 Poster: A snowHead
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| Montan wrote: |
| @Pompeyc, at least you know now - where were you going? |
We were headed to Les Deux Alps. Still got one booked for the 29th. Fingers crossed.
It's so deflating when you get the inevitable news.
Any decent Austria tips would be welcome but not on this thread.
It's been fun reading the speculation. I am a learned person now.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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We are super fortunate to be staying at friends place, so we are happy to keep the booking as along as they are happy to allow it.. I don't want them leaving it too long and unable to rent to another family etc, we are driving ( not the fun bit) Kids don't have to be jabbed as too young thankfully.
Whats the snow like at Easter there?
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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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| 4ddm wrote: |
I think that even if I get to a point where we are in the car on our way, I will not be 100% sure we won't get there to find everything has changed and the lifts are closed.
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For that reason exactly...
We want(ed) to do a 3V month leaving tomorrow, so a season pass would have been cheapest. Now, if we get to go at all, we may well go for the the liberte pass: plenty more expensive if we manage all March, but at least the cost ends when/if the skiing does!
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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@philipb, be sure I have no interest in your deluded euro love in attitude. The French led by degaulle never wanted the uk in the EEC . Get over brexit . I am very proud to British never ever considered myself European .
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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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@nickielmoore, If you are driving I'd have thought you would be best off sticking with France as if there were still restrictions in France or Austria it would be hard to drive to Italy anyway.
We have been to Les Carroz a few times at Easter (by which I mean around 1st week of April) and usually you can ski back to the village but it can be a bit slushy in the afternoons. The runs in Morillon and Les Carroz are beautiful and mainly tree lined. They are ideal for young children learning to ski. Samoens ski area starts higher and is north facing as is Flaine which holds its snow well in April. The one year that snow conditions were poor in Les Carroz we drove up to Flaine and skied there.
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| Pompeyc wrote: |
| Oh dear. Sunweb have just pulled the plug on travel for the 15th. I guess Austria here we come. |
Any idea how to cancel with Sunweb? I got an email from them and need to reply by 6 Jan. The email instructions on canceling don't match what appears on the website. Am a bit scared that if I do something wrong I will be out of pocket.
Making a decision to rebook and choose another holiday in 3 days is too short (Although Austria in the future sounds good - I will be scanning Snowheads for ideas)
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@snowymum, We've skied in Samoens a few times, such a lovely resort. Ohh if we changed to anywhere else, we'd fly, not sure I could tolerate my 2yo and 8yo in a car for much longer than the drive to france..
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| Quote: |
Any idea how to cancel with Sunweb?
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@nattib,
Yes if you login then go to your holiday booking, scroll down and hit the cancel button. A popup will appear and it says something along the lines of "cancel free of charge" then just confirm.
You will then receive an email confirming the cancellation and a new invoice for the refend will be sent.
Mine was sent after about 2 hours for the full amount of the holiday including flights. I too was worried this point.
They will request an IBAN number and booking reference to refund the money. I am still trying to figure out in what format they require the refund info, my first guess is that I email customer service.
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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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| Dmcjannet wrote: |
| Quote: |
Any idea how to cancel with Sunweb?
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@nattib,
Yes if you login then go to your holiday booking, scroll down and hit the cancel button. A popup will appear and it says something along the lines of "cancel free of charge" then just confirm.
You will then receive an email confirming the cancellation and a new invoice for the refend will be sent.
Mine was sent after about 2 hours for the full amount of the holiday including flights. I too was worried this point.
They will request an IBAN number and booking reference to refund the money. I am still trying to figure out in what format they require the refund info, my first guess is that I email customer service. |
Excellent, thank you, I will try that cancelling tomorrow as it looks like parts of the website hasn't been updated yet (one page was still saying holidays are cancelled upto 4 Jan and another 21 Jan).
About IBAN - You should be able to find it when logging on for online banking or on your bank statement. It should appear with bank account number, think the format is normally the same.
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| vipul wrote: |
| @philipb, be sure I have no interest in your deluded euro love in attitude. The French led by degaulle never wanted the uk in the EEC . Get over brexit . I am very proud to British never ever considered myself European . |
Bore off to somewhere else please, nobody cares.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Crystal have also removed all accommodation options in France up to 22nd January. I don't know what that means for those booked before 22nd as they having released a statement yet.
It must be incredibly difficult for the tour operators to plan and resource flight crew, slots at UK and French airports and hotels with less than two weeks notice or without potential losing a lot of money so I expect they are desperately seeking some sort of communication from the French authorities much the same as we are.
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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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Drove back from France today and asked the chatty British border control lady at Eurotunnel in if she had any info or heard rumours about lifting the ban. She sympathetically shrugged and rolled her eyes about the rules but didn’t know.
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You know it makes sense.
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Yes - that was in the Daily Mail last week - hoping that pressure from the resorts nudge a relaxation of the travel rules. I personally feel hopeful that it will. Meribel ski pass staff told us that 40% of their entire (ski pass) income usually comes from UK tourists. That's a lot of staff's wages and free buses to fund...
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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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| snowqueen50 wrote: |
Yes - that was in the Daily Mail last week - hoping that pressure from the resorts nudge a relaxation of the travel rules. I personally feel hopeful that it will. Meribel ski pass staff told us that 40% of their entire (ski pass) income usually comes from UK tourists. That's a lot of staff's wages and free buses to fund... |
But what is the ski pass income over the whole country from UK skiers? I wonder if there is some intentional rebalancing going on to adjust local anomalies like Meribel. This would probably anyway be sensible if more friction with the UK is anticipated in the future.
An interesting question from an academic/political point of view. Although not a debate that I think can be had here 
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Poster: A snowHead
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@JamesHJ, Val d'Isere is 42% apparently. I'm guessing it is typical for most French resorts.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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@JamesHJ, @JamesHJ, actually, here we go....
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| Tourism minister Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne said on BFM TV that British tourists accounted for about 15% of French ski resort customers overall, but the percentage was much higher in some resorts such as Val d'Isere, Courchevel and Meribel. |
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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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| JamesHJ wrote: |
| snowqueen50 wrote: |
Yes - that was in the Daily Mail last week - hoping that pressure from the resorts nudge a relaxation of the travel rules. I personally feel hopeful that it will. Meribel ski pass staff told us that 40% of their entire (ski pass) income usually comes from UK tourists. That's a lot of staff's wages and free buses to fund... |
But what is the ski pass income over the whole country from UK skiers? I wonder if there is some intentional rebalancing going on to adjust local anomalies like Meribel. This would probably anyway be sensible if more friction with the UK is anticipated in the future.
An interesting question from an academic/political point of view. Although not a debate that I think can be had here |
I can't quite believe that any first world economy would deliberately want to reduce tourist income for no reason at all - whatever the nationality of the tourists.
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Reuters had a quote from a French tourism minister that suggested the number was around 15%. It's been noted that British spend more on eating out, drinking and activities than say French tourists.
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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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| snowqueen50 wrote: |
| JamesHJ wrote: |
| snowqueen50 wrote: |
Yes - that was in the Daily Mail last week - hoping that pressure from the resorts nudge a relaxation of the travel rules. I personally feel hopeful that it will. Meribel ski pass staff told us that 40% of their entire (ski pass) income usually comes from UK tourists. That's a lot of staff's wages and free buses to fund... |
But what is the ski pass income over the whole country from UK skiers? I wonder if there is some intentional rebalancing going on to adjust local anomalies like Meribel. This would probably anyway be sensible if more friction with the UK is anticipated in the future.
An interesting question from an academic/political point of view. Although not a debate that I think can be had here |
I can't quite believe that any first world economy would deliberately want to reduce tourist income for no reason at all - whatever the nationality of the tourists. |
Politics plain and simple
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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| Timmycb5 wrote: |
@JamesHJ, @JamesHJ, actually, here we go....
| Quote: |
| Tourism minister Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne said on BFM TV that British tourists accounted for about 15% of French ski resort customers overall, but the percentage was much higher in some resorts such as Val d'Isere, Courchevel and Meribel. |
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15% is significant. Enough to think about reopening the borders sooner rather than later - if there is no longer a strong compelling health risk reason...which there isn't.
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| Timmycb5 wrote: |
@JamesHJ, @JamesHJ, actually, here we go....
| Quote: |
| Tourism minister Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne said on BFM TV that British tourists accounted for about 15% of French ski resort customers overall, but the percentage was much higher in some resorts such as Val d'Isere, Courchevel and Meribel. |
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That’s very interesting, does it say if it is by spend or by footfall though? The French often prioritise things which seem alien to us, such as the needs of tiny businesses in far flung departments.
I also wonder what a typical business regards as an over reliance on a particular customer in this sector? For sure there are plenty of small companies who went bust after depending on UK clients (e.g. the chalet model). Maybe some of the above mentioned ski towns were getting worrying dependent and too big to bail out?
Fascinating stuff, and fun to speculate (the above is nothing but that).
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| snowqueen50 wrote: |
| JamesHJ wrote: |
| snowqueen50 wrote: |
Yes - that was in the Daily Mail last week - hoping that pressure from the resorts nudge a relaxation of the travel rules. I personally feel hopeful that it will. Meribel ski pass staff told us that 40% of their entire (ski pass) income usually comes from UK tourists. That's a lot of staff's wages and free buses to fund... |
But what is the ski pass income over the whole country from UK skiers? I wonder if there is some intentional rebalancing going on to adjust local anomalies like Meribel. This would probably anyway be sensible if more friction with the UK is anticipated in the future.
An interesting question from an academic/political point of view. Although not a debate that I think can be had here |
I can't quite believe that any first world economy would deliberately want to reduce tourist income for no reason at all - whatever the nationality of the tourists. |
I completely agree, hence my speculation. It is a very odd business.
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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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Looks like France have trashed one of the best ski events of the year due to start 8 Jan in Pralognan la Vanoise - the AWSA/GB snowsports Exercise Telemark Titan. 12 days of telemark instruction and training /GB Telemark Championships. 150 telemarkers from complete first-timer/novice to GB WC team. And all because of Macron/Johnson willy waving. Such a shame and a greater shame that all in the super resort of PLV won't see us again.
If booked in France, I would now ditch it and go elsewhere to be more certain of getting a ski.
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But if you're running the country, then you probably have to have a much broader and balanced view i.e. in terms of number employed in any segment and the proportion of national income related to it. And filter-out the 'noise' from the media and well-funded lobbies. For example, the UK the hospitality sector accounts for 8.4% of jobs (~1 in 12) and just 3% of economic output. But from the media, you'd think it was our main industry. We almost never hear about Covid's impact on other sectors. Perhaps the same is true in France for the ski industry: undoubtedly important, and with a good PR lobby, but not that significant compared to other sectors. Their ski industry may be paying the price for keeping other sectors going by minimising staff absences in sectors that are simply bigger employers and contributors to exports. But we're unlikely to be given the full picture, because it's politically impossible to be honest and say "Sorry, but Alpine skiing just isn't as important as defence exports or car manufacturing.". Just speculation, of course.
Last edited by Ski the Net with snowHeads  on Mon 3-01-22 23:32; edited 2 times in total
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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| colinstone wrote: |
Looks like France have trashed one of the best ski events of the year due to start 8 Jan in Pralognan la Vanoise - the AWSA/GB snowsports Exercise Telemark Titan. 12 days of telemark instruction and training /GB Telemark Championships. 150 telemarkers from complete first-timer/novice to GB WC team. And all because of Macron/Johnson willy waving. Such a shame and a greater shame that all in the super resort of PLV won't see us again.
If booked in France, I would now ditch it and go elsewhere to be more certain of getting a ski. |
Just to continue the above theme, I always had a wry smile when seeing major UK snow sports events organised abroad.
Is it realistic to rely upon the goodwill of ‘Johnny foreigner’ for this sort of thing? Shouldn’t we concentrate upon more sustainable pastimes? After all, the French (as one example) benefit from our money, but don’t need it per se.
IMV, this whole debacle was always going to happen at some point. We’ve simply over reached ourselves.
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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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@LaForet, great post. I suspect that there is a much bigger picture out there.
See also the shock and amazement from e.g. the farming sector in the UK when the government hung them out to dry over freedom of movement.
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@Robbie Loo, Crystal cancelled our French holiday w/c Jan 15th last Wednesday. We received full refund from them on Saturday!
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You know it makes sense.
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@colinstone, Serre Che hosts the British Army and various inter regiment Nordic Championships as well as the Army Medical Corps Championships through most of January.
I have heard, that either side is still unwilling to cancel, with a date of Jan 15th as the ones that cancel will have to reimburse.
If the army cancel now and restrictions are lifted, the British Army, who pays Serre Che a substantial whack for race course management and the like, will then they have to still pay Serre Che, on the other hand my friends that have rented out accommodation to the Army are stuck in the middle as it will be to late to try and rent the accommodation if the Championships do not take place, if that makes sense.
There was also an issue about deposits and again subject to who cancels first ??
And for those who might have missed it earlier in this thread.
From Le Dauphine 17th December
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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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Poster: A snowHead
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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On the 15% of customers...
So a party of school kids on a day trip from day Grenoble might be 50 kids...
Two Brit families of 4 each staying for a week, that would be 16% Brits.
Statistics can be tweaked to show what you want.
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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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I’m now showing unbelievable confidence of a change in restrictions, just booked a shuttle on the 20th Jan obviously knowing I can change the date if need be
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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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@Rob Mackley, on the basis of your booking, I predict a change on the 21st Jan 
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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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@Rob Mackley, Most likely
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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A Friend is now going to Norway this weekend, Frances' loss...large family as well... hopefully france change the rules by 5th Feb.. or our party of 7 will be going to Italy or Austria.. as they seem well chuffed to have brits fill their resorts, ..I suspect the French alps don't get any financial help or aid as they are allowed to stay open!
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Rumours of an announcement by Macron in the next few days, hoped to include details of opening up tourist areas for Vaxxed UK traveller's..
fingers crossed
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| Quote: |
On the 15% of customers...
So a party of school kids on a day trip from day Grenoble might be 50 kids...
Two Brit families of 4 each staying for a week, that would be 16% Brits.
Statistics can be tweaked to show what you want.
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Not so much tweaking statistics rather a failure to state what the statistics actually refer to. For example I thought they would refer to skier days rather than, as you seem to imply, number of enteries to the resort, where the weekly visits of the school children thoughout the season dominate. I would also like to know where these figures come from. For example how would they know from the lift pass sales that I was from the UK? Are these figures from the occaisional ennumerator standing at the lift queue filling in questionnaires?
I hate it when articles are published giving statistics without saying what they refer to or when and how they were collected.
Just recently I had an argument with my nephew about vaccination rates in the UK. He thought the rate was at 90% whereas it is actually just over 70% (one of the worse in western europe). He had not read the fineprint that said it applied only to those over 12 who had been partially vaccinated. Now what was it sir humphrey said to Bernard again.
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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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@Rob Mackley I am with you! I have ordered a warning triangle and hi vis vest for our drive on the 11th Feb.
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We have a trip in the 3V booked for the end of Jan (26th through 31st). Accommodation becomes unconditional on 20th of Jan, flights subject to change charges on 11th. If there is no call made by the French before the 10th we will probably cancel and ski in Switzerland. Real shame!
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