MO: Tour du Mont Blanc - Refuge Option

This is a companion trip to David O's camping-focused Tour Du Mont Blanc. This trip starts at the same time but is only 6 days/5 nights long and has primarily refuge (mountain hut/hostel) stays instead of camping.
I am posting the itinerary that I already booked. If you opt for this version, you need to do your own booking and you need to do it now because the refuges book up very quickly.

I used this website to book most of my refuges: Refuges autour du Mont-Blanc - réservez en ligne votre tour du Mont-Blanc, it has a handy itinerary planning feature and a map: Tour du Mont-Blanc - CCPMB - - uMap. Translation into English works a little weird, but you can figure out a lot of it in French :-).

Here is the itinerary:
Night 0, June 19: Ibis styles Les Houches, also lots of campground options in Chamonix and Les Houches
Night 1, June 20: Refuge de La Balme, camping is allowed next to the refuge
Night 2, June 21: Rifugio Cabane Combal, it no longer had availability, but Rifugio Elisabetta or Rifugio Maison Vieille nearby may be still available, and camping may be an option
Night 3, June 22: Refugio Elena, they still had availability, need to email them directly info@rifugioelena.it
Night 4, June 23: Refugio Relais d’Arpette, other refuges in the area
Night 5, June 24: Gite Le Moulin, other options nearby
Night 6 (optional), June 25: Ibis styles Les Houches

The hike will begin around 7 am on June 20th from Ibis Styles Les Houches. Splits are 15-20 miles. Couple of things to keep in mind:
You have to arrive at a refuge at a certain time, normally by 6 pm, or they may give your bed away (unless you let them know that you are late).
When you book "half-board" at a refuge, you get dinner and breakfast the next day. However, breakfast is normally at 7 am, so on longer days, we may not have time to enjoy a nice leisurely meal or may skip it all together. Dinner is between 6:30 and 7 pm. Accommodations are shared, hostel-style. If we get enough participants, we can probably arrange with refuges to have us all in the same room.
6-day itinerary is very demanding, and we will not have time to get off the trail to explore the surroundings and little towns along the way. If you want to have a more leisurely hike, you need to look at 8-11 day itineraries.

Last, I will give preference to the folks that already signed up for David O's trip.

---------------THE IMPORTANT WARNINGS-------------------


I’m just a co-participant on this trip, not a guide or an expert.
You are officially on the trip if you both RSVP on Meetup, we engage by email or messaging, and you meet me in Les Houches NLT afternoon of June 19th. Otherwise, you are doing your own trip. I’m open to questions.
By RSVPing to this trip or any other DCUL trip, you agree to these guidelines and to DCUL's waiver liability terms (https://dculbackpacking.com/about/liability-waiver/)
COVID-19 policy: https://dculbackpacking.com/about/covid-19-guidelines/
Dues: Members and above, don't forget to pay your annual dues. You can check if you need to pay dues by seeing if the current year is listed next to your name in your DCUL profile. To pay your dues via PayPal, use this link: https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/JenniferAdach/15 ($10 annual dues plus a $5 suggested donation to City Kids Wilderness Project.)