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I've never booked DIY before... a little bit scared

 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
Quick question...
We're planning a trip over Easter next year (3 adults, 3 kids) and need to do it as cheap as we can so are thinking of DIY. That scares me a little bit (I don't know why though as I'd DIY all my non-ski holidays!) - should I book flights first and then accommodation or vice versa? Are there some good sites to book transfers etc? Or is train easier?

Don't mind where to go - in Europe, cheap and reasonably snowsure given that it is Easter. Would the bigger resorts work out cheaper? (I was thinking of La Plagne or Alpe d'Huz but only as I've been before so marginally less daunting). Or are smaller resorts a better bet? I've read quite a bit on here about Austria but haven't been before.

Or is a tour operator likely to work out cheaper?

Self catering is probably our best option as we can cater to the children more easily - I'll miss the afternoon cake though.

Sorry, I realise this is a very vague query but any advice/tips would be much appreciated!
Thanks
F
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
fs, welcome to Snowheads. Where in the UK are you based? And do you have a vehicle big enough for you all to travel comfortably? Driving might be cheaper with those numbers and might be easier for doing a big supermarket shop en route, and taking some bits and pieces with you from home, too.

DIY isn't necessarily cheaper than using a TO - it all depends!!

Bigger resorts aren't usually cheaper - rather the reverse - but as Easter is in early April you will need to find somewhere with a good snow record for late holidays. Going somewhere you've been before isn't a bad idea - it'll be one less unknown quantity to deal with.
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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?
Thanks - we're based in London and don't have a big enough car. It is an option to hire something though but I fear car-sickness on the part of at least half the party may rule that one out.
I may price a fee TO options up to see how much it comes in at - I think I was assuming TO = catered chalet but thinking about it they'll have self catering options as well so that might be easier.
Thanks
F
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fs,
DIY is ridiculously easy now with the interweb. Personally I have found I can invariably get a holiday cheaper at peak times DIY for a family and also what I want which at Easter is usually a bit more than the standard week. O thik low seaaon trou operators become closer in price and are often cheaper , if you can pick up a last minute sometimes very cheap indeed.
From London you have a huge choice of flights. If you are price concious sometimes the combination of flying and hiring a car means that you can get very reasonably priced accommodation just out of the resort.Personally I decide where I want to go and book flights and then accommodation. If I cannot get the flights at a decent price I look elsewhere. If you are going high for a number of people the week leading up to Easter can be busy and to get a decent choice you need to book reasonably early. The week after Easter is rarely a problem.
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 Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Hi fs,

Have you been to France before. Doing it yourself doesn't need to be too difficult. Just go for a resort that is close enough to the airport you fly into so that the transfer will not be too difficult. For example:

France - Avoriaz/ Morzine. They are pretty good for families and close to Geneva airport. It's only 2 hours away. You should get loads of good deals on flights from London. There are also loads of options where transfers are concerned. Again you can hire a car as suggested here already or organise your transfer through some of the transfer companies that run regularly between these resorts.

Austria is also a good choice because the bulk of resorts are close by the airport so within easy reach. Just go for it. If you've organised your own summer holiday this is as easy Laughing Just be sure if you book the transfers online then shop around!

As for what to book first. If there is a specific hotel you are looking at just ask them to hold the room for a week because you need to confirm your holiday leave. Most properties wll allow this. Same goes for the transfer if you look at booking through a company. I reckon the important part will be the flights because the cost on these changes so quickly! If you have the availability in writing for the other parts of your holiday then go for it.

Hope it all goes well for you and the advice helped Smile

Angela.
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That's great - thanks for your help! I'm just being a wimp really and as they're not my kids there is additional stress worrying about what they'll need.
I had been thinking about Avoriaz as well so I'll explore that further.
Thanks
F
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 Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
fs, TOs certainly do self catering accommodation but their base prices always assume you're going to cram in the maximum number of people and "under occupancy" can then add quite a bit - so it needs careful thinking. Some French apartments are really small (I saw one of 26 square metres advertised for 6 people recently Shocked ) and you need to decide in advance how many bedrooms you need - depending on whether you are willing to have anyone sleeping in the lounge, and who wants to share with whom.

There's a huge range of quality in self catering accommodation too. To give you an idea of what's available at the higher end of the market, in top resorts, have a look at the site http://www.montagnettes.com/montagnettes

they have some places in Belle Plagne, Les Menuires, Val Thorens and other high resorts - you'll note from the tariffs that the week following Easter (starting 10 April) is significantly cheaper. It would be quieter, too. I had my eye on those Belle Plagne ones for a big family get together in 2002 - but we ended up buying an apartment instead so that was out of the window.

In a smaller resort - such as ours, which is Bisanne 1500, a satellite of Les Saisies, prices are a lot cheaper. For example http://www.bisanne-lessaisies.com/Tarifs.htm - these are excellent quality apartments with two separate bedrooms, on the slopes, and the tariff for Easter week (already reserved though) was euros 460. I would hesitate to recommend our place for Easter though - it's been fine for early April the last 7 years but somewhere higher would be better. Val Thorens or somewhere like that - Flaine is not a bad bet, but it's the same altitude as Les Saisies and (having trekked over there several times in search of better snow, and not found it) conditions are much the same, if not worse.
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 After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
the stellar names its perhaps harder to do DIY cheaper than the tour operators, but easy enough for resorts such as serre chevalier. we've gone DIY twice to serre chevalier as a large group and to laax as a group of 4. just google the resort and apartments to rent and am sure you'll find plenty of options. Depends on whether you fly or drive. flights to zurich can be cheap with swissair. Laax is higly reccomended having been there last year and has a glacier so should be snowsure. There is a resort bus but we hired a car. Drive was fairly painless albeit slightly slow getting out of zurich. serre chevalier we did a taxi transfer from turin. my objective has been to go for better quality than but at same price as tour operator eg tour operator would have charged us £350 for 8 in 2 bedrooms apartment. we had 5 bedroomed apartment cladded in old wood looking like a 5 star chalet with private transfer to serre chevalier


Last edited by After all it is free Go on u know u want to! on Mon 28-09-09 18:46; edited 5 times in total
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fs, You can usually make big savings on a DIY holiday compared to a TO especially at school holiday times. Some good sites to help you find the best value are www.skyscanner.net to find the cheapest flights, www.carrentals.co.uk to find the cheapest car hire. Private transfers to resort always seem to be expensive to me but I'm sure somebody on snowheads will be in touch offering you a good deal. You can catch public transport from the airports to most resorts either by train or bus however it is usually cheaper and more convenient to hire a car (or 2 small ones) than to pay for 6 return fares on public transport.
If you do hire a car(s) at Easter you are less likely to encounter snow or ice on the roads to resort.
My priorities would be to decide on the area you wish to travel to, find the cheapest flights, they usually tend to go up in price the longer you leave it for school holidays and never seem to appear on the airlines frequent sales. I would then find suitable accommodation (some private owners will offer midweek rentals to coincide with the cheaper flights if you ask nicely). I would imagine a lot of accommodation is still available for Easter so you should have time to find something reasonably priced. If you can match the flights with the accommodation book and pay for the flights, you usually only have to put a deposit on the accommodation with the balance normally due a couple of months before your holiday. Finally I would look at the price of the various transfers and then book those. I think the price of all the transfer options stays pretty constant no matter when you book.
Doing it this way helps to spread the cost of the holiday over the year so it doesn't seem that expensive.

Hope this will help and good luck. I'm sure once you've been on a DIY holiday you probably wont go back to the TO's
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 Ski the Net with snowHeads
Ski the Net with snowHeads
Just finished booking one trip to Austria/Italy and another to Colorado in USA.

I have just started using Expedia for the American trip.

My advice is do a dummy run on the Internet first to establish availability and cost of flights, car hire if applicable, transfer, accommodation and ski passes if so wish. In so doing one can cost the entire trip in advance and get a "feel" of how easy and expensive of everything involved. For food I just budget the daily expenditure to cover breakfast, lunch and dinner.

When one is happy with the plan, sleep on it for a few days then commit the bookings.

To me it is just filling in a preadsheet with the following columns

(1) Day no.
(2) Day
(3) Description of where I would be
(4) Where I ski
(5) Where I sleep
(6) How many miles do I have to drive
(7) ski pass cost
(Cool Accommodation cost
(9) Food cost
(10) Flight cost
(11) Car hire cost
(12) Fuel cost

If an entry is applicable to several days the the affected days can be merged into one cell to accept one entry.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Nowadays the Google map is pretty good for checking out any distance between two points of interest.

Don't know if many SH are aware of the following facility in Google.

Just Google a destination, for example "Serre Chevalier", and press enter.

Do not go into the search engine, instead click "map" and blow up the map to a reasonable scale

In place of "Serre Chevalier" you now overtype it with "hotel" and press enter.

Most of the hotels will be displayed on the Google maps. Click the individual hotel site you can have all the details and some may allow you to see the rate, availability and to book it too.

The above is at least one of the choice but you do pay the market rate.

Other travel agency sites may get you into the same hotel at a cheaper or more expensive rate.

For Austria, Italy and Switzerland I recommend "Bergfex" as it cover hotels, pensions, self catering and farm houses etc. Very cheap accommodations are advertised there if the visitors can accept no running water and sleep in the barn etc. (may there are even places to sleep with the animals Laughing ) The charges and standard are pretty consistent as I believe the system is closely monitored. Bergfex only do accommodations mainly and covers all Alpine countries except France.


Last edited by Ski the Net with snowHeads on Mon 28-09-09 17:50; edited 1 time in total
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Quote:

some private owners will offer midweek rentals to coincide with the cheaper flights if you ask nicely

you'd be lucky to find this, at Easter.

There's no problem doing DIY in the "stellar" resorts - they all have plenty of accommodation for rent, and you can explore the options through their websites.

I haven't seen any Snowheads offering cheap transfers - though it's exceptionally easy to explore the options on the internet. Tying up a driver and a vehicle, on some of the busiest days of the year, is never going to be cheap, but for 6 people a minibus transfer should work out OK. As a guideline, a trip to bring 6 people from Geneva to Les Saisies will cost 288 euros (1.5 hours). For a return trip, thats 96 euros a head - it would be more for longer transfers, to the 3 Valleys etc. At current costs I think that's likely to be cheaper than renting two cars, but it's always a close run thing.
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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.
I went to Chamonix at Easter this year, was only my second trip away. First was a package deal to Les Arcs in Jan

I met up with some fiends out there, they went by car but i took the coach from Victoria station £100 return
a
4 bed appt was £63.61 per night (shared between 3 of us)

So my 3 nights (4 days skiing) only cost £160 plus lift passes and ski hire

I was a bit worried about the coach trip but there is plenty of leg room and i managed a few hours sleep during the overnight journeyI will be doing the same next easter
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So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
pam w,
Quote:

you'd be lucky to find this, at Easter.

We usually book other people in around our holidays and as we also want to fly on the cheaper midweek flights the occassional mid-week booking does become available. This year we will only be out at Easter for 1 week as my daughter is taking her GCES's so we will offer the other easter week. Admittedly we are usually out there for most school holidays so it is unusual, I would imagine somebody else out there is in a similar situation to us and would be able to be flexible.

I thought somebody on snowheads offered cheap midweek transfers, can't remember who though.
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 You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
As you are thinking of Alpe d'Huez there are cheap transfers to there from Grenoble and Lyon airports. I stayed there in a nice apartment at Easter 2008 which I booked from a Belgian guy. It was quite reasonable. I've driven the last 2 Easters (as I will next) though as I've struggled to find reasonably priced flights.
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 Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Quote:

I've struggled to find reasonably priced flights.

the Easter flights are looking fairly expensive - no big bargains there, I fear.
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 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
TBH I quite enjoy driving at Easter. Weather is getting more reliable (although there was a huge dump on Good Friday 2008 when driving down) and it isn't such a rush as half term. I can load the car up with as much stuff as I could possibly need too and I generally stay for about 10 nights. For 2 of us though it doesn't work out that cheap.
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Instead of France, you could try Switzerland or Austria. You can get to a number of resorts via rail and a link from Zurich (which often has cheaper flights during holiday times as it is a predominately business route). I often find Swiss Air gives the best deal - but have not looked into it.

Once you have flights - you then have a range of options you can go - either into Austria or down into Zurich.

You can book a car - or if you prefer you can use the great train network (www.sbb.ch gives you the timetable). I would think for a number of you renting a car will be cheaper.

I have often found cheap accommodation looking on the search engine of the town (e.g. try www.klosters.ch). Sometimes though they will not give you shorter bookings than for a week until nearer the time - in which case you can go on the waiting list for a few hotels.

Good luck - we now only book our own arrangements (as you can then usually get an extra day's skiing - with planning - vs the TO route)
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Easyjet have flights going out on Fri 26th March returning Fri 2nd April from Stanstead to Geneva for £67 return. You will have to add on extras such as bagage and credit card fees. If you are travelling to the airport in London on public transport you could fly out from Stanstead to Geneva and return to Gatwick for £57.
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But that's the week before Easter isn't it? and won't fit in with hotel weeks?
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pam w, Thanks for pointing that out. My daughters school finishes on 26th March and returns on 13th April, I didn't realise they were a week later in London, I'd also better check the dates of my son's 6th form college.
In that case you can find a return flight on skyscanner with easyjet from Gatwick to Geneva going out on Sat 10th April, returning on Sunday 18th April for £52 return. The sunday flight is an early morning flight (7:20) but it is worth staying somewhere like the Novotel in Ferney Voltaire on the saturday night, they have a free shuttle bus to the airport. You can then book the majority of the accommodation in the resorts available on a saturday to saturday basis.
It can be very useful to find somebody who is flexible on changeover dates though, it can save people flying from England a fortune if they travel midweek. We are doing Thursday to Thursday flights at February half term and the savings we make on the flights will pay for the lift passes.
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skichampcouk, yes, that week AFTER Easter is much cheaper. We have friends borrowing our apartment at half term - we are not there either the week before, or the week after, so they've been able to travel Monday/Monday and save a packet (and just miss one day's school) particularly as they are getting the apartment very much at mate's rates. For the first week of Easter both flights and accommodation are going to be more expensive. Spending Sat night at Ferney Voltaire is a good idea - could mean a whole day skiing on the Saturday.
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My two-pennarth.....DIY is easy,just a little stressful.Always racked with doubt that I have actually cracked the best deal Confused Negatives..the decisions are yours,so best you get it right.Positives..you are,as much as is possible,in control.Don't be fooled by the supposed 'comfort' of using a TO.If it all goes t^ts up,there's precious little you can do about it...other than make the adolescent reps life a misery wink
I'm out at Easter.Was going to France,but circumstances now mean were off to Italy.Flights,for either,are a bit of a nightmare(and pricy)Looking at around £500 for 4.With routes being dropped all over the place,best you sort yourself out as soon as poss?For your combo(3+3)I would be looking at car hire.Easy from most airports,esp Geneva.Don't discount car hire via the airline site,some good prices,just do your research first.Destination? Well,for Easter,go high young man.La Plagne,Les Arc or Les deus Alpes would be high on my list.LDA also has the attraction of our very own resident instructor,Easiski,who,I'm sure,would be more than happy to provide info Very Happy All an easy drive from GVA.Another possibility,and very family friendly,is Valmoral(just down the valley from Les Arc)A smaller station,but good for young kids,and they do discounted passes for families.
Accommodation?For budget,have a look at Maeva www.pv-holidays.com/maeva .French based company,part of Pierre Vacances.Do apartments in all major stations,and the price is right.Pretty typical French ski apartments(small and basic),but they do the job at a decent price.Used them several times,no problems.Book on line,easy.
With a budget in mind don't forget,car hire means you can hit the supermarkets in the valley.Shopping for your lot will cost a fortune in resort Shocked
Best of luck.....and don't worry.....you will survive wink
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 After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
jasongibson100, welcome to Snowheads! I think your debut maybe got lost in the general rush of replies... snowHead
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pam w wrote:
Quote:

some private owners will offer midweek rentals to coincide with the cheaper flights if you ask nicely

you'd be lucky to find this, at Easter.

One of the most infuriating things about European skiing IMO - a 10 day trip in school hols is impossible unless you pay for 14.Why is this possible on the left-hand side of the Atlantic but not the right?

6 days skiing just isn't long enough for me, but, for a family, 13 is a big commitment financially and takes a huge slice out of annual leave and can't be justified to the head teacher.
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 Ski the Net with snowHeads
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Jonny Jones,

Quote:
One of the most infuriating things about European skiing IMO - a 10 day trip in school hols is impossible


I disagree. If you hire a car and stay a little distance from the resort, say willing to drive 5 to 8 minutes to ski each morning, you should have no problem booking part of a week. That is exactly what I have been doing all the time in the Alps. Mind you the catered chalets may be out of the question but half board in affordable pensions should be no problem.

To be fair the on resort accommodations are for skiers without transport and the owners normally have little problem to sell the rooms for the standard weekly rate. Why should they break up the week to accommodate us? The chances are they will not find visitors to fill the part of the week left by us.
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saikee is right, of course. North American skiers seem to have no great problem with the concept of driving a while to the lifts each morning. Neither do French skiers (and no doubt Austrian ones too) who live in the area and ski just on Sundays. It's just the Brits who seem so wedded to being able to fall out of bed onto the slopes. Being more flexible opens up a lot of possibilities including being able to chase the snow. The obsession with having a "large ski area" is part of the same complex. Visiting two or three different smaller areas in the course of a holiday is also a good option. Even within our smallish area we sometimes drive to a distant lift (about 40 minutes driving) rather than ski there. Sometimes to escape New Year crowds - we know which areas are less crowded - sometimes to ski more of the distant area rather than skiing the same routes there and back, sometimes because of unpleasantly high winds and bad visibility in our higher place (especially when the latter close the high lifts).

I suppose this traditional Brit pattern stemmed from the days when we all used TOs. You get to an airport, put on a bus, driven for what seems like hours to somewhere - goodness knows where - and then ski what you can reach on foot or ski bus from your accommodation. Now we can lift up our eyes, and see the hills. And we know where we are because we drove there. And we know what options are all around us because we can use the internet and interactive piste maps to find out, and even buy the passes in advance.

Whether all this is really good news for the non Brit-infested areas is, of course, another question. wink
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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.
I'm having a 10 night SC stay in Le Deux Alpes for the 3rd year running next Easter. You need to hunt for a flexible owner though.
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 So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
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pam w wrote:
fs, TOs certainly do self catering accommodation but their base prices always assume you're going to cram in the maximum number of people and "under occupancy" can then add quite a bit - so it needs careful thinking. Some French apartments are really small (I saw one of 26 square metres advertised for 6 people recently Shocked )


that is ridiculous.

I had a single hotel room that was 18 sq metres in March this year, and while it was large for a single, there is no way another 6 sq metres would have given enough room for 6, plus any sort of cooking facilities at all.
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 You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
skichampcouk wrote:
fs, You can usually make big savings on a DIY holiday compared to a TO especially at school holiday times.


In the context of this thread (i.e. with the numbers he has going, and at peak time), that is true enough.

But as a generality, it varies so much, depending on both how many and when you are travelling. It is certainly not true at low season IME.
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 Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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fs, We came very close to booking in at this place in Nassfeld, Austria for this coming Easter, but for reasons unforseen our group size changed and we ended up renting a small apartment in the same resort instead. The prices are good, as are the facilities for children, the only down side being a short journey to the slopes each day. Flights from Stansted can be had for less than £100.
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 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
fs wrote:
Quick question...
We're planning a trip over Easter next year (3 adults, 3 kids) and need to do it as cheap as we can so are thinking of DIY.


3 tips
1 Don't do a DIY trip. It's meant to be a holiday not a logistics exercise.
2 Shop around on Google to get a price your happy with then go on holiday
3 When you get to the resort relax as someone else is doing all the work
Toofy Grin wink
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
If you are scared then book a package holiday.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
I've just done a quick DIY vs package for everything at Easter for family of 4 and DIY came out £500 more expensive. Same flight, same resort, same accommodation. A week later DIY is better as the TO stops going and the flights are more reasonable but then it is a week later . . .
I think once you have less and less flexibility in what suits you then DIY doesn't stack up as you think it might. I know I've heard people here say they can do ski holidays for some very reasonable sums but when ever I have taken those figures and thne try and make them fit around my own needs (not near London, fixed dates I go etc) it starts to fall apart a bit.
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saikee,
Quote:

Don't know if many SH are aware of the following facility in Google.
Just Google a destination, for example "Serre Chevalier", and press enter.
Do not go into the search engine, instead click "map" and blow up the map to a reasonable scale
In place of "Serre Chevalier" you now overtype it with "hotel" and press enter.


But do be aware Google will not show all hotels, only those that have registered their interest with Google.
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 Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Quote:

I've just done a quick DIY vs package for everything at Easter for family of 4 and DIY came out £500 more expensive. Same flight, same resort, same accommodation.

As I see it the point of DIY is most definitely not to do all the work yourself for the exact same holiday - given the purchasing power of TOs it's unlikely you'll do so any cheaper. The point of DIY is to be flexible, to go when and where you want, have a better standard of apartment (that bit is certainly not difficult given most of the rubbish apartments used by the big TOs) etc. As a few posts on here have pointed out, it is becoming easier to find non-standard accommodation, as owners who use their own places part of the year, and who are managing rentals themselves, are often able to be flexible. I know two apartments in our development available for non-standard rental periods, and Snowhead Helen Beaumont rents her place out flexibly too. Sticking to TO packages does rule out a whole range of accommodation - that's for sure.

Even where you want the standard weekend/weekend periods, apartments and chalets rented direct from owners are normally cheaper than those offered by TOs and often of a better standard. At the top end of the market - luxury chalets - I think it's often the case that you just book the place, and make your own travel arrangements (with your own normal private heli transfer company...) and possibly even negotiate on the menu, style of chef, etc. to suit yourself. But there will always be a middle market, I guess, for people who just want to pick a standard package from a brochure and let someone else do the legwork, mount the snowchains etc.
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pam w, Of course, all that you are saying applies mainly to apartments and chalets.

A lot of us prefer hotels, and there it tends to be harder to find TO-beating deals, and apart from possibly wanting non standard period of holiday, there also tends to be less requirement for "unusual".

That is actually one of the things that has always put me off France - the fact that a far higher proportion of available accommodation there seems to be apartments or chalets than in other European ski destinations - which means less scope for singles, unless willing to share a room with a stranger.

I realise that for a lot of people, availablity of apartments and chalets is a benefit, but it doesn't apply for all of us.
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 Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Quote:

As I see it the point of DIY is most definitely not to do all the work yourself for the exact same holiday - given the purchasing power of TOs it's unlikely you'll do so any cheaper.


True - however you can't compare unless you do a comparison. To be honest it seems to me that the transfer and the flight on the DIY trip are just not cost effective compared with the TO. If I ignored the accommodation I would still be unable to get to the resort for much less than £1400 with flights and transfers - the TO seems to be able to do a much better price on the total package. If the accommodation comes off the TO price they get me to the resort for under £1000.

Renting from owners I'm sure would be cheaper, than through P/V but again, when options become limited (dates/location/transport to resort) it's hard to get DIY to match up. I know I could go cheaply (I saw someone had gone on an overnight coach in another thread) but cheap doesn't always = the option which you'd choose if a *few* more pounds can buy *so much* more. I could go to Bulgaria, I could go on my own, but I don't think I could honestly say these would be the same things as the holiday I would be looking to experience.
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 After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
alex_heney, I was wondering about hotels. Given the propensity of TOs to drive a hard bargain (and the propensity of some Brit travellers to drink too much and make a noisy nuisance of themselves) I imagine there are hotels out there who would not do business with them if they could avoid it. Indeed, unless their hotel was situated in one of the small handful of resorts served by British TOs, how would you ever even know about them if you stick to packages?

There must be far more hotels throughout the Alps than those "featured" in British TO brochures. Are none of them prepared to do single rooms?
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
In fact, here's one that has at least one single room. http://www.lemeteor.com/
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 Ski the Net with snowHeads
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I wouldn't always rely on tour operators to help you relax or expect to make things easier for you, maybe the smaller independent ones offer good value and service, but some of the major tour operators who don't specialise in ski holidays are to be avoided.
We used to travel on ski holidays with the major tour operators but the growth of the budget airlines and internet has made things a lot easier, we also had a "holiday from hell" about 10 years ago and I have never been with a TO since.
The disaster included booking a holiday in Italy but ending up in France, being 'sold' the wrong size of skis for our children by the TO 'ski technician'. My 5 year old daughter subsequently broke her leg on Christmas day due to her bindings not releasing. The TO reps would not help me get to the local hospital, they told me they were not insured to carry passengers although they used to drive their mates everywhere, fortunately the ESF ski instructor lent me his car. They also told us the flight back to Manchester on Boxing day was full and as we needed an extra seat for my daughter, they subsequently booked 3 extra seats for me and my daughter on the flight to Gatwick and a private taxi from Gatwick to Manchester, all courtesy of my insurance. I had to demand they flew my daughter back to Manchester with my wife and that I would take my son on the journey to Gatwick. To cap it all we all ended up on the flight back to Manchester as there were at least 40 empty seats on the 'full' flight as they had used a larger plane taking people out for the New Year week.
I will not mention the TO's name but they are now definitely my LAST CHOICE.
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