 Poster: A snowHead
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Hi All,
Haven't posted on here for ages but I am a rather avid lurker and enjoy the forum a great deal.
I'm currently day dreaming of my escape (in a few years) from a London office. One idea I had, which keeps coming back to me, is owning a chalet in the alps and offering 8 days on the slopes, but only requiring the customer to take off 5 days from work. In my head it goes something like this...
Fly out Friday night (loads of scheduled flights available to place like Geneva)
Stay in a hotel on the friday night right by the airport (requiring no transfer)
Get picked up at 8am on the Sat on the slopes by 10.30am
Ski all week with the usual chalet stuff
Ski all day on the following Saturday
Taken to the airport on the Saturday night, fly back to the UK.
Any views or opinions. Does someone already do it? I know you can do the overnight Eurostar but starting the holiday knackered never really appealled to me. Does anyone already do it, i.e. book accommodation only and arrange the overnight stay and transfers themselves?
Thanks
Duncan
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Obsessed_intermediate, Perhaps a small flaw in your plan is that you will be double biiked on Friday nights
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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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Nice idea but do you want to do multiple airport runs on Saturdays? Especially am remember there can be a lot of TO & punter traffic on roads out of and to ski resorts so I suspect you're looking at the usual suspects for weekend destinations like Chx, Morzine, Grand Massif etc.
Lots of people who book their own flights will do 9 days skiing on 5 days' leave already. I've often done 3 on 1 day off.
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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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riverman, You won't, he intends to book you into a hotel by the airport on the friday night....
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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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riverman, I think he's proposing folk stay at an airport hotel at Geneva, his accommodation will be booked Sat - Fri night only.
Obsessed_intermediate, will it fit with Satruday night flights home or will another airport stopover be necessary? I'm attracted to 8 days skiing, but not if it costs 2 extra nights hotels/meals when there is the extra cost of the lift pass to consider.
Where would the chalet be?
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Liam, sorry must read posts!!
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Cheers for the responses guys.
holidayloverxx, my plan was to make the a saturday night return flight.
I figured (most of the time) I could beat the tour operators back to resort as all the luggage stuff would be sorted out on the friday night. Because of the +1 hour and the fact that UK flights don't leave until after 6.00am on the Saturday as long as we left Geneva around 8 we would beat the horrid transfer traffic.
As for the location I'm not really sure at this point. I fancy Val d'isere/Tignes as I like the skiing (but the drive is a bit long). Will have to do some research/holidays just to check 
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Obsessed_intermediate, simply go to Innsbruck on an early bird (7 am) flight because you can be skiing by 12 noon on the local slopes 
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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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Obsessed_intermediate, where can you get a flight to on a saturday night, after say 20:00 (any earlier & it's not a full day's skiing)
Tignes, hmmm 3.5 hrs from Geneva..... skiing by 12:30, have to stop skiing at 15:00 on last day
.. maybe I could help with the research? 
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Obsessed_intermediate, my experience is that your average skier on holiday wouldn't swap an extra day on the slopes for the hassle of a Friday night in Geneva. Also bear in mind the availability (or lack of it) of mmid-evening flights (as you are suggesting they don't take a day off Friday and I think your logistics fall apart a wee bit (sorry!).
This from someone in the business, albeit in a small way, who has done several Friday nights at Cointrin, and who regularly did 3 ski days for one day's leave.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Obsessed_intermediate, I like the idea of try to create a 'niche' product as it differentiates yourself from all the other chalet companies out there. But in my experience by the time of the day of travel most people are absolutely 'bursting' to be in resort - so making them fly out friday night and then 'sticking them in a airport hotel in gva' and then doing the 60-90 minute hustle in the morning won't be that appealing, especially if they've had to skip off work a little early to make your flight times. The come saturday morning the early birds will want to be up and about, sorting out the rental kit etc whereas the latecomers won't. Also most times I've flow out of london on a friday night the flights have always been delayed so that doesn't help the appeal of the 'package'. If you're in a resort near GVA then surely an early Saturday flight is less complex on the logistics - and as other have mentioned if you're doing 2x 'airport runs' that's adds to the cost and hassle, particularly if you are 'coming back empty'
Works ok for self-drivers though and I did this a couple of years ago - early saturday flight from LGW to GVA, hired cars and were on the slopes in Morzine by 11 am. Skied all day and then ate out that night, early to bed. did 5 days skiing for 3 days holiday - sweet!
I would recommend you do a season as a chalet host for another company, and then perhaps Resort Manager/Rep in the 2nd season before branching out on your own - make the mistakes/see how the thing works on other peoples money rather than risking your own.
PS have a look at http://www.skiweekender.com/ for some similar services.
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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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I've done this myself a few times under various circumstances. works quite well if everyone is on the same page but, as bertie bassett says, if some people are keener to get to the slopes than others it can turn into a mess
if you're on the way in time to catch the first lift, roads aren't too snarled up IME but I've never tried it in the Tarentaise
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An extra day is gold dust, which is why I always take the Eurostar. Any tiredness seems to disappear as soon as I get to the resort as the excitement takes over!!
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You know it makes sense.
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I almost always do something like that - but only once stayed somewhere near the airport on the Friday. My normal ski holiday is 8 days or 7 1/2 or 8 1/2.
A number of places you can go back on late flights between 8.30 - 10.30 (eg Geneva for Chamonix and lots of other places, and Treviso - for Dolomites) allowing skiing till 5pm or 5.30.
If you take the 6.00 or 6.30 am flight out you can ski most of the first day for some destinations - but I often go on the Friday, so don't quite fit your 5 day off scenario.
An established version is obviously the familiar overnight train to the Tarrentaise resorts (2 nights in couchettes, travelling, plus 7 nights in hotels for 8 full days skiing).
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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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I almost always do something like that - but only once stayed somewhere near the airport on the Friday. My normal ski holiday is 8 days or 7 1/2 or 8 1/2.
A number of places you can go back on late flights between 8.30 - 10.30 (eg Geneva for Chamonix and lots of other places, and Treviso - for Dolomites) allowing skiing till 5pm or 5.30.
If you take the 6.00 or 6.30 am flight out you can ski most of the first day for some destinations - but I often go on the Friday, so don't quite fit your 5 day off scenario.
An established version is obviously the familiar overnight train to the Tarrentaise resorts (or LDA /ADH). 2 nights in couchettes, travelling, plus 7 nights in hotels for 8 full days skiing.
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Poster: A snowHead
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Once again thanks for the responses guys.
Obviously things change over time, but currently Easyjet have flights to and from Geneva from Gatwick that make the logistics quite feasible.
19.55 flight out on the Friday
20.10 or 21.30 back on the Saturday.
Clearly the Friday night flight would mean to only those working in London could get the flight without missing any work.
I think the main problem with my plan is that the only people who would be tempted by this plan are people exactly like me who are more than capable of arranging all of this stuff themselves. I came across the idea as I've generally found getting to resorts without a hire car is really slow and annoying, plus you always have to build loads of redundency into the plan to account for delays. But on the other hand hiring a car for 8/9 days and then having to pay for parking/dig it out of snow is really inefficient.
It would be annoying to do the transfer empty, but I personally hate how most tour operators do the transfer day at their convenience rather than their customers'.
I'll keep thinking about it. It isn't going to happen anytime soon. I definitely think a season working in resort before I spend my own money is the way forward.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Not that I'm in the position to take advantage of that. But I would guess there're people who're interested. I personally prefer NOT to get up at 4am to catch a morning flight, only to have it delayed till 12 o'clock! So a Friday night at a hotel with a leasurely night cap or two before bed time is much more appealing. I wouldn't mind getting on the bus at 6~7 if that's what it takes to reach the resort for a full day of skiing. I'm sure there're quite a few people like me.
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