 Poster: A snowHead
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A few of you have asked for this. It’s quite long so may I suggest a cup of tea & a biscuit… 
Many  will know Mrs P & I embarked on a new project last year that meant we could realise the dream that so many other have: not only living in a ski resort but running a profitable company that still allows you to spend plenty of time skiing.
Some background. In 2004 Mrs P & I were made redundant from an advertising agency so I talked her into coming away to do a winter season (I had previously done two seasons in my "gap years"). Mrs P (Jenny) had only skied for a couple of weeks spread over 15 years but in doing her first season got bitten real bad. Lucky me. 
We worked for an amazing company and ended up doing 3 winters, loving every minute of it. Obviously the main draw back with working ski seasons long term is the financial security, or rather lack of.
Our first plan was to keep our jobs and rent an apartment for the season to sell on as self catered weeks. So in early June we started looking for a suitable property. Our first visit wasn't very rewarding, most agents telling us to come back in August when they had a clearer view about which properties would be available for the winter season. There are 18 real estate agents in Verbier.
Having seen a couple of different places and looking harder at the figures it was clear that it made far more sense, in terms of margins, for us to do the fully catered option. Providing we could find a property.
In July we were back out in Verbier (freebie dog sitting holiday) and started trawling the estate agents again, but getting a similar result. Properties that are suitable for chalet holiday needs don't actually make it to market, the competition from tour operators, small and large, is massive, and the town is small. It's all about who you know.
I had to fly back for work but Jenny stayed on for another two days looking after the dogs. In a syndrome known as the "last shoe shop" to women, on the last day Jen went in to see an agent that had a possible apartment for self-catering. It wasn't going to work for us, so back to the office just to leave details in case anything came up. While giving her e-mail address the boss came out of his office an announced a new instruction... the Chalet Marmotte...
The chalet was due to be dismantled and shipped down the valley making room for 9 apartments but as work hadn't started yet it was given another winters reprieve.
The chalet was perfect for our first winter, manageable size and brilliant location. It was in amazing condition for something that was going to be relocated. You may have seen this thread about the bathroom, sorry the photos have gone.
So the season.
We negotiated a good deal on the chalet, due to the bathroom and as the chalet was only going to be available for one winter it would be a one off deal and a greater risk for us.
We had to sell eight weeks to cover all of the costs that we had incurred. Rent, our accommodation, lift passes etc, the website and a whole load of equipment for the chalet.
We sold our first week 2 days after going live with our website and marketing in mid-August so we were quite excited. To keep costs down our marketing was quite low key, the website, three or four sales agents and a leafleting campaign (me dressed in full ski gear handing out fliers at city tube stations early in the morning).
Luckily, due to , we also had a great article in the Evening Standard.
There are 6 weeks of the season that you'd have to be an idiot not to be able to sell. Christmas, New Year, two weeks of half term and two further weeks of Easter.
So we were excited about a reasonable season. Christmas was our first booking but we'd arrived at the chalet on November 18th and spent a few weeks really making the place feel as homely as possible.
By then we had sold New Year and the first week in January, one half term week, strong interest in the second and one of the Easter weeks.
In all we sold 12 weeks out of a possible 22 that the lifts are open. It's hard to tell why we didn't sell more. In terms of conversion of enquiries to sales, the rate wasn't great, a great proportion, we believe, was down to the bathroom issue.
Speaking to other TOs sales were generally down, which must have been effected by the British press' general line that it was a very poor snow year.
In many ways it was. Powder skiing was rare but there was never a lack of skiing. In fact, almost contrasting my previous statement, Televerbier (the lift operators) had another record profit year. And the resort generally felt very busy, daily buses arrived bringing in skiers from other resorts that had suffered from a lack of snow taking advantage of Verbier's better coverage.
Our guests were all fantastic and we hope that most if not all will come back to stay with us again.
We did plenty of great skiing ourselves, with 10 weeks off, it was one of the best seasons I've ever done!!
Of course there was the added work of doing it for ourselves and a certain amount of stress from the risk that we had undertaken but it was all worth it.
At the end of the season we were back at square one. Two days after we moved out of our chalet they dismantled the whole thing, plank by plank, and loaded it on the back of lorry.
This time rather than trying to use agents to find a property we started to lean on as many friends as possible to try and find somewhere new. Actually we had started looking the day we arrived in resort but nothing had come up.
In the last week of the season we started to hear about a chalet that was then with Ski Verbier. After a couple of meetings with the chalet owners they decided to give us a go!
Many people have asked why Verbier when it is so competitive to find property. We ended up in Verbier by accident and have built a great network of friends and support there. You can find property in smaller resorts but it can be much harder to sell the weeks, so for us it was a case of better the devil we know.
We love Verbier and we hope that our new venture will continue to grow.
This summer we will be giving the chalet a face lift, which I plan to document on a blog on our new website www.skiextra.co.uk (or rather will be when it too gets a fresh new look).
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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parlor, what can I say... amazing
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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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The bit he missed was that the new chalet is all down to me...a friend of my friend is the owner, and Parlor met my friend and then dropped their name into a mid-process meeting and then several meetings later he got the chalet.
So OBVIOUSLY it is all down to me, nothing to do with Parlor and Jenny's hard work and determination. Nothing to do with the fantastic food they apparently cook (I say apparently as I am yet to taste any of it....unlike Parlor who has tasted ours....  ). Nothing to do with the contacts they have made (apart from me !) and the reputation thay have built.
Still....I suppose I will have to give them the benefit of the doubt and say: FANTASTIC NEWS!
In all seriousness prising that chalet away from such anestablised firm as Ski Verbier is a tribute to all that hard work..
Well done Jenny!
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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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Top marks for being brave and going for it! Delighted to hear it's worked out well for you 
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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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parlor, nice story. With the experience both of you have gained, things will only get better.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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parlor, excellent and well done for having the gonads to do it all in the first place.
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parlor, Did you 2 enjoy it?
Did the punters enjoy it?
Sounds like hard graft next season. Good luck
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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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parlor,
Excellent. All the best next year
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Well done guys. Nice to hear that it all went well and you're in good shape for next year.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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| parlor wrote: |
There are 18 real estate agents in Verbier.
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I looked in the windows of some of those estate agents and they are asking a fierce heap of money for their properties - millions of pounds !!!
I am not sure that the rental return would be there for someone buying as an investment.
One of the estate agents had a nice wooden bear outside. If I had a van and some bolt cutters I would have taken that away in the wee small hours.
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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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| Quote: |
If I had a van and some bolt cutters I would have taken that away in the wee small hours.
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Our ski shop man carves during the summer. He has a wonderful bear outside, with a salmon and a baby bear, which would need no bolt croppers to take away. There are a number of other nice carvings and things around. Good job there aren't too many Latchigos around too!
What a great story. But what a lot of work to put into a chalet which was definitely only available for a season. Looks lovely. Must have been bizarre to watch it getting loaded on a lorry. Sounds a bit like Barbados, where they move houses around quite often, all in one piece on the back of a lorry. Those houses only have one storey, but it's unnerving to see a lorry with a wobbling house on, tottering towards you with half a dozen strong guys holding it all together, the whole fuelled by rum. Hope it all works out; it sounds as though you should get lots of repeat custom, parlor, and the business should grow nicely.
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You know it makes sense.
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parlor, Surely it is the return on capital employed that is crucial ?
It seemed to me that chalet places were charged at a fairly similar rate to those in other ski towns where chalets are not as expensive.
Of course capital gains on the property price are also a factor, but with prices that high already, you wonder how much higher they could go.
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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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Latchigo, hey, I'm a ski bum not a financial advisor! I'm just looking at it from the side that rents are very high in Verbier. £40-50K for a winter is not unusual...
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Poster: A snowHead
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parlor, Say a dozen people at £500 a pop. That is six grand a week. If you were booked fully for fifty weeks in a year that only gives £300,000. You would need to allow for food and wages as well.
£300,000 on £6,000,000 is only 5%.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Latchigo, as I said, depends how you finance it, mortgage rates in CH are very very low. Not sure if it really makes it more viable.
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FAQ
