Cheapest way to ski the new year ?

Has anybody any recent experience of booking a late deal at New Year?
(I have noted some Google posts from pre 2000 that suggest that good
offers are difficult to find, but cannot find anything of late).
Brochure prices are just so high (for one that is used to skiing
mid-January !)

I am particularly interested in the higher French resorts that offer
good childcare facilities, although other areas would be considered
depending on conditions at the time.

Thanks in advance for any helpful information.

It very difficult to get any sort of deal at New Year.

You could take a high risk by waiting until the last minute, but I
don't fancy your chances.

I got lucky a couple of years ago but it was hard work. I managed to
get flights to Lyon for only £40 return. Bargain. Only trouble was
finding accomodation. Mind you I made it hard by not doing a full week
and staying over a weekend. Hoteliers, certainly in the 3 Valleys, Val
d'Isere type places are not interested, they can fill up for the whole
week at that time of year so they won't take bookings for anything
other than 7 or 14 nights, Saturday to Saturday. (In the end I stayed
in a brand new chalet in Ste Foy which was excellent by the way).

If you find cheap flights and you can travel on Saturday then you
should be OK. The hotels won't be offering any deals as such, but b
ooking directmay be slightly cheaper then booking with the TO.

If you need good child care you might be better off with a tour
operator though - I've heard good things about Mark Warner and Ski
Esprit. Neither of these will be cheap over New Year and your chance
of a last minute bargain are pretty much nil.

HTH,
Steve




On 21 Aug 2003 05:33:11 -0700, (Mark) wrote:

Has anybody any recent experience of booking a late deal at New Year?
(I have noted some Google posts from pre 2000 that suggest that good
offers are difficult to find, but cannot find anything of late).
Brochure prices are just so high (for one that is used to skiing
mid-January !)

I am particularly interested in the higher French resorts that offer
good childcare facilities, although other areas would be considered
depending on conditions at the time.

Thanks in advance for any helpful information.


~ If emailing, please use: Steve_A_Haigh
~ @
~ hotmail.com
~

Ian Spare wrote:

good advice but why use the same hotels as the operators do?

OK, it's not a given. But there are precious few hotels in ski resorts
that aren't used by tour companies....


--
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BOF#30 WUSS#5 "Worse than Timo" - Official

The Older Gentleman wrote:
Mark wrote:


Has anybody any recent experience of booking a late deal at New Year?
(I have noted some Google posts from pre 2000 that suggest that good
offers are difficult to find, but cannot find anything of late).
Brochure prices are just so high (for one that is used to skiing
mid-January !)

I am particularly interested in the higher French resorts that offer
good childcare facilities, although other areas would be considered
depending on conditions at the time.

Thanks in advance for any helpful information.


Book direct. Get the names of the hotels from the brochuires, the phone
numbers from the web or International Directory Enquiries, and the
flight times and prices from Expedia.

*Don't* book through tour operators. They inflate their prices hugely.

Agreed, but if you need a flight, you've already missed the
cheaper options for this New Year. Flights definitely need booking
as soon as the winter slots go on sale. I think Easyjet might
still have a few spaces from Gatwick/Luton if you don't mind
going at antisocial hours (early morning/late evening) but Flybe
are already over 300 quid return for New Year.

On the good news side, I gathered from one phonecall that we are
still in good time to book group accommodation for New Year 2004/5

If you're planning to drive the ferry bookings should be easier. I
haven't checked but I'd guess the snow train is pretty full too.

Friends have pointed out that because of the February inflation,
half term can work out cheaper in Canada than in Europe. Cheaper
being a relative term...

-Sarah

On Fri, 22 Aug 2003 07:22:25 +0100,
(The Older Gentleman) wrote:

Ian Spare wrote:

good advice but why use the same hotels as the operators do?

OK, it's not a given. But there are precious few hotels in ski resorts
that aren't used by tour companies....

In France that's true in some stations, but that's particularly why I
said Austria, the majority of hotels are not used by operators and, it
might be argued, that the normal customers (Germans) are a bit
"demanding" in the other hotels so the standards are higher, the
hoteliers are often quite glad of a change from Germans as well :-)
--
Yeah, because you never know when the value of 2^15 will change and
you have to go through all your code fixing it.
-- Paul Tomblin

Ian Spare wrote:

On Fri, 22 Aug 2003 07:22:25 +0100,
(The Older Gentleman) wrote:

Ian Spare wrote:

good advice but why use the same hotels as the operators do?

OK, it's not a given. But there are precious few hotels in ski resorts
that aren't used by tour companies....

In France that's true in some stations, but that's particularly why I
said Austria, the majority of hotels are not used by operators and, it
might be argued, that the normal customers (Germans) are a bit
"demanding" in the other hotels so the standards are higher, the
hoteliers are often quite glad of a change from Germans as well :-)

Fairy nuff. It's years since I last skied in Austria, and that was on a
package.


--
Trophy 1200 750SS CB400F TS150 ST70 YTC#3
GAGARPHOF#30 GHPOTHUF#1 IHABWTJ#1 BOTAFOT#60 ANORAK#06 OSOS#1
BOF#30 WUSS#5 "Worse than Timo" - Official

I've weighed up the cost of tour operators (Inghams for example) and doing
it myself and it came out much cheaper to do it with the tour operator.

This year I might head to Canada.. Inghams have deals for 400 pounds, some
even a bit less.. I couldn't even fly to Calgary for that amount, much less
get transfers and accomodation for a week!


"The Older Gentleman" wrote in message
news:1g0245h.167msxzrzpxvN%chateau.murrayNOSPAM@ds l.pipex.com...
Mark wrote:

Has anybody any recent experience of booking a late deal at New Year?
(I have noted some Google posts from pre 2000 that suggest that good
offers are difficult to find, but cannot find anything of late).
Brochure prices are just so high (for one that is used to skiing
mid-January !)

I am particularly interested in the higher French resorts that offer
good childcare facilities, although other areas would be considered
depending on conditions at the time.

Thanks in advance for any helpful information.

Book direct. Get the names of the hotels from the brochuires, the phone
numbers from the web or International Directory Enquiries, and the
flight times and prices from Expedia.

*Don't* book through tour operators. They inflate their prices hugely.


--
Trophy 1200 750SS CB400F TS150 ST70 YTC#3
GAGARPHOF#30 GHPOTHUF#1 IHABWTJ#1 BOTAFOT#60 ANORAK#06 OSOS#1
BOF#30 WUSS#5 "Worse than Timo" - Official

InMyTree wrote:

I've weighed up the cost of tour operators (Inghams for example) and doing
it myself and it came out much cheaper to do it with the tour operator.

This year I might head to Canada.. Inghams have deals for 400 pounds, some
even a bit less.. I couldn't even fly to Calgary for that amount, much less
get transfers and accomodation for a week!

North America, yes, I can see that, but in Europe, I've always found DIY
to be cheaper overall.


--
Trophy 1200 750SS CB400F TS150 ST70 YTC#3
GAGARPHOF#30 GHPOTHUF#1 IHABWTJ#1 BOTAFOT#60 ANORAK#06 OSOS#1
BOF#30 WUSS#5 "Worse than Timo" - Official

The Older Gentleman wrote:

InMyTree wrote:

I've weighed up the cost of tour operators (Inghams for example) and doing
it myself and it came out much cheaper to do it with the tour operator.

This year I might head to Canada.. Inghams have deals for 400 pounds, some
even a bit less.. I couldn't even fly to Calgary for that amount, much less
get transfers and accomodation for a week!

North America, yes, I can see that, but in Europe, I've always found DIY
to be cheaper overall.

Yebbut, Europe is below (altitude wise) him.

Its certainly not below me.. I come from Australia and ski there, and Europe
is a million times better than there.. its just I find Europe worse than
Canadian (and I suppose North American skiing) in almost every aspect..

"BrritSki" wrote in message
...


The Older Gentleman wrote:

InMyTree wrote:

I've weighed up the cost of tour operators (Inghams for example) and
doing
it myself and it came out much cheaper to do it with the tour
operator.

This year I might head to Canada.. Inghams have deals for 400 pounds,
some
even a bit less.. I couldn't even fly to Calgary for that amount, much
less
get transfers and accomodation for a week!

North America, yes, I can see that, but in Europe, I've always found DIY
to be cheaper overall.

Yebbut, Europe is below (altitude wise) him.