 Poster: A snowHead
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| Pieandrun wrote: |
| I am considering hot air balloon from Wandsworth to Belgium, rickshaw down to Switzerland and then a socially distanced elephant, with negative lateral flow, over the alps and into France. |
traditionally, elephants are used to cross the mountains into Italy, not France...
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Was chatting to a ski shop owner in France and they reckon Brits account for around 40pct of their revenue. Brits tend to spend a lot on accessories and clothing such base layers and correct goggles etc while in the store, while the French kids are already decked out head toe in Wedze / Decathlon kit. The Dutch did backfill a little this year as many had to divert their usual trips for Austria back to France as I understand not all had the mandated 3 jabs required to ski in Austria.
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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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| Ozboy wrote: |
| Was chatting to a ski shop owner in France and they reckon Brits account for around 40pct of their revenue. Brits tend to spend a lot on accessories and clothing such base layers and correct goggles etc while in the store, while the French kids are already decked out head toe in Wedze / Decathlon kit. The Dutch did backfill a little this year as many had to divert their usual trips for Austria back to France as I understand not all had the mandated 3 jabs required to ski in Austria. |
according to under a new name, brits only make up 10% the revenue.
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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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Club Med have just posted all holidays cancelled up until 9th January.
Club Med are probably the best politically connected Tour Operator in France (despite now being Chinese owned) because of their massive footprint and collaboration with ESF.
Maybe they are now just rolling their cancellations on a week-by-week basis but hopefully they know something we don't???
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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| Mr.Egg wrote: |
| Ozboy wrote: |
| Was chatting to a ski shop owner in France and they reckon Brits account for around 40pct of their revenue. Brits tend to spend a lot on accessories and clothing such base layers and correct goggles etc while in the store, while the French kids are already decked out head toe in Wedze / Decathlon kit. The Dutch did backfill a little this year as many had to divert their usual trips for Austria back to France as I understand not all had the mandated 3 jabs required to ski in Austria. |
according to under a new name, brits only make up 10% the revenue. |
Am only repeating what the French shop owner mentioned but if is not insignificant and the impact is perhaps disproportionate to just looking at number of lift passes sold.
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We are due to fly out to Lyon with Jet2 on the 29th January - 'Optimistically' or maybe stupidly I still thinking that it will happen but if it doesn't when will Jet2 actually cancel the flight?
Anyone with recent Jet2 bookings that can offer any info on this - i have emailed them last week but still no reply.
We have car hire on a free cancellation policy if you cancel 48hrs before the pickup time and work will left me cancel my holidays if i give them some notice.
Hopefully Macron will see sense and open up the boarder but if not, I'm hoping i get at least 2-3 days' notice it's definitely not happening
Thanks
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Well I've taken the plunge and booked Eurotunnel for Saturday 15 Jan UK-F and Saturday 22 Jan F-UK.
Hopefully the speculative predictions are correct, both on entry into France and dropping testing before return to UK. Will ensure the apartment is available for the week after ours just in case we still need to test and get a positive.
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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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Cancelled my trip on 5th Feb only because I wanted to control the controlables. Will be going skiing that week, hopefully in France but if not then somewhere else.
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| Mr.Egg wrote: |
| Ozboy wrote: |
| Was chatting to a ski shop owner in France and they reckon Brits account for around 40pct of their revenue. Brits tend to spend a lot on accessories and clothing such base layers and correct goggles etc while in the store, while the French kids are already decked out head toe in Wedze / Decathlon kit. The Dutch did backfill a little this year as many had to divert their usual trips for Austria back to France as I understand not all had the mandated 3 jabs required to ski in Austria. |
according to under a new name, brits only make up 10% the revenue. |
That 10% could be the difference between a ski hire shop or restaurant working their socks off for the season and making a small profit to carry them through the quieter summer period or busting a gut for 5 months for absolutely zero profit and struggling to survive as a business during the summer.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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@Ozboy, that 10% was only what was reported on local radio as across the board average, so if @Mr.Egg has better data, he can send them to Radio Mont Blanc.
At an acute level, a friend's bar takings - in a quarter that is usually very full with young brits - are down 50%.
@Robbie Loo, even if the magic 15th sees a relaxation for the uk, Club Med afaik only do weekly, Sunday-Sunday bookings so their earliest possible arrivals would be Jan 16th and there are probably costs they can avoid by cancelling up to that point. Maybe.
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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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@pbsmith, Probably does not help but when the French announcement restricting access was first made, on morning of Thursday 16th. I think, Jet 2 cancelled my Monday 18th flight that afternoon.
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| boardiac wrote: |
| Pieandrun wrote: |
| I am considering hot air balloon from Wandsworth to Belgium, rickshaw down to Switzerland and then a socially distanced elephant, with negative lateral flow, over the alps and into France. |
traditionally, elephants are used to cross the mountains into Italy, not France... |
But Hanibal didn't have a chalet booked for half term in France.
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You know it makes sense.
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@Robbie Loo, strange so why can I see a full carpark across the valley from me and earlier I was skiing down between all the Club Med Penguins in their big groups?
Normal ESF groups are 6 but Club Med ESF groups are 12.
Local business do not much care for Club Med (would almost say despise) as they bring no revenue to the resorts restaurants and bars.
Plus next week they will be accomodating the rather unsavoury Russians, as I can't see Club Med loosing that revenue!
And been up the hill today and would say the Frenchies of the last couple of weeks have been replaced by Dutch, Belgians, Italians and Polish who interestingly enough unlike the French, do not stop for lunch judging by how busy the pistes were at 13:00.
And still many kids all around.
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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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@Weathercam, I suspect @Robbie Loo was talking about CM hols being sold in the uk ...
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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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| pbsmith wrote: |
We are due to fly out to Lyon with Jet2 on the 29th January - 'Optimistically' or maybe stupidly I still thinking that it will happen but if it doesn't when will Jet2 actually cancel the flight?
Anyone with recent Jet2 bookings that can offer any info on this - i have emailed them last week but still no reply.
We have car hire on a free cancellation policy if you cancel 48hrs before the pickup time and work will left me cancel my holidays if i give them some notice.
Hopefully Macron will see sense and open up the boarder but if not, I'm hoping i get at least 2-3 days' notice it's definitely not happening
Thanks |
We have a Jet2 flight booked for 15 January which has not been cancelled yet.
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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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@Weathercam, I'm not saying Club Med is closed, I'm saying they are not taking bookings on their UK website for UK clients for holidays before 9th Jan.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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We have flights into Geneva Thursday 10th Feb, here we normally pick up a car that has been left be the owner of the chalet so we can drive to France (La Clusaz). So I have two dates to keep an eye on.
An early opening up date which will allow the chalet owners to drive from the UK to France where they later fly home leaving the car at Geneva airport for the coming season (obviously this would have been done before now normally). If this does not happen the next date will be fingers crossed for opening up by the 10th Feb where I will have to bite the bullet and hire a car or sort transfers. Either way I just hope things change. Fingers crossed we hear tomorrow that the end of these restrictions will be the 15th and they are are not extended then, it will pout a to stop all this uncertainty and speculation
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| Pieandrun wrote: |
Good point, thanks for the tip. I'll perhaps change my route and pick up an old pachyderm on Italian eBay. Anything for a week on the piste! |
When you're done with it just call WeBuyAny Eli'
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| puplett wrote: |
| pbsmith wrote: |
We are due to fly out to Lyon with Jet2 on the 29th January - 'Optimistically' or maybe stupidly I still thinking that it will happen but if it doesn't when will Jet2 actually cancel the flight?
Anyone with recent Jet2 bookings that can offer any info on this - i have emailed them last week but still no reply.
We have car hire on a free cancellation policy if you cancel 48hrs before the pickup time and work will left me cancel my holidays if i give them some notice.
Hopefully Macron will see sense and open up the boarder but if not, I'm hoping i get at least 2-3 days' notice it's definitely not happening
Thanks |
We have a Jet2 flight booked for 15 January which has not been cancelled yet. |
We're booked to go to Chambery on 15th Jan with Jet2. No sign of a cancellation yet so I'm remaining optomistic... or should that say deluded!
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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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Boris to hold 5pm press conference. Fingers crossed the return to UK and Day 2 tests are scrapped.
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| HilbertSpace wrote: |
| Boris to hold 5pm press conference. Fingers crossed the return to UK and Day 2 tests are scrapped. |
I'm not sure if it will be mentioned today. I'm sure I read somewhere they are meeting on Wednesday to discuss it, so would expect an announcement on Thursday.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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@musehead, by "they" do you mean the UK govt? Getting into France is my issue, not coming back!!! 
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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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| musehead wrote: |
| HilbertSpace wrote: |
| Boris to hold 5pm press conference. Fingers crossed the return to UK and Day 2 tests are scrapped. |
I'm not sure if it will be mentioned today. I'm sure I read somewhere they are meeting on Wednesday to discuss it, so would expect an announcement on Thursday. |
Really? How strong is this rumour?
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@Perty, Yes, sorry was referring to the UK government potential announcement this week to change the arrival testing requirements!
@Handy Turnip, From here:
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/news/travel-latest-covid-restrictions-2022-holiday-pcr-test/
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Pressure is mounting on the Government to reduce the testing burden on holidaymakers when international travel rules are reviewed on Wednesday.
Some travel industry insiders are calling for pre-departure tests to be scrapped entirely and day 2 PCR tests to be downgraded to rapid tests, with rules requiring arrivals to self-isolate until they receive their result to end.
Travel consultant Paul Charles tweeted that though he expected the requirement to take a test before returning to the UK be axed, arrival test rules should also be eased.
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You know it makes sense.
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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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[quote="snowqueen50"][quote="JamesHJ"]
| snowqueen50 wrote: |
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 couldn't quite believe that any first world economy would deliberately want to reduce its ability to do all sorts of trade, and especially services (such as financial services) with its biggest customer base, but that's exactly what we did...
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Poster: A snowHead
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@boredsurfin, I’m massively clutching at straws here, but the French rules as they stand are due to be in place into 15th Jan regardless of any decision this week. That would mean this train would be cancelled anyway?
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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French Hospitals in Alpine regions quite often run close to maximum capacity during the ski season. By reducing the number of visitors (ie Brits) the French have effectively ensured that their Hospitals in the Alpine regions have some spare capacity IF Covid Omicron turns out to be the same as Delta.
Early indications are visitor number were reduced by 14% over the Xmas/NYE period in the Tarrentaise. https://www.ledauphine.com/economie/2022/01/04/frequentation-touristique-en-pays-de-savoie-la-montagne-decue
Also from the same source French cases close to 300,000 
Last edited by Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person on Tue 4-01-22 16:12; edited 4 times in total
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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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@boredsurfin, you mean "CdA"? I think it may have been cancelled as Eurostar aren't running the underlying service?
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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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I had a trip planned for Val Thorens on the 29th Jan. Whilst I think the French may change the rules before then I'm looking to refund all my bookings beforehand and if not look to book somewhere else. Does anyone happen to know the best way to get a refund for pre-booked lift passes for 3-Vallees at all?
Cheers
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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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| adithorp wrote: |
| Pieandrun wrote: |
Good point, thanks for the tip. I'll perhaps change my route and pick up an old pachyderm on Italian eBay. Anything for a week on the piste! |
When you're done with it just call WeBuyAny Eli' |
 watch out for the "admin fee"
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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@under a new name, Yep I meant CdA I picked it up from that Travelski.com link
Certainly the train is 'fully chartered' from Eurostar but its not a Eurostar 'service' to BstM as far as I know.
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| mikeyrobbo08 wrote: |
I had a trip planned for Val Thorens on the 29th Jan. Whilst I think the French may change the rules before then I'm looking to refund all my bookings beforehand and if not look to book somewhere else. Does anyone happen to know the best way to get a refund for pre-booked lift passes for 3-Vallees at all?
Cheers |
Bottom of the page, click 'More Info'
https://www.skipass-meribel.com/en/covid19
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Has anyone had any luck getting a refund from BA when flying into Geneva for a French ski holiday?
Due to go out on the 15th but have a feeling the flights won’t get refunded even if the restrictions are still in place.
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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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| paul9619 wrote: |
Has anyone had any luck getting a refund from BA when flying into Geneva for a French ski holiday?
Due to go out on the 15th but have a feeling the flights won’t get refunded even if the restrictions are still in place. |
Why would they refund the flight if its not cancelled and they still run it? UK visitors can enter the destination you are flying to s.t. to being vaccinated if an adult. (Assuming you haven’t bought the flights as part of a BA holiday package to France?)
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@paul9619, depends on when you booked. Option to have voucher and move to another time is normal. It seems sensible in the circumstances on the basis that BA still run the flight. If they don't run the flight then you get a refund option.
I've used BA a few time recently and having had a downer on them generally, have been more impressed.
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FAQ
