 Poster: A snowHead
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@Lisa, you honestly don't want to do tyres or helmets. I haven't clicked the links but you are going to be wrong in the eyes of 50% of the people who do 
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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@Lisa_BrentaSki, I'd assume that the vast majority of people going to the Dolomites would fly rather than drive so this may be less relevant than other topics.
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Don't forget that our newsletters are aimed at giving information to people with little or no knowledge of a topic.
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You are the expert on this rather than me, but I'd suggest that very few people actually read any newsletter and the purpose (from your perspective) is not to give people information but simply to keep your name at the front of people's minds. To that end it doesn't really matter what the newsletter is all about.
Despite having contributed a couple of rather dull suggestions to you earlier I might back track and suggest you change direction. Rather than tedious informative newsletters it would be a lot more fun to make it more personal and more of a story. Something like 'Lisa's quest for the best tartiflette in the Dolomites' (or whatever the Dolomites equivalent of tartiflette is) or some punter's tale of adventure, or 'Wayneo's Weekly Rant' or BrentaSki's photo album of the season. i.e. rather than informing/educating the readers focus instead on inspiring them and getting them to think 'God, I wish I was there now'
By the way, your 'Live snow forecast below - supplied by the Italian Met. Office' doesn't seem to be working and the video above of the Folgarida Snow Report is well out of date. Better to have nothing than something that makes the website look a bit unloved.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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@Lisa_BrentaSki, Silly question perhaps, but is it my imagination or is there no easy way to access all the newsletters you linked to via the website. Shouldn't there be a navigation button to take you to an 'about your trip' area of the site?
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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| foxtrotzulu wrote: |
| I'd suggest that very few people actually read any newsletter |
Not sure about that. I get Newsletters from various websites and I’ll read those which catch my eye as being of interest to me personally (if I have time, at the time they arrive).
As an example this March we had 17 calls from schools (and parents) regarding the cost of school trips after we put a simple price for school groups in the Spring Newsletter. Last March we had 4 calls. Of course you can’t really point to something and say definitely that this is the reason for it, but I would think it’s likely.
We really do try and steer away from making the Newsletters simply a “sales pitch” and hopefully this makes them a little more interesting. But as you pointed out, of course there is a reason we spend so much time doing them.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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@Lisa_BrentaSki, Delighted to be proved wrong about people reading them 
1. Are the newsletters findable by Google so that someone searching for 'cost of school trip' would naturally find them, even if you haven't sent them the newletter?
2. Was I correct that the newsletters are not easily found by a visitor to the website? It sounds like you have built up quite a resource over the years and it would be good if people can access it easily.
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@foxtrotzulu, Yes the school price is searchable but I won’t give the URL or someone will say that I’m spamming . 
Maybe (just maybe) the reason we tend to specialise in families and adult groups (in other words, trips where the person/family paying is actually paying for just their own holiday) and not school groups is that we refuse to enter into some of the standard practices involved in the school group industry. It’s a real shame for the kids who are being asked to pay for these practices, and even more of a shame that some kid’s parents simply can’t afford to pay the (increased) costs which are solely down to them, so their kids never get to experience skiing at a young age.
But maybe this is a little too far off topic and I think it’s already been discussed many times on here and on other websites.
No the newsletter aren’t searchable. We did used to leave old newsletters on our site, until we started to see our articles, with one or two words altered, appearing on (some?) other sites.
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| Lisa_BrentaSki wrote: |
Maybe (just maybe) the reason we tend to specialise in families and adult groups (in other words, trips where the person/family paying is actually paying for just their own holiday) and not school groups is that we refuse to enter into some of the standard practices involved in the school group industry. It’s a real shame for the kids who are being asked to pay for these practices, and even more of a shame that some kid’s parents simply can’t afford to pay the (increased) costs which are solely down to them, so their kids never get to experience skiing at a young age.
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But the school industry practices (I assume you mean lots of freebie places and inspection visits for teachers/adult accompaniers) are the carrot needed for people who have going to have responsibility for other peoples' kids for 8 days. No doubt it's cheaper taking your own kids or probably best of all fobbing them off on a friend's family who do ski.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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@Lisa_BrentaSki, Much the easiest solution, imho, is to get someone else to do it, have a chat with the team at http://www.skipedia.co.uk/services/ they write newsletters/blogs etc for several ski co's.
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Just sending out the Newsletter today.
In this one
* Eating out in Italy, you'll get what you ask for !
* EHIC - how much do they cost?
* In resort activities for young kids.
* Answering the question, what do we do in the summer?
Plus news about our availability - some weeks are already fully booked !
You can download the full newsletter here
https://www.brentaski.com/mail/index.aspx
Here is the Eating out in Italy page - no we don't own a restaurant
I wrote this so I hope you like it
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Eating Out in Italy, you’ll get what you ask for.
First of all it must be emphasised that the phrase “Italian Restaurant” means a restaurant in Italy. This is an important distinction as the Italian restaurants in the UK, or anywhere else will, if they want to stay in business, cater for the wants of the locals, and this may not be a real Italian dining experience.
As an example, if you were to order some chicken in a high class Italian restaurant in London you would fully expect to receive your chicken accompanied by potatoes and other vegetables and maybe even a colorful side salad. This won't happen in Italy. If you order chicken, that's what you'll get. In fact that's all you get, with maybe a little sauce and a few bits of vegetables from the broth it was cooked in, if any. If you order a tomato salad in London you're really asking for a salad containing tomatoes, whereas in Italy you'll be asking for some sliced tomatoes, maybe with some oil and spices to liven them up. So remember, you get what you ask for.
The reason for the difference is that in Italy menus are, of course, arranged around the way Italians eat their meals and, to put it bluntly, they simply don't pile everything onto one plate as we do in the UK. You can still have your chicken, potatoes and veg all together, but only if you ask for them and you "really" want to look like a tourist.
Italian menus are arranged into categories: Antipasto (appetizer), Primo (first course), Secondo (second course), Contorno (vegetables and side dishes) and Dolce (sweet or fruit). Of course you don't have to have something from each category, and as I said above you could, if you really want, ask for your Secondo and Contorno "insieme - together".
Antipasto (appetizer) :- typically this is taken before the meal with, maybe, a small glass of prosecco or spumante and may be a small plate of cheese and/or charcuterie (cold meat platter) or maybe even a small slice of pizza or fried polenta.
Primo (first course) :- this is often mistranslated as the “starter” but this can be misleading and is another difference between dining in Italy and the UK. The Primo is, if not the largest, almost certainly the most filling, part of the meal. On the menu there "will" be many types of pasta. You may also see rice dishes such as risotto, gnocchi (soft dough dumplings) or frutti di mare (shell fish cooked in sauce such as mussels, clams, and scallops or calamari/squid).
Secondo (second course) :- this is also often mistranslated as the Main course but it can't be equated to what that means in the UK. You should rather think of it as the Protein course which will include items such as fish and meat. Vegetarian options are available in many restaurants, but check the menu beforehand. Again, you get what you ask for and with the Secondo this is very apparent. If you ask for steak or trout that's what you'll get. It will be extremely tasty, but it will be just a steak or trout!
Contorno (vegetables and side dishes) :- literally this translates as Garnish, so you should think of this as an extra course of side dishes. If you like boiled potatoes, patatine fritte (that's chips to you and me), baked asparagus, polenta cakes or insalata mista (mixed salad), this is the course for you. But remember in Italy it is normally served after the Secondo.
Dolce (sweet or fruit) :- My favourite course. What's not to like. Tiramisu, gelato (ice cream), fruit salad, Panna cotta (cooked cream cake), Panforte (fruit cake).... it's a Long list.
Top Tip. After your meal, if you order a coffee traditionally this should only be either un caffè (a small black coffee) or un caffè macchiato (a small coffee with a dash of milk).
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FAQ
