 Poster: A snowHead
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We will be looking for accomm in France. Normally DIY and use friend's place in Saint Foy but not possible next year so will be looking at other resorts too. What is the best way to find an owner apartment? I thought it might be possible on here but can't seem to find theright section - or is it not allowed on here?!
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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There are a few here. Hells Bells has a link to her place in Serre Chevalier which looks lovely. Others too but can't
remember the names! If you say what you're looking for you'll get lots of suggestions. I'd say your best bet is resort websites. There'll be loads of accommodation options usually including both agencies and individuals.
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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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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Ok. Not sure what resort really. We are 2 adults and 2 children (10 and 7). Self driving so not too far down. Ski in/out a must. We self cater. All intermediates, we ski en famille so plenty of blues/red runs. Access to a pool/hot tub desirable. A pretty/quiet/family resort would suit. We like tree lined/ long woodland runs. We have loved Saint Foy but have been there repeatedly and would prefer a resort with a few more runs now the kids are improving. My son sould love somewhere with a jumping pillow! All suggestions appreciated!
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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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If you find something on Homeaway, be aware that the prices charged on many properties now include a fee to the traveller of around 8% which does not go to the owner. In additions the owner may also charged a similar commission fee. Google the property you like and see if they are listed elsewhere or have their own website, and you'll get a better deal.
Serre Chevalier had a jumping pillow last season, I assume they will continue with it. My place has a pool, sauna and steam room, and is 200m from long tree-lined runs. We are in the largest larch forest in europe. Link to my website in my signature.
There's a list of some other snowHeads properties here http://snowheads.com/ski-forum/viewtopic.php?t=57919
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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+1 for home away. Used them many times for ski apartment and summer places and never had any problems. For ski in/out, Just make sure you are which particular residence it is in (it's astonishing how many miss this vital bit out) and then check on the resort map. Our two are 10 and 9 and we've always been to Val Thorens around Easter. Great intermediate ski area, lots of accommodation which is ski in and out, but not quite family orientated...lots of teenagers and young adults hooming around and you have to keep your eyes peeled. They had a big jump bag last season too. But lacking in trees it must be said.
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@Clarrylove, Les Saisies would suit you very well as a resort. There's a public pool and some of the apartment blocks have them too. Peak Retreats have a couple on their books and there are others. LA Perle des Alpes in Bisanne 1500 has a pool and is ski in/out.
As for an airbag thing- can't be relied upon. Sometimes there is one but not always, and was paying.
When are you going?
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Thank you Pam, will check that out. We would like to go the first week of Jan, preferably a Sunday changeover but aware this is New Year's Day so not sure if that will be classed as a peak week or not.
The festive dates don't fall well this season for Saturday changeovers so not sure how most owners are doing it. I've seen a few offering Tuesday 3rd Jan check in, presumably to get prak rates for the New Year weekend, which doesn't really suit us.
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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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@Clarrylove, your preferred dates won't be easy to meet this coming season, given that Christmas and NY fall over the weekend. Rather than owners trying to get peak week rates, they're having to offer the dates that are more likely to suit guests, and so more likely to sell. Few people would choose to travel on a festive day, hence the shift in changeovers. If you do find accommodation willing to offer a New Year's Day arrival, you're unlikely to have a massive choice. However, if you're willing to be flexible....... good luck in any case
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@Clarrylove, I have a friend who lets his apartment (I don't let mine, but it's in the same development) and who might be open to your dates. We don't have a pool, but there's one in Les Saisies village. Les Fermes du Beaufortain, ski in/out. If of interest, send me a PM. Apartment has two bedrooms, well equipped. Would be around £600 for the week I think.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Les Fermes - the piste is just behind/on the right.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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| Hells Bells wrote: |
| If you find something on Homeaway, be aware that the prices charged on many properties now include a fee to the traveller of around 8% which does not go to the owner. In additions the owner may also charged a similar commission fee. Google the property you like and see if they are listed elsewhere or have their own website, and you'll get a better deal. |
+1
I find trip advisor to be a good way of tracking down owners!
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| pam w wrote: |
| Les Fermes - the piste is just behind/on the right. |
That looks lovely. I might have to drop you a line when I start lining up 2018
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You know it makes sense.
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@letsgetpiste, Trip Advisor also charge fees.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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I don't think there's any extra charges if you go through resort websites.
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Poster: A snowHead
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| Hells Bells wrote: |
| @letsgetpiste, Trip Advisor also charge fees. |
Sorry, when using the site to find places, I often stumble across the direct contact details. More so than on other sites... I then book it directly.... if you get me???
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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@pam w, there aren't, but I've been trying to get on my tourist office site for 10 years. They aren't really very good at coming to organise it. They've failed to keep 2 appointments with my apartment manager so far. The Mairie registered me as a Meublé de Tourisme, but ignored the additional application for a rating and to list with the TO. However, they are apparently useless at anything other then 4 weeks in February and 2 weeks in August bookings.
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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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Pretty sure the 4 organisations at least one of which you had to pay to join to be listed at the TO charged commission. But they were so crap it's been years since we had any contact.
Not that I could possibly condone the practice but we are listed on most commission charging sites as "Maison de l'Argoat". Guess who's website you find when googling "Argoat Chamonix"?
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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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Homeaway decided as I hadn't had a booking from them for a year or so that I wasn't trustworthy enough to pay as soon as they'd received the deposit payment. I've listed there since 2006. I wouldn't receive anything until after guest had left in mid-Feb. I cancelled that one, stating it wasn't suitable for my property, emailed him and offered him a discount of approx the booking fees, and he rebooked. Tripadvisor are now not allowing you to contact the guests directly now until all payments have been made. You have to go through their encrypted mail system, and woe betide you if you mention anything remotely connected to a website you may have. People I know on another forum have had their ads removed, despite being on a subscription payment. @letsgetpiste, ah OK, direct contact details, for reasons above are becoming more and more difficult. The big boys are insisting you use their encrypted contact systems and removing phone numbers from listings.
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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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I located/booked our apartment for next year in Les Arcs via www.ownersdirect.co.uk and I also looked at www.airbnb.co.uk they all have exactly the same website format and the former states part of homeaway. However, they appeared to have different listing on properties so I used all three to shortlist.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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@djf, Owner's Direct and Homeaway will soon be showing exactly the same properties. My apartment is now on Owner's Direct and I pay for the listing on Homeaway. And yes, Owners Direct now charge 8% to both guest and owner as a 'service fee'.
Chalets Direct are my site of choice at the moment.
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I guess resort websites vary a lot. In Les Saisies there's an organisation for owners of independent properties which has a meeting each year, puts out newsletters and puts pressure on the resort about things their renters care about. It's quite active - a few busy folks doing all the work, probably, as usual. Good listings for individual properties are probably one of the things they've pushed for.
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@Hells Bells, we are finding that almost all of the channels we use are increasingly reducing benefits to us while charging more of us and our clients.
And the cashflow changes were painful (we always used to be able to set our ownpayment rules, e.g. 6 weeks in advance, but as you have found, we normally only get paid after the guests have arrived, or even left.
Now I can imagine some reasonable reasons for this, but we are clients of the sites as well.
Oh ane we had one site asking us to contribute to the costs of one group who had booked through a spoofed listing with our pics on it which didn't exist (they didn't even get directed towards us). Totally the site operators' fault and lack of security - so at what point could we be considered to have any liability?
AirBnb certainly changing things.
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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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Just so we can continue to stray slightly off topic...
Do the snowheads who list on the bigger sites feel that they have to in order to ensure rental?
Or do they list with the bigger sites for some form of implied security?
Or are people happy with the 8% levy so that they dont have to do any of the leg work?
Perhaps its just the lesser of two weevils? 
If @Admin were to chisel off a dark corner of this site and charge the tiniest of advertising fees, I'm sure the Snowheads could take a little slice out of the big boys winter market
Perhaps this magical forum exists and there are amazing ski chalet deals to be had and none of us have found them yet??
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I don't believe a magic bullet exists. AirBnb charge us 3% which is fair.
For some others, e.g. Homeaway and Holiday rentals you can elect to subscribe with no or lower commissions but we increasingly find the subscriptions not worth it. We don't find one is so good that we can ignore any others.
Homeaway/Abritel have been decidedly sneaky with us on a few occasions, trying to levy commission on enquiries that arrived from subscribed ads.
There is considerable consolidation ongoing.
None of the big sites suit us the way they did 10 years ago and they are certainly not responsible for any uptick in bookings.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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| Quote: |
None of the big sites suit us the way they did 10 years ago and they are certainly not responsible for any uptick in bookings
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+1.
I've switched Holiday Lettings/Trip Advisor to commission only. My commission is around 3% but guests are being charged a lot more 12-15% has been mentioned by others. I took a last minute booking through there last week. I only release dates on there now about 3 months ahead. I use AirBnB in a similar way, and have had a couple of out of season short breaks but nothing major.
Homeaway are on subscription with a recent 25% off coupon, so I've got a live active calendar on there, although they are still charging an 8% guest service fee via their online booking.
I use France Voyage and Chalet Montagne for French guests. A steady trickle rather than a deluge from both.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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@Hells Bells, thanks for the info. I do hope that doesn't include my booking for next year  I've trawled their site for reference to see if I've got a liability there I didn't realise. I can't see anything at the moment but wonder if its hidden in the price. Thanks for the heads up, i shall keep my eyes open on that. Thanks for the tip on the other site
@letsgetpiste, i like the idea of going direct to snowheads people. Much rather give all the money to the owner where possible.
As a renter an 8% fee on me would 100% make me think twice and and look elsewhere and ideally go direct. I think sites should have fees for one of the parties not both, can you imagine ebay working with a +8% purchase fee (only governments are cheeky enough to do that).
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@djf, I don't understand why more people don't try and find us directly. I wish they would.
It could act as incentive to the big advertisers to do a better job, as some do offer elements of security.
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You know it makes sense.
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@djf, I think they've only just introduced the fee on Homeaway, but commission listings on Trip Advisor have certainly charged a fee to the guest for a while now. The booking fee charged to guests on a 700€ week via Trip Advisor works out at 94.50€ for a recent booking. I received 675€
The message. If you find something on these sites Google, google, and google some more. You win and the owner wins.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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| Hells Bells wrote: |
| There's a list of some other snowHeads properties here "old link" |
That list seems to have chopped and changed hands/moderators a few times and the latest one I've found is here: http://snowheads.com/ski-forum/viewtopic.php?t=87810
Looks to be 2013... its not pretty and there seems to be a requirement to link share, which is a pretty stone age requirement and frowned upon by google.
But i think its the latest one.
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Poster: A snowHead
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@letsgetpiste, We stopped using the links on each others websites years ago. That one actually goes back to 2010. The sticky post was the most recent but is probably still not up to date. If anyone is a super or mega snowHead, some of us have posts in Le Chaudron offering additional discounts.
Last edited by Poster: A snowHead on Sun 21-08-16 9:34; edited 1 time in total
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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@Clarrylove, make a list of resorts, go to resort's website, there is usually an "accomodation" section or resorts website with the list of properties, works quite well
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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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| Hells Bells wrote: |
| We stopped using the links on each others websites years ago. That one actually goes back to 2010. |
I did see a couple of posts (flangesax) raising concerns dating back a few years. Glad thats all over!
| Hells Bells wrote: |
| Probably still not up to date. If anyone is a super or mega snowHead, some of us have posts in Le Chaudron offering additional discounts. |
I might have a go at tidying it up on one of my quieter days in the office. Show it to @Admin, and see if he stickies it...
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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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@letsgetpiste, there's a few properties on there that no longer rent out, and some members that no longer post. There is actually another later list somewhere, as I removed my own property from it.
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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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@mooney058, depends on the resort...
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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If you are already familiar with some resorts that you like, try contacting the local Tourist Office. Individual owners who don't want to pay massive Agency fees often rent via the Tourist Office. They may not even bother with individual websites if this works for them, so you don't get to see them on Web searches.
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@LaForet, not all TOs are good, Chamonix for example is not great at all.
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I use tripadvisor to list my property (or rather I should say that tripadvisor uses me to list my property).
Although it is still a pretty good review website I would be very cautious about getting value for money using direct bookings through their site.
I am happy to pay for a commission for instant/automated bookings (it is a fair wedge of our summer trade) but i am not sure that the tripadvisor set up works in favour for both letter and booker.
I have carefully priced my accommodation to create a product at the right price and value. Using their system it is very hard for me to price the property to the booker at a price that does not also cut into our profits.
eg.
I price my half-term peak weeks at €5499 on my website.
If I enter this 'net' price into tripadvisor then the displayed price (which you pay) will be €6163... €664 more! (about 12%)
Ok... so I know i offer a product worth €5499... maybe I should see this as my commission and knock off 12% of the net price.
So I'll pop a net price in to cover this... and the displayed price is then nearer the €5499 mark for the booker.
But wait... there is also a 3% booking fee which I have to pay so another €165 off... so i need to add another 3% or so to my net price to cover this... which is then added to by at least 12% to create the final price for the booker.
Please don't get me wrong as most online reservation sites have commission around the 12% mark but tripadvisor seem to be getting a double bubble which can make pricing a little more complicated.
So if you find somewhere via tripadvisor I'd do some research and see if you can book direct for a more competetive price.
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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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@under a new name {not all TOs are good, Chamonix for example is not great at all.} Indeed, much like Internet sites, I daresay. Still worth a try, along with the other suggestions here.
Last edited by You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net. on Sun 21-08-16 15:55; edited 1 time in total
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think it would be great if the forum had a dedicated page for owners wishing to let out their apartment/chalets as we are now looking to rent something for Feb 2017 half term week [I know...]
Our requirements are for something snow sure [done Tignes umpteen times, some fancy going back to La Plagne] self catering to accommodate 10 adults [we are 2 families but the kids keep on coming with us can't think why?
Full cooking facilities, wi-fi [otherwise we will get earache] at least 2 bathrooms/WC's, proper beds [not interested in sofas] close to lifts, walking distance to lifts, ski in/out, car parking facilities as we self drive & close to bars for the younger ones who may venture out at night - I appreciate its a big ask but thought may as well ask the question.
Michael
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FAQ
