 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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I've delayed making plans beyond the first week of three possible.
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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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luigi, you lucked out, that's great. Changing plans now would be too much hassle so just going to suck it up and absorb the difference caused by the shitty pound.
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| luigi wrote: |
Has anyone else been tempted to rethink plans in the light of the Euro's strength? |
Easy. Don't go to Euroland.
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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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telford_mike, Not quite as simple as that, it's more the weakness of the pound rather than the particular strength of the Euro, which means you're worse off this year compared to last just about anywhere except Scotland.
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| johnnyboy wrote: |
| telford_mike, Not quite as simple as that, it's more the weakness of the pound rather than the particular strength of the Euro, which means you're worse off this year compared to last just about anywhere except Scotland. |
Worse off is one thing. Ripped off is another. From posts I've seen on here, some French resorts are charging €7 (£7) for a large beer. Here in Switzerland for example that same beer will cost CHF6 (less if you look around), or about £4.50 even at the worst exchange rates you can find. Lift pass prices are similarly inflated in Euroland.
The pound has dropped 30% against the Euro and the same against the Swiss Franc. Why then is a beer so much more expensive in France, where the overall cost of living is lower?
IMO the Euro countries are putting up prices and hoping that we'll blame the weakness of our own currency. It's a rip off. Go elsewhere.
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telford_mike, yes, for example, last week-end in Les Menuires I paid 4 quid for a 50cl bottle of Evian in a mountain restaurant. Everything was a silly price (regardless of the exchange rate) when compared to Austria, where I'd been a month ago (and I'm comparing Euro price v Euro price). It's not Europe that's a rip off, it's France.
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| Bode Swiller wrote: |
| ... last week-end in Les Menuires I paid 4 quid for a 50cl bottle of Evian... It's not Europe that's a rip off, it's France. |
Bought one of those myself this morning - CHF3 (£2). And they say Switzerland's expensive!
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johnnyboy, Exactly - don't blame the euro - blame the UK gov for not joining in. telford_mike, Note 'some' french resorts, not here, certainly not if you avoid the 'english' bars! Of course so many brits slavishly follow each other to the 3V and Val D that it's hardly surprising - in a recession many would do the same thing. 
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| luigi wrote: |
Has anyone else been tempted to rethink plans in the light of the Euro's strength? |
Ya, I'm thinking of doing more skiing!
Also, since when have mountain restaurants had reasonable prices!?
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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| telford_mike wrote: |
| johnnyboy wrote: |
| telford_mike, Not quite as simple as that, it's more the weakness of the pound rather than the particular strength of the Euro, which means you're worse off this year compared to last just about anywhere except Scotland. |
Worse off is one thing. Ripped off is another. From posts I've seen on here, some French resorts are charging €7 (£7) for a large beer. Here in Switzerland for example that same beer will cost CHF6 (less if you look around), or about £4.50 even at the worst exchange rates you can find. Lift pass prices are similarly inflated in Euroland.
The pound has dropped 30% against the Euro and the same against the Swiss Franc. Why then is a beer so much more expensive in France, where the overall cost of living is lower?
IMO the Euro countries are putting up prices and hoping that we'll blame the weakness of our own currency. It's a rip off. Go elsewhere. |
So by "Euroland" and "The Euro Countries", you actually mean the most expensive of the French resorts. 
Almost all of Austria, Italy and Spain are significantly cheaper, as is a lot of France. Having skiied in Austria and Italy in the last few years, I would regard your CHF6 beer as rather expensive, not having paid more than €4 for a large beer in the last few years (usually €3).
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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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Probably, a weaker/devalued pound is what the UK needs right now to boost exports/discourage imports, help the trade deficit, encourage UK citizens to spend at home rather than abroad and boost the UK tourist industry.
I'm sure things would be worse for us if the pound were prevented from floating with the market. Industry in Euroland must be hurting right now with Euro's relative strength, some euro countries really could do with the devaluation 'medicine', which they can't get 'cos they're locked in, I'm pretty sure cracks will emerge as the recession bites!
In the meantime, it's a bit of a pain for us snow 'addicts' paid in sterling who want to travel abroad to get their 'fix'. This is going to be a bit of enforced 're-hab' for us. My original plans had 7 days on the snow, now only 6, so I'm going 'cold turkey' a little bit at least.
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Just come back from Courmayeur in Italy, cost of a pint ranged from 5 Euros (small bars) to 8 Euros! (more popular bars). Buying rounds became a painfull experience! 
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You know it makes sense.
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| GreyCat wrote: |
| Just come back from Courmayeur in Italy, cost of a pint ranged from 5 Euros (small bars) to 8 Euros! (more popular bars). Buying rounds became a painfull experience! |
Ouch!
But that is way more than we were paying in September in the Dolomites. The most I paid on that trip was €4.50 for a large beer, and that was in the most expensive hotel generally that we stayed at.
Most of them were €3 or €3.50 on that trip.
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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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Going out to France on Sunday and the sliding exchange rate is like watching the snow all melt on a webcam!
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Poster: A snowHead
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It won't be long now until massive groups of lairy Estonians flood into London's bars and strip clubs on stag parties, attracted by the cheap price of booze and whores.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Haven't we done this topic to death several times? Surely there are 3-options
1. You're on holiday and will pay the prices as you don't care
2. Buy your booze on the journey and don't pay resort prices
3. Don't go
I will be doing Option 2 and self-catering
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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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easiski, IMO the UK government are probably in a more enviable position than us in the eruo zone! It appears that the short sharp shock that the UK government action will get the UK producing more. We are in the euro zone and the drip drip drip approach of the ECB will take us a while before we are back to where we were.
Shops in Northern Ireland are inundated with Irish shoppers going North spending their monies in the shops there. We are overpriced here and we know that we are being ripped off here.
The UK economy is stronger than that of Iceland and will not have the same problems they did IMO, they can afford to stay out of the euro zone. And arent they lucky that they are not in the same mire as the rest of us!
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Avoid those places that want to charge the premium...
I have always thought some places in France really take the p** and will continue to do so if you pay it.
Switzerland learnt this lesson long ago ( one or two places excpeted )... you can price people out of hotels, but it is the knock on effect that kills places... no people means no spend ANYWHERE... 
Our mid to late Jan chalet is costing us 1500chf inc linen for a week...and can sleep 9. We will put 6 or so in it and get the accom for 250chf pp.....
When can then go mad with the eat-in meals...
This scale is also reflected in general resort costs like Lift pass and mountain restro's...
So keep paying the prices of the drone-zones if you like...
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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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| Boris wrote: |
Haven't we done this topic to death several times? Surely there are 3-options
1. You're on holiday and will pay the prices as you don't care
2. Buy your booze on the journey and don't pay resort prices
3. Don't go
I will be doing Option 2 and self-catering |
you forgot option 4..
4 .dont drink beer in france. drink the free wine in the catered chalet !
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Anyone been in Mayrhofen this year, how much is a pint?
Bob
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Stupid prices in the most popular/bigger resorts is really nothing new...
The unfavourable exchange rate has brought some back to earth with a bang but those prices were "silly" long before the pound was on a par with the Euro..
Just don't get hammered every night...
I am as much up for apres-ski as anyone, as a few embarassing photos can prove, but the point of these holidays is skiing/boarding. If boozing becomes too expensive I am not gonna cry about it!
Edit: it amazes me that about 90% of the threads relating to the rising cost of skiing in Europe have used the cost of a pint to illustrate the issue...I would have thought that e.g. the cost of lift passes would more important, yet the pint is what seems to preoccupy the great great majority of people..
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And on the subject of lift passes, constant crowing that 'Switzerland is cheaper than France' gets quite annoying when you're a few days away from stumping up the outrageous cost of a Zermatt/Cervinia pass. 
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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Kruisler, Lift passes have much more variation in the product being paid for, so are harder to compare.
Even meals tend to vary a lot in what people want.
A large beer is something simple and pretty standard, and which almost everybody will buy at least some of on most trips.
It shouldn't be the biggest factor in costs for most, but it is an easy comparator.
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alex_heney,
I'd like to think people have gone through that thought process but i am somehow not convinced...call me cynical if you want..
As your posts and others show, there is quite a bit of variation in the price of of a pint from resorts to resorts so it does not seem much more valid than anything else as a universal reference despite the fact that it is a "known quantity". Indeed resorts vary so much that I am not sure you can ever compare like for like (I join your point about lift passes here).
And there are plenty of other similar items that could be used as a basis for comparison water bottle/spag bol(which you'll find everywhere)/ equipment rental etc..
It does not detract from the OP, i.e. stupid prices on the mountain. This really is an issue in some french (and others) resorts. But to repeat myself it's nothing new. In the 80's with my parents we always used to go back to the flat for lunch, because prices were already very high then. We usually were 2/3 familiys and would take it in turn to organise a meal in one's flat in the evenings for the entire group. We'd go to the restaurant once in the week... When I was skiing for the day on my own or with friends, we'd take our own picnic.
Brits did not really see that and have been the golden cow of those resorts. They had high wages, a favourable exchange rate, a lot of TO thus creating competition and lower prices...They had loads to spend and were indeed spending it. Some popular resorts saw that as a blank cheque to increase prices even further..
Well the cards castle is tumbling down here but I dare say that maybe a lot of people on the continent wouldn't undertsand what the sudden fuss is all about..
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Have to say that some of the late (desparate) TO deals are looking like very good value this season. We are still DIY-ing as we had flights booked early and cheap for both our trips, and there are very few of those kinds of deals to Austria anyway (or if they are they are B&B, forcing you to eat out every night).
The options for most people feeling the pinch this year seem to be cheap TO deals with meals included thus limiting 'on-site' costs, or flights booked early plus s/c accom so you can eat in if you need to. B&B is a tricky option this year because it means spending a lot of Euros in resort on meals etc. which people may be trying to avoid.
I fear that unrealistically cheap TO deals this year (which surely must be losing money hand over fist?) might lead to fewer TOs making it through to next year thus less choice for everyone. So make the most of them now I guess!
Have fun on the slopes all, however you do it!
D
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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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Roy Hockley, if the UK are in a better position because of sterner measures, does that mean the £ will rally in the next few weeks against the €?
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You know it makes sense.
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Deliaskis,
I agree. If reasonnably priced all-inclusive/catered deals can be found they are the way to go for now..
Luckily for me, although that was not intentional as i am tagging along in a trip already organised, my only booked trip so far is to a catered chalet, and all paid in £.
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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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| telford_mike wrote: |
| The pound has dropped 30% against the Euro and the same against the Swiss Franc. Why then is a beer so much more expensive in France, where the overall cost of living is lower? |
Captive audience. Whatever the economy, they (the businesses in resort) know we'll head out regardless because we're hooked on snow. It pained me to pay €6 for a beer in Val D'Isere last week but I did. hankjfully we found a much cheaper place by mid-week but then again, we made the decision not to go on a pi$$-up holiday, preferring to stay in the chalet and drink.
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Poster: A snowHead
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| Quote: |
Why then is a beer so much more expensive in France, where the overall cost of living is lower?
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Without justifying the prices found in some resorts, it might be worth noting that alcool prices in france (well, beer at least..) in bars have never had any relation to the prices found in the supermarkets.
When I moved to the UK 12 years ago, I was a bit taken aback by beer prices in the supermarkets...but well pleased by the cost of a pint in a pub which was much cheaper than in France..
There must be some tax level/licence cost behind this.... and this is maybe why prices are higher in France (compared to other countries) in bars...
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Zermatt has always, always been expensive, they charge what they do because they can. The cost of the lift pass is expensive and would be before the exchange hit.. I would be surprised you are surprised...
Zermatt is one of those places that everyone should go to... and when they do..just suck up, but I can't see the reason why to go back there. Zermatt is defo a drone-zone and I suppose we should be grateful that people flock there and leave other places uncrowded.
I am supposed to go to VT in Jan....but can't really summon up the enthusiasm for the whole thing. If I didn't have a great guide book, I'd go somewhere else..
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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 award for most positive and optimistic post of the year goes to...
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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tommy10pages, I dont think anyone knows the timescale of these things, but I bet the UK will be in a stronger position sooner and out of the SH one TE than us over here!
Good for exporters, bad for skiers going on holiday! For the time being!
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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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If its any consolation even the most popular on piste restaurants had empty tables at lunchtime today
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Boredsurfing, it's no consolation at all when we want to go away and enjoy our holiday, not to mention that nice mountain lunch.
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| Boredsurfing wrote: |
| If its any consolation even the most popular on piste restaurants had empty tables at lunchtime today |
Which means they'll be looking for ways to tweak up the prices here and there to make up for the projected short fall.
Anyway, the main ingredient has arrived big style and there are always ways of shaving a few quid off if you need to. Some suggestions:
(1) Just spend the amount your mortgage has gone down by.
(2) Kids still reach a fair sum for medical experiments.
(3) Slap it all on a credit card (that one sponsored by G Brown)
(4) Wear baggy trousers in bars that conceal many litres of supermarket booze (sponsored by me that one)
(5) Camelback works too and/or also
(6) Go "minesweeping" - buy ONE bottle of beer, drink it, then fill back up with water from the bogs, then find "victim" who happens to have full bottle of same beer, carefully swap bottles while distracting "victim" somehow.
(7) Hang around posh chalets and go down the bins
any others?
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IMHO drinking beer in France has always been a rip off!!! Also I was in Val Gardena weekend before last and witnessed Italians with there own beer and drinking it in the lift, which they kindly shared, and also in one mountain hut... the old hip flask came out and was shared around the table and they have the EURO!!! Won't be long before industrial Germany and France start suffering and then the ECB will cut rates. They are just afew months behind in the cycle. This country is far better off with it's own monetary decisions. We never moaned when rates were good. Remember the smaller countries in EUROLAND, those that are non-runners are in trouble as well. Skiing will never be cheap. Myonly advice is go to Austria if you like a few beers.. 
PS.
Camelback with your favorite tipple sounds the way to go!!!
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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 haven't skied with a hip flask since I was in my 20s. It's definitely coming with me on this year's trips!
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My favourite bar in Bansko Bulgaria has just increased its beer price to €1 for a large 500 cl beer. I am not happy as in the summer it was €0.60. Thats 5 times the beer for your money as in Cervinia earlier this month. Oh and I think the Bansko skiing is superior. Off for the season on Boxing day. Just need snow now . 
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