 zones and managing well over 400 lighting channels across both villas and the grounds. Five surround sound zones, five Kaleidescape movie servers, four Apple TVs, 24 audio sources and a full Crestron Sonnex audio distribution system serve the family villa, the guest villa, staff areas, offices and classrooms simultaneously.

The scope is perhaps best illustrated by its details: the basketball court has four cabinet speakers mounted on the floodlights with two sunken subwoofers; the garden fire pits are Crestron-controlled; the gym features Artcoustic speakers enhanced by subwoofers; and the master bedroom suite houses a bespoke Stax headphone system with a valve amplifier and DaVinci DAC for private listening. The dedicated home cinema room in the family villa seats eight in Cineak chairs with backlit Onyx tables, with a 3.5m screen and 17 channels of surround sound — one of the most comprehensive Crestron installations ever delivered in the residential market. Read the full case study →

Best Lighting Control & Design — A Whole-Home Lighting Installation, Derby

Where the Dubai estate shows what Crestron can do at maximum scale, this new-build home in the Derby countryside shows what it can do with lighting alone, done properly — the project that won us the Crestron Integration Award for Best Lighting Control & Design, and the first installation in the UK to use Crestron’s own dimmable LED fittings end-to-end, with nothing else involved in the lighting. Over 350 fittings across 200+ channels — each drawing roughly 18 watts while matching the output of a 50-watt halogen downlight — are managed through six distributed lighting racks for clean cabling and full redundancy. The client calculated that the entire house now uses the same lighting energy previously used by just the kitchen and dining room alone. Scenes, scheduling and remote access are available from the wall touchpanels, more than 50 keypads or an iPad, and every keypad is custom-engraved so each button says what it does.

Lighting sits alongside 24 audio zones and 16 video zones over Crestron Digital Media, full heating and air conditioning control, gate intercom distributed via touchpanels throughout the property, and a complete monitored security and CCTV system with automatic camera-follow logic — every part of it native Crestron, controlled from the same wall touchpanels and iPad interfaces used for everything else in the home. Read the full case study →

Best High Rise in Europe — Claridge’s Hotel Penthouses, Mayfair

Working inside the listed Claridge’s Hotel, we installed Crestron-controlled Loewe multimedia systems in two penthouse apartments of three rooms each — the project that won the Crestron Integration Award for Best High Rise in Europe. The interiors are listed, so no new cable routes could be created and nothing could be chased, drilled or rewired. Every decision about equipment and control started with the building rather than the product catalogue.

Every room has a Loewe LED TV and Blu-ray player. In the living rooms, 46-inch Loewe TVs are paired with upgraded audio: the Individual Sound Projector in one apartment and stand-mounted stereo speakers in the other, both supported by subwoofers. Wireless control removed the need for wall-mounted keypads or new wiring to each control position, which is what made a full Crestron system possible in rooms that could not be physically altered.

The design centred on the Crestron TPS-6X wireless touchpanel, which uses RF rather than WiFi for instant response and freedom from interference by neighbouring wireless networks. Each panel carries the Claridge’s crest in a bespoke finish, and guests reach the Loewe LED TVs, Blu-ray, Sky HD and hotel TV from one interface that had to be intuitive for guests of any nationality with no instruction. Read the full case study →

Most Innovative Control — The First Crestron Digital Media Installation in the UK, Baker Street

This modern townhouse near Regent’s Park was the first Crestron Digital Media installation in the UK, and won the pan-European 2010 Crestron Integration Award for Most Innovative Control Solution. It also became an official Crestron case study. HD audio and video from Sky HD, ArabSat, Apple TV and a Kaleidescape server reach eight TVs over Cat5e cable, with an audio matrix feeding ceiling speakers in each room, including DAB radio.

Centralising the sources means one Sky HD, ArabSat, Apple TV and Kaleidescape installation serves the whole house rather than a box beside every television. The Kaleidescape server holds the client’s film collection for instant access in any room, and the CCTV cameras appear as just another source on any screen. The interface was programmed from scratch around the property and the people living in it, with weather feeds and local times for each of the client’s international home locations embedded on the touchpanel home page.

Lighting, heating, Hitachi air conditioning and an Axis IP CCTV system run from the same Crestron interface, on a mix of wired TPS-6L and wireless TPS-6X touchpanels, with iPhone control from anywhere in the world, including switching on the underfloor heating during the transfer from the airport. The Axis cameras are viewable from the client’s laptop or full-screen on a touchpanel at home, with a large storage server keeping all footage available for analysis. The interface is so intuitive that the client turned down training, and it is used regularly by non-English-speaking staff. Read the full case study →

Best High Rise in Europe — Beetham Tower Penthouse, Manchester

The top two floors of the 168.87m Beetham Tower, the highest residential living space in Europe at the time of installation, won us the 2009 Crestron Integration Award for Best High Rise in Europe and became an official Crestron Digital Media case study. The biggest challenge was not distributing audio and video but controlling the building management systems: underfloor heating, ventilation, swimming pool temperature and the irrigation for a 4,000 square foot rooftop olive grove, all from Crestron 6-inch touchpanels.

Bringing these systems under one controller means the client never deals with a separate thermostat, pool controller or irrigation timer. Temperature setpoints are adjusted room by room with a simple scroll and tap on the touchpanels, and the heating, ventilation, pool and garden sit in the same interface as the audio, video, lighting and security, so the whole penthouse is run the same way.

Alongside the environment sit eight audio zones and four video zones with a Kaleidescape server that stores the client’s DVD and CD collection so several different films or albums can play at once in different zones, and an FM tuner that is particularly popular in the his-and-hers bathrooms. More than 60 lighting channels and 25 keypads give direct scene recall around the apartment, and CCTV, including the private lift lobby, records on a rolling basis alongside a monitored alarm that notifies the concierge and the client, all in one interface. Read the full case study →

Alongside the awards, we are a Crestron Dealer of Distinction, Crestron’s higher dealer level, and we have been certified Crestron dealers since 1998, the year Crestron was establishing itself as the dominant residential automation platform in the UK. For over two decades we have remained continuously active in the Crestron ecosystem, installing hundreds of systems across every generation of Crestron hardware and software.

Crestron for Alpine Chalets — What We Deliver

Geofenced arrival preparation. The defining Crestron feature for alpine chalet use. The Crestron system monitors the owner or guests’ location via the Crestron app and begins heating the chalet, activating the lighting to the arrival scene and warming the boot room when they are two hours from the property. By the time they arrive — after a flight, a transfer and the journey up the mountain — the chalet is at temperature, lit and welcoming. No manual switching, no arriving in the cold. This automation alone transforms the chalet experience.

Heating and underfloor control. Alpine chalets are typically heated by underfloor systems covering large areas across multiple zones. Crestron manages every heating zone independently — maintaining frost protection temperatures during unoccupied periods, ramping to comfort temperatures in advance of arrivals, and adjusting zone by zone based on occupancy. The energy saving from intelligent heating management in an alpine chalet that may be unoccupied for 40+ weeks per year is substantial.

Crestron AV Distribution. Any source — Kaleidescape, Apple TV, streaming — to any room in the chalet simultaneously. For chalets with cinema rooms, ski rooms with audio and external terrace speakers, Crestron NVX and NAX distribute 4K video and audio across the whole property from a centralised rack in the plant room. The specific demands of chalet AV — guest turnover, après-ski volume, hot tub and terrace zoning — are covered in detail in our chalet audio and entertainment guide →

Lighting and Lutron integration. We pair Crestron with Lutron Homeworks QSX or RadioRA 3 for lighting across our significant Alps installations. Scene-based lighting for arrival, dining, cinema and departure. Lutron RadioRA 3 is particularly valuable for retrofit chalet installations where the electrical infrastructure is already in place — wireless installation avoids the need to open completed walls in a finished chalet interior.

Security and remote monitoring. CCTV, alarm systems and access control managed within the Crestron system. For chalets managed by rental agencies, Crestron access control with time-limited codes for each rental party eliminates the physical key handover entirely — codes are issued before arrival and expire automatically at checkout. Owners can see every entry and exit in the audit log from anywhere in the world.

The Pre-Build Methodology — Essential for Alpine Delivery

Delivering a Crestron installation to a remote alpine location requires the same pre-build methodology we apply to all international projects — but here it is even more critical. Equipment is fully assembled, programmed and tested at our UK workshop before being driven to the Alps. Installation time on site is minimised. This is not merely an efficiency measure — it is the only practical way to deliver a complex Crestron system to a property that may be accessible only by mountain road and that has a narrow window between rental seasons for technical work.

Crestron Support, Maintenance & System Takeovers Alps

All our alpine Crestron installations are configured for remote monitoring from our UK operations. The majority of issues — heating zone configuration, lighting scene updates, AV source changes, network adjustments — are resolved remotely without any site visit. For physical maintenance work, our Montriond office covers the Portes du Soleil region directly. We also work with trusted local partners across the Three Valleys, Chamonix valley and Swiss Alps for properties outside our direct coverage area. We regularly take over chalet Crestron systems installed by other companies — auditing the existing installation, fixing faults, reprogramming heating and lighting scenes to a standard we are happy to support, and enrolling the chalet in our remote monitoring service. Read more about our system takeover, repair and renovation service → Annual Crestron maintenance contracts cover the alpine portfolio with priority remote support and scheduled pre-season on-site visits.

Alps Case Studies — Crestron Installations

Morzine, Portes du Soleil

A substantial chalet in Morzine with a Crestron smart home installation covering heating, AV distribution, Lutron lighting and enterprise WiFi. The Crestron geofencing automation pre-heats the chalet from the owner’s UK home — they set arrival mode before leaving for the airport and arrive to a warm, lit chalet regardless of the time of year. Remote monitoring from our UK office means we are aware of any system issue within minutes of it occurring, without relying on a caretaker to report it.

Châtel, Portes du Soleil

A large chalet in Châtel featuring a dedicated cinema room as the centrepiece of the technology package — and the first truly high-specification cinema installation in the Portes du Soleil area. Sony VW7000 4K laser projection on a 3.8m Screen Excellence acoustically transparent screen, Artcoustic 11.4.2 Dolby Atmos speaker system, Trinnov Altitude 16 processing and Kaleidescape source. Crestron manages the cinema room as part of the wider chalet system — one button press on the Crestron touchpanel transitions the whole chalet into cinema mode: the cinema room activates, the heating adjusts, the ski room lighting dims and the terrace speakers pause.

Megève, Haute-Savoie

A large prestige chalet in Megève with a purpose-designed cinema room — 4m curved Screen Excellence screen, Sony 4K laser projection, Artcoustic 11.4.2 Dolby Atmos and Trinnov Altitude processing. The cinema room acoustic design was modelled before construction began, with the curved screen and rear wall configuration addressing the bass mode issues that rectangular rooms of this size typically present. Crestron and Lutron manage the whole chalet — twelve rooms, heated ski room, terrace audio and the cinema room — from a single interface.

Alps Areas We Serve

France: Morzine · Les Gets · Châtel · Avoriaz · Megève · Chamonix · Les Contamines · Saint-Gervais · La Clusaz · Les Arcs · La Plagne · Les Menuires · Val Thorens · Méribel · Courchevel · Val d’Isère · Tignes · Alpe d’Huez
Switzerland: Verbier · Zermatt · Crans-Montana · Villars · Gstaad · Saas-Fee
Our Montriond office covers the Portes du Soleil region directly. We work with local partners across all other alpine areas.

Crestron projects in the Portes du Soleil are run directly from our Montriond office, with the same engineers handling design, installation and seasonal support. Across the wider French and Swiss Alps we pre-build and test every system before it reaches the chalet, keeping time on site to a minimum in resorts where access and working seasons are limited. Every chalet we support is monitored remotely, so faults are picked up even when the owners are not in residence.

Alps Crestron FAQs

• Do you install Crestron in alpine chalets?
  Yes. We have an Alps office in Montriond, Haute-Savoie and have been installing smart home, home cinema and WiFi systems in luxury alpine chalets since the late 1990s, across the French and Swiss Alps including Morzine, Méribel, Courchevel, Verbier and Zermatt.
• What smart home system is best for an alpine chalet?
  For whole-home automation, Crestron Home provides seamless control of AV, climate, security and access. For lighting and shading in historic timber-frame chalets with limited cable access, we most frequently recommend Lutron RadioRA 3, as its fully wireless architecture suits them well.
• Can you support a chalet system remotely?
  Yes. Remote monitoring is standard on all our alpine installations. We can diagnose and resolve the vast majority of issues from our UK and Alps offices without a site visit, which is particularly valuable for properties used seasonally, and faults are picked up even when the owners are not in residence.
• Can equipment cope with Alpine winters and seasonal shutdowns?
  Yes, if it is specified for it. Equipment must operate reliably through winter shutdowns, rapid reheating and the humidity cycles that come with mountain living, so we specify for those conditions rather than for a standard installation.
• Can you check the systems before we arrive for the season?
  Yes. We offer pre-season and pre-arrival system checks, ensuring keypads, processors and blinds are fully operational before the first guests arrive, however long the chalet has been unoccupied.
• Do Custom Controls install Crestron systems in alpine chalets?
  Yes. Custom Controls have been delivering Crestron home automation for alpine chalets since the early 2000s, with an Alps office in Montriond, Haute-Savoie.
• Can Crestron pre-heat an alpine chalet before we arrive?
  Yes — and this is the most valued feature of our alpine Crestron installations.
• Can Crestron manage a chalet while it is unoccupied?
  Yes. Crestron manages alpine chalets in unoccupied mode — maintaining frost protection temperatures, monitoring for alarms and faults, and logging all access events.
• Can you take over an existing Crestron system in an alpine chalet?
  Yes. We regularly take over chalet Crestron systems installed by other companies.
• Do you offer Crestron support for alpine chalets between seasons?
  Yes. All our alpine installations are configured for remote monitoring, with pre-season maintenance visits offered.

Related Pages

• Crestron Home Automation — Main Service Page
• Crestron Programming
• Crestron Maintenance & Support
• Lutron Installer Alps
• Smart Home Installer Alps
• Home Cinema Installer Alps
• Chalet Audio & Entertainment — Alps
• Smart Home Alpine Chalet — Overview
• Contact Our Alps Office