Hi Liam- a comprehensive reply on its way! Lol
Considering what you have said so far regarding the type of group going/level of skiers etc I would say in my opinion you can't go wrong with the Three Valleys. It does depend on how much money you want to spend though and whether you want a catered chalet, a hotel, self catered apartment or what. What you will get there though(if you've not been before)is plenty of beginner terrain for your partner and for your parents to get used to skiing again if they haven't been for ages, plus plenty of more challenging terrain also for the more advanced skier. Something for everyone most people would say. This is assuming that you fly though, although driving is of course possible also.
Have a look at Meribel/
Courchevel/
La Tania and read about them in a ski resort guide if you haven't done so already. Courchevel doesn't have to be expensive because it actually has a choice of 4 different parts/villages (1850 being the highest and the most expensive then 1650, 1550 and 1300 otherwise known as Le Praz) so you could always stay lower down and still benefit from the good snow record that Courchevel has as there is an excellent lift system to take you up to
Courchevel 1850 and beyond to elsewhere.
For the beginners and for ski school I would say Meribel as a possible base for you guys. There are plenty of schools to choose from that meet near the Chaudanne area including the usual ESF, and also British run ski schools, Parallel Lines and New Generation. Meribel is in the centre of it all as you will read and you will be able to get to
Val Thorens or Courchevel if the snow starts to suffer a bit.
To be fair though I REALLY don't think you'll have a problem with snow in the Three Valleys 1st week of March-not this year anyway!! There's loads of it and the skiing conditions are lovely-I was in Courchevel 1850 the other week. Of course that could change but, like with any resort, you have to have a look at the snow reports and it has been snowing this week and quite regularly from what I can gather.
February and March are always popular months wherever you choose to go so you could indeed wait until 2-3 weeks before departure and see what late deals there are to be had. If you have a look at most websites you will see how much discount you can get about a fortnight before but you might not get the right location you wanted etc admittedly.
Hope you find the right holiday for you.
