Skiworld

A snowHead

Hello All,
Just looking for peoples opinion on this Company - planning on doing a small group holiday - 6 advanced/expert skiers to either Colorado or Utah for 10 days with them in March 2012 but want to book up early to get a good price and allow plenty of time for saving ,organising leave etc.If anyone has used them and has opinions on their U.S. chalets I'd be grateful . Ta briand

A snowHead

I haven't used TO's in a while but I did a couple of trips with Skiworld. They were pretty shite. Very mainstream/corporate. But if you accept that and can live with it then go ahead and book.

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

A lot of companies haven't released pricing for 2011/12 season, so unlikely you'll get a good deal as there's no competitive pricing yet really.

I'd hold fire until later Jan or Feb, most TOs have got their pricing sorted by then.

You need to Login to know who's really who.

I have had two SkiWorld holidays (Jan 2003 Val Thorens and Feb 2005 Tignes) both in big chalets that hold about 40 guests. Both holidays were great. I prefer smaller chalets as you get a more personal relationship with the chalet staff. But there was nothing to complain about with the chalet. The Val Thorens rep was very helpful in arranging some non standard travel for us. The Tignes staff could have given more information about the what happens in Moutiers for catching the train home, we were just told a taxi would collect us from our chalet, no goodbyes and no information. Different reps have different communication skills! Much of the success of a holiday depends on the staff in the resort. I would happily travel with SkiWorld again.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

I've been to Les 2 Alpes twice with them, in a family party of 20 each time. Apart from the faff of charter flights and bus transfers the hotel, staff and food were fine, but I prefer DIY, single chalet type operators. i don't know how you would set about doing this in the US but my sister is in Vail at the moment staying in a friends chalet, and I don't know if they do that sort of thing over there. I can find out.

You'll need to Register first of course.

Thanks for the info, they reckon their prices will be sorted by end Jan - but based on this years there is not much difference in DIY so just wanted to see if I'm better off letting them do the legwork and we just have to turn up at the airport - however I did enquire about a late deal with them for this season and they tried to sell me a trip with a 65min transit window in Washington and only "conceded defeat" when I told them theres a 90min minimum so I wonder if I should put my faith in them and a small matter of about 10k.

Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

briand6868, I think that is as it were "hitting the nail on the head". There is potentially lots of value add that TO's can make for a skiing holiday. But some/many are more of a hindrance than a facilitator. With DIY you have to double check everything yourself. But at least you are in control and can trust yourself (or at least if you screw up it's down to you). As with Adrian's comments sometimes you are just in the dark relying that someone (you don't trust) has made the arrangements correctly. TBH unless the TO was a fair bit cheaper I would always go the DIY route. Or perhaps if the trip was quite a complex one that as you say saves lots of legwork. But then as above, if you end up having to double check what the TO is doing......

After all it is free

been with Skiworld a couple of times and its been good, foods been reasonable no shortage of wine, accommodation mixed,staff have been good. One advantage of a TO if you get stuck they have to look after you (ash cloud), i do go independent as well.

I've been with Skiworld twice - party of 20 to Tignes twice - we liked the chalet so much we came back to it a couple of years after the first trip. Would also be happy to go with them again. I've also done DIY in the past, but it's not easy to do for a party of 20!

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I have been with Skiworld too-back in 1989! I went with a party of four to La Plagne for £82 each. I don't think this is terribly relevant for the original poster but I thought I'd drop it in to the mix. I remember the rep couldn't half drink (probably a Doctor now, given the rate of atrocity imbibing he was capable of) and we were jolly pleased with the trip.

Ah, the days of 205cm skis............

snowHeads are a friendly bunch.

Skiworld advertised that our 10 bed chalet had access to a swimming pool on the floor below. It didn't. They offered £50 off our next holiday with them. That was derisory and arrogant. I therefore went to arbitration and the arbitrator awarded us over £1100 plus fees. It was clear from the outset that Skiworld didn't consider the lack of an important amenity, for a family of 9 with ages ranging from 8 to 71, was significant. Had they offered a fulsome apology and £50 cash I would not have gone to arbitration. They are an OK company when everything is going well but they have no concept of customer service and their actions seemed to me to smack of corporate greed, particularly since this was our third holiday with them. We have booked with Inghams for next year.

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@Stormdodger, Welcome to Snowheads, but I suspect @briand6868 has already made their decision for their 2012 holiday.

Help!!

Skiworld

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