 Poster: A snowHead
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Should I trust the advice of snowHeads with vested interests in certain resorts, companies, countries, products, etc.? On one hand they obviously have a good knowledge of said interest so are a useful resource. On the other hand is the question of bias.
This in NOT an attack on anyone, rather a musing on the usefulness of the internet for gathering information...
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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xyzpaul, caveat emptor
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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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In general, I would tend to say yes.
You do occasionally get one who pushes their interest unreasonably, but most of them are pretty good that way, and tend to give good general advice rather than pushing their own interest.
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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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As someone with a vested interest (although not especially vested as my signature shows) I'd say that anyone who is trying to pull the wool over your eyes gets outed by many other forums users PDQ, and rightly so. As holidayloverxx said, you need to be cautious of inflated claims, but you do have lots of other people who are entirely independent who can help you make an informed judgement.
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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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xyzpaul, As another with vested interest I would agree that you generally can. I will only suggest my property if I genuinely believe I will have happy clients at the end of the week. It is totally against my best interest to do otherwise.
I will also correct opinions about "my" resort that I genuinely believe to be wrong or unfounded.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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xyzpaul, as rob@rar, says, people tend to get outed fairly quickly on here. But I have noticed a couple of posters always jabbering on about a certain resort is the best and tends to be the only one they talk about, did they have some sort of interest in it? I don't know.
99.9% of the time you should be able to trust people on here.
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I have often relied on info and advice from fellow Snowheads - including ones with vested interests in the advice they have given me.
FWIW, I have never been let down and the info has always proven to be fair and accurate.
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I would soon be discredited if I overstated the case for 'my' resort. It doesn't make sense to do so, and then have disappointed guests as it didn't live up to their expectations. I want them to be happy and come again.
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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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SnowHeads' advice, for snowrelated matters, is usually of a very high standard.
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info from those with vested interests will be good and accurate in such circumstances, but will not generally provide alternatives from their chosen place, but that is not a problem as you get loads of  's with suggestions and alternatives
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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xyzpaul, Great thing about an internet forum luke this if vested intrests claims are wrong we will all know about it very quickly.
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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 think a forum like this is probably better than the internet in its wild state for gathering info, plenty of people to point and laugh if someone makes self-interested claims, and should someone prove to be talking rubbish, everyone's going to know about it pretty soon.
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You know it makes sense.
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...just as well my own vested interest is not speed typing courses! 
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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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Nothing wrong with vested interests in my opinion - getting the low down from knowledgeable people about their resort is much much more useful than wading through pages and pages of sodding brochures. The signal to noise ratio of snowheads is much much higher than most forums and so what if there's a little bit of pimping? After all we all 'moderate' obvious over the top spamming through our reactions and there's probably only one poster on here who will answer where's the best resort in Austria for 2 weekers with the name of somewhere that escapes me in the Tarentaise. It can feel a bit like people are pushing their resort but in terms of recommendations I would only look to recommend a resort that I have been too rather than one I've read about in a book. If you've spend 20 weeks or longer in one resort you do generally know what makes it tick...
As to the hardware suppliers/service suppliers or instructors - then frankly I'm happy for them to promote away - as then you can find good people that you trust - for example last November I had a couple of sessions pre-season with TDCski in Tignes and it was great, and this was purely down to a recommendation from Stewart W who I'd only known about from his snowheads posts..
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Poster: A snowHead
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| Quote: |
there's probably only one poster on here who will answer where's the best resort in Austria for 2 weekers
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woah.. this made me sweat for a minute.... not me though Hurrah!!
There is a time and a place for being non-discreet. If someone has made a diect question for accommodation then I hope there is nothing wrong with a direct answer.
There is no point in lying or rather 'over-promoting' as the truth will come out and you will look a right muppet. I hope that good info and advice which is followed by a signature link is enough.
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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 think the reason why those with vested intetests are valued is because their advice is current and relevant and all they may do is give you a gentle prod to look their way to see if what they have is any good to you.
I think this is more than a fair exchange, so my answer to the question is yes, 9 times out of 10.
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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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Another point to make is that a couple of 's with vested interests don't push themselves at all spyderjon and CEM, but are just very highly recommended and are always mentioned whenever ski tuning or boots come up!
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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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...and a lot of s with vested interest want good feedback/advice themselves on topics outside of their area of expertise / commercial involvement. Not going to happen if they are constantly posting with a view to flogging something.
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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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I think the vested interest snowheads do a great service in providing info, pics etc and although we may tease them a bit I would like to say a big thanks for the effort they make to provide information to many who are complete strangers to them
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Dave Spart
Dave Spart
Guest
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[quote="flangesax"]
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There is no point in lying or rather 'over-promoting' as the truth will come out and you will look a right muppet. I hope that good info and advice which is followed by a signature link is enough. |
Not always the case. You could get a less-visited resort into people's consciousness with exaggerated claims along the lines of 'Carlsberg don't do ski resorts...'
This prompts discussion and bookings. By the time of the backlash you could have quietly sold up and taken the money.
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Should you trust the advice of snowHeads with vested interests in certain resorts? Accepting one person's opinion in isolation always has its risks but don't think there are many SHs that abuse that interest.
Also don't think there are many SHs who are touting for business and there are far more effective ways of doing so outside this forum. Many on here with property will have had good reason to buy where they did and will have good inside knowledge of that town or area. Clearly they will have a bias for that area but as long as you are aware of that bias, then you can make up your own mind.
If I know somewhere and think I can add anything, I will do so. If I have never been, I don't. Unless someone is sold on (or at least thinking about) a country/area or an individual resort, there is no point trying to sell it.
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As rob@rar says, ski instruction is for losers and Les Arcs is a steaming deposit from the colon of quality skiing 
Seriously you'd be nuts to take the advice of anyone on tinternet without a bit of sensible calibration. Most people who are regulars here are enthusiasts first, spammers a distant second so you can judge them on their track record. A few people come here with an intent to spam and find actually its better for them to join in, others spam and leave - guess who gets the more hostile reception.
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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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| Quote: |
I hope that good info and advice which is followed by a signature link is enough.
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I think that's fine. Personally I think those in search of accurate advice are just as likely to be misled by the under-informed saying daft things like "you'll be fine at Christmas; I was there last year and we had oodles of snow".
But then anyone who is misled by that kind of statement probably deserves to be. 
If people take the trouble to read a range of threads, sensibly, I don't think they'd go far wrong. For everyone who insists that only a £400 jacket will do, there's somebody else to extol the virtues of T K Maxx.
I've personally benefitted from plenty of providers of services (boot fitting, ski tuning, tuition and much more) which I would never have heard of without Snowheads. I've also had great advice on things like "easy pistes in Val Thorens for someone who doesn't like "edges"" and - just a couple of days ago - an outing to Chamonix. Having people with such detailed local knowledge - and the willingness to share it - is invaluable. In my turn I have helped several people who have come to this area for the first time to identify the accommodation, tuition, etc which suits them. In one case I was also able to warn some first time visitors that there was a big snow storm on the way, show them how to mount snowchains and where to buy a set locally (as one of their Geneva Swiss side vehicles didn't have any). They emailed me later to say that without all that they'd have missed their flight.
If anyone has any grumbles or beefs I think they should just say what they are rather than casting general aspersions.
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I have no interest in vests, prefer commando
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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thefatcontroller, 
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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 would always declare any vested intrest either here or in real life but I dont think you would get away with trying to pull the wool over anyones eyes around here
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xyzpaul,
Most people who have a vested interest in a resort on snowHeads have that interest because they liked the place when they took that interest. They are naturally enthusiastic, having said that I find most people are pretty sensible in their claims for 'Their' resorts, often more so than people who have only visited once or twice, they genuinely know the resort a lot better.
If you are asking the question is resort x good for something in particular you will usually get a sensible reply. If you are asking is resort x better than resort y you maybe need to take into account that the poster will know a lot more about resort x than resort y and the comparison may not be the same as someone visiting both resorts for a similar period.
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You know it makes sense.
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| andyph wrote: |
| I have never been to La Rosiere |
while we are sort of on the subject. anyone know what happened to David? His chalet website appears shut down?
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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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| magic_hat wrote: |
| andyph wrote: |
| I have never been to La Rosiere |
while we are sort of on the subject. anyone know what happened to David? His chalet website appears shut down? |
Never mind, I just googled it and found out in about 3 minutes... should have checked before asking!
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Poster: A snowHead
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magic_hat, he still posts - under David L, I think.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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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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on a slightly different tact.... during the dealy quiet interseason I think it's often those with "vested interests" who make up the majority of forum activity amongst themselves... not surprising as we live, breath and eat ski/boaring for our livelyhoods as opposed to holidaymakers who warm up after the summer holidays....
Also I would like to think/hope/suggest that those with a vested interest would look out for other snowheads in resort, I know we did last year we sttod to gain nothing but out of giving something back to the forum members I did...... also as I've done this season trying to organise a meet location for purely independend skiing in the Grand Massif for when other snowheads are in the region.....
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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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marcellus, absolutely. On which, we should meet at some point as we find ourselves in the GM quite often.
Another SH point is that quite a few of us, not as many as should, have met in person on a Bash. So - many regulars on here know who I am, how I ski and, errr, where I live. None of them would be at all "Bash"ful (ha ha) about roundly disabusing me if I posted something stupid. In fact, on the odd occasion that I have simply posted stupidly, they have come to my support.
I do have a very mild issue with that Bertie Bassett chap who dislikes Chamonix so much, but a chacun son gout.
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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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| xyzpaul wrote: |
| Should I trust the advice of snowHeads with vested interests |
Have you had any particular problems?
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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magic_hat, we still have the chalet but we've leased it to a TO whilst my daughter and her finance are concentrating on their diving centre in Turkey. We still think La Rosiere is a magic place, my eldest son now has 5 chalets in the village and his brother lives in Seez so we're very committed to the Haute Tarentaise.
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davidof,
No problems, though I remember fondly the days of La Rosiere being a panacea
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One thing that I do find Snowheads useful for in terms of my own personal vested interest is getting a variety of viewpoints on what people are looking for.
EG after reading about the issues people have with getting kids to ski school and back (not something I have any experience with!) I sourced a lesson provider that will pick them up and return them to the chalet at the end of the day - this has proved very popular with our guests and allayed problems that people have had with the structure of Chamonix's separate ski areas and the different meeting points for the ski schools. It's probably helped us get bookings that might have been lost, and certainly made the guest's lives a lot easier which is great.
So rather than a direct plug, it's maybe more like doing market research? Although it would be a very time-inefficient way of doing it!
Mainly, though, there's nothing I like more than yakking about snowboarding and skiing in general, and Chamonix in particular, as others have said above  No huge master plan, really!
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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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xyzpaul, there are some knowledgeable snowheads, fatbob, arv, parlor, kiwi1, spyderjon, rob@rar, rpf, scottishskier, arno, jt, bcjohnny (those are the one's that spring to mind immediately, apologies to those i have not mentioned, you know who you are!)..... the vast majority are clueless and are only here to talk about hockey, dress sizes, high heels, dentistry, why they are so fat and cant lose weight, even though they have cream bl00dy buns for elevenses and chocolate after dinner, EVERY DAY, "because they deserve it after a hard days work" etc etc.....you will learn whos advice to take on board very quickly...........
okbye
Last edited by You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net. on Thu 29-10-09 13:48; edited 1 time in total
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| under a new name wrote: |
I do have a very mild issue with that Bertie Bassett chap who dislikes Chamonix so much, but a chacun son gout. |
but last time I looked I don't have a vested interest - I just hate the way it gets sold/discussed/marketed/renowned as 'probably the best resort in the world ever' when for a lot of people it's not and I am keen to correct that mis-apprehension so that if people were to search on here on chamonix they get a difference of opinion which may help them to form their own view.
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FAQ
