 Poster: A snowHead
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Let me start by making it clear I am from SnowRental, an online ski hire service.
Now that thats out of the way, I think snowheads is a great site and one that I have enjoyed following. Reading the comments about online ski hire in these forums has been very informative and been the start of several debates for us here (at SR).
To get a more concrete idea about opinions of ski hire online in general, what works, what doesn't, and specifically how we can improve, we are running a survey about booking ski hire online. With so many opinions being voiced in this forum I hope that some of you will be happy to answer a few questions:
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=H3xtOit6SAEAyjCHtKGviw_3d_3d
All other comments are welcome here in this thread too...
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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The Options on Q6 don't work
You can only place one tick, and you require one per line
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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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It does work, but perhaps the question is not written clearly enough, I will work on that.
For this question you need to rank the phrases in order of importance ie you can rank only one phrase as number 1 (most important) but you can not rank 2 phrases as number 1, the idea is to have the seven phrases ranked in order of importance. So a number 1 to 7 will be attributed to one of the 7 phrases once and only once.
So you might have:
Lowest Price 1 (most important)
Choice of equipment 3
Speed of customer service to answer questions 5
Recognize the brand 2
Recommendation from a friend 6
Ease of use of the site 7 (least important)
Being able to speak to someone on the phone 4
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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 tend to hire in resort.
How does the online system work? Where do you pick the skis up from?
Cheers
Marc
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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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You book online with a shop in resort before leaving and pick up the equipment from this shop when you arrive. Its with the same shops as you find in resort for the same equipment, but by booking in advance you get a better price.
Most booking services work more or less on the same principles, you specfiy the dates and resort you wish to book in and you are presented with a choice of shops and a price for the equipment. You make your choice online, pay online and collect the equipment when you arrive in resort. The choice of shops you are offered, the price and the choice of equipment depends on the website you choose to use.
There are many choices out there, each with their own strengths and weaknesses and each with their own pricing policy, and part of what this thread is about is to find out what works well and what does not and what the priorities are for people looking for ski hire online.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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I used Snowrental recently for a trip to Grimrntz & was very impressed.
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I've used online booking, mainly with Intersport, quite often. If you're lucky, some of the form you have to fill in is already filled in, and that seems to be about it as far as speeding things up is concerned. I've never had the impression that my skis have been sitting there, earmarked for me; the chap has a chat with me a chat about what type and length I want, and off we go. The kids' boots are not sitting waiting for them either, and probably wouldn't fit if they were. i have no complaints, but the advantage of on line booking seems marginal.
Snowrental may be different, of course.
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SR1, I've looked at online rental, but they nearly all say "or similar" when you try to book a specific ski. To me that means you could end up with anything so I always wait til I get to resort - How does your business handle this. If I want 170mm Stoekli Laser SC skis (or whatever) in Davos Dorf from Wednesday 20th March to Tuesday 25th March (which I do) can you guarantee that's what I'll get?
If so I'm in, if not I'm out - I am Peter Jones and I claim my own £5. 
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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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SR1, right - had a look at the site and as you don't get to choose the make & model of skis it would be of no interest to me. My feeling in such a situation would be that I'll just get given whatever's left over in the shop, and for only 8% off 'walk up' rate that risk means using your site doesn't come close to being in resort, browsing a few shops & picking out exactly what skis I want and making sure with the shop staff that I can change them if I want to etc.
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red 27, I agree that this is what most offer, and choosing a specific model is indeed one of the trickier parts of renting online to get right.
What we do on SnowRental to try and improve on this is offer a choice of models that the shop has explicitly given us rather than a generic list that is supposedly common to all shops but rarely is. We ask the shop to provide us with a list of models that they are confident they can supply most of the time. This means you can specify a model on SnowRental during the booking and stand a pretty good chance of getting it, but we don't claim to guarantee it.
Obviously shops do not have unlimited numbers of each model so in order to guarantee a specific model would require a live link to the shop to monitor the stock levels and other bookings and only offer that model if it was still available. This is something we are working on for the near future for a select number of shops that have the capability and motivation to do this.
Would I be correct in thinking that for you red 27, being certain of getting a specific model is more important than getting the lowest price?
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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| SR1 wrote: |
| red 27, This means you can specify a model on SnowRental during the booking and stand a pretty good chance of getting it, but we don't claim to guarantee it. |
I didn't notice that feature... and I went right through to where it was asking me for credit card details - it just seemed to say '5*' or '4*' which means nothing, obviously...
BTW - the 'Show Map' feature didn't work for me, using the 'Swiss rent a sport' shop in Davos...
| SR1 wrote: |
| Would I be correct in thinking that for you red 27, being certain of getting a specific model is more important than getting the lowest price? |
you would... they were ranked 1 and 2 respectively in your survey
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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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red 27, thanks for filling the survey.
The option to choose a model is only available for shops that have provided us with a list of equipment. If the shop hasnt filled in the equipment then you will be shown just a generic ski. If you want to have a look at what it looks like, try any of the shops in Val d'Isere France for example. Both Killy Sport and Eskiador have excellent ratings for provding the model requested.
After each booking we send an email asking the skier to rate the shop on a number of criteria which includes getting the model requested and this is reflected in the rating for the shop.
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SR1, So you are providing an online booking service for independent shops if i am correct?
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You know it makes sense.
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SMALLZOOKEEPER, we work with a mixture of shops. A lot of them will be from other networks such as SkiSet and Sport2000 and some of them will be independant. This means that in many cases you will be booking with exactly the same shop as if you booked directly on their website but often at a better price.
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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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SR1, So your an online booking service provider for the ski rental business?
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Poster: A snowHead
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SR1, Is it possible to blow your France outlets up via on-line ?? 
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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SR1, right, gotcha... Online rental is not for me I think.
Thinking on, I actually enjoy the process of rummaging round in the racks looking for different/unusual stuff to try - I wonder if I should have been born a woman?
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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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SMALLZOOKEEPER, yes indeed we are just that : an online booking service for ski rental shops all over the world, we create a booking for you with the shop that you have chosen on our website.
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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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SR1, Do we get an extra discout for letting you advertise on SNOWHEADS ? 
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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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Odin, 
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Odin, Doing my best not to push gratuitously SR but just ask talk about ski hire online in general. In the context of snowheads I am more interested in finding out what people think about online ski hire in general than trying to plug SR. Its getting to the time of the year where we look at what we offer next winter, and who better to ask? I have included a link my footer to make it clear where I work simply to be open.
However if someone from snowheads wants to contact us, or let us know who to contact, I would be pleased to discuss some kind of support for the site in exchange for hosting this discussion.
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Unlike the government, I'm not convinced that heaping choice (real or imagined) on people is necesarily the answer to everything.
I guess that most people who care what skis they use, own them, so giving them a wide choice of brand and type in a hire shop may not be that important. We don't own our own, but to some extent we will decide what sort of ski we want when we arrive, depending on the conditions and how we feel, with the shop's assistance - I have no idea which skis are good for what, and couldn't care less, and I am sceptical that within the different styles (piste, off piste, freeride, all mountain, whatever) it makes that much difference for me, just like I'm sceptical about whether you need to have 4 types of balsamic vineger in your vinegar quiver. I suspect that the red 27s of this world, who know exactly which ski they want before they arrive, are relatively rare.
I suspect that what most users want is a decent looking ski at a good price, with prompt and confidence inspiring service. They probably don't know it, but they also want them to be the right ski for them and properly prepared for the conditions, which is down to the skill of the hire shop. For me, the possibility of changing skis from day to day is attractive, but usually seems to be available. Selection of specific skis on line in advance is of little interest to me and I suspect to most. Nothing wrong with offering it, of course.
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SR1, My feedback on the Snowrental website would be to say that:
1. It needs simplifying. The top half of the frontpage looks too cluttered. It is not *immediately* clear what you are selling; where you are selling it; and to whom you are selling it.
2. Consider changing your address to .co.uk or .com or .fr or whatever. Many people are often suspicious of .net addresses, because they don't specify a country-of-origin.
3. The frontpage needs more visual icons. It needs bigger and crisper images of skis, boards and boots. Hyperlink the pictures. This will show faster 'what you do'.
4. Put a simplified map of the world on the frontpage. Hyperlink the maps for the countries where you operate. This will show faster 'where you do it'. It will localize the webpage for users.
5. You should do some quantitative and qualitative benchmarking among endusers of competitors' websites. Find the most userfriendly one and learn what it does better.
Nice to see a firm asking customers what they want, rather than just guesing.
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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I was surprised by the vast number of ski brands offered by some shops; the Jennewein in St Anton for example (one ski offered by them is called 'The Sir Francis Bacon', which strikes me as a very odd name for a ski).
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FAQ
