 Poster: A snowHead
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Hi all,
After a fair few seasons of working for other people, I've decided to take the plunge and have a go at setting up my own chalet holiday company. The plan is to start with one chalet for the first year and then see how it goes.
It's a pretty scary prospect to be honest, especially in the current climate, so I was hoping that some of you might offer some help or advice? The first draft of the website is up and any feedback that you can offer would be greatly appreciated - especially from those of you who regularly book ski holidays or who work in the industry . . . be gentle! www.ice-fire.co.uk
Thanks in advance!
Heather
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Hi and welcome
first and foremost I could not view the site, unable to see flash sites on anything apple 
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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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Snow and Sunshine, Nice site. One comment though. I appreciate that you have to make a living but why hike the prices so much during school holidays? You are not actively discouraging children but you certainly don't make a family holiday very affordable. I haven't done the maths (coz I am rubbish with numbers)but it looks like anyone going in school hols time is paying 50% more - which is, quite frankly, shocking. Even if you don't want kids there, there are plenty of people that are tied to school hols because of their jobs etc. Please don't penalise them.
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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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Snow and Sunshine, I was able to see the website ok.
I cannot see an address anywhere for contact - perhaps you will be adding one later as you say this is the first draft. I think people might want to see an address somewhere, well I would, otherwise its just an e mail address, French phone number (is that a mobile?) and an English mobile.
And third line on your contact page has an elementary spelling mistake - I before E except after C.
Good luck
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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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Hi,
Thanks for the messages and for the welcome - I'll have to have an investigate and see if i can make it apple compatible . . .
Unfortunately higher prices in the school holidays are a part of the industry - although I agree with you that it does penalise people if they are tied to school holidays. Even with the pricing structure that is there, by far and away the most serious interest I've had is for peak weeks, and every company I've ever worked for has always found the same. Now if the Uk would only stagger their holidays properly like france do . . . .
Thanks again for the feedback - any other thoughts or suggestions?
Best wishes,
Heather
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Hi Pamski,
Well spotted for the typo - I've changed that now and added the postal addresses to the site.
Thanks for the tips!
Heather
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Have flash blocked (really don't like flash), and only get a black screen with a border and a (truncated) Facebook "like" thing. When I re-enable flash I can see the site, but text is too small for me to read and not scalable, like it would be if written in HTML/CSS. Oh, and the text in buttons is truncated (last letter missing form all the longer lines).
Not seen a flash-only site for a long time.
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I quite like the site- but then I'm not your target market!!!
I am a bit pedantic about singular and plurals. So if your company name is 'ice and fire' I think it should be 'ice and fire believes' rather than 'ice and fire believe'. Or 'We , at ice and fire, believe'.
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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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Hi all,
Thanks for the suggestions - it's so difficult to check your own work so it's massively helpful to have feedback from you all.
Andy - please would you mind letting me know what web browser/ screen size you are using? None of the link buttons are missing letters on anywhere that I've tested it but it but there were a few other intial teething with different views so hopefully this should be solvable . .
Any more thoughts or suggestions?
Best wishes,
Heather
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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No as Ice and Fire is the singular item, ie. the company. So it's believe
Bit I have been told off for this before so.....
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If its the singular and the company then it should have an s on , I believe, you believe, he believes, we believe, they believe. The company is the equivalent of it or he and so should have an s
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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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Wayne, I think I agree with gryphea,
You would say 'Wayne believes' not Wayne believe ....
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You know it makes sense.
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Site works OK on my Mac running Camino. It's well over my budget and doesn't mention what type of rooms you have, i.e. whether you have any single rooms, but other than that looks to be a clean and stylish site. Good luck.
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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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Slick looking site but can't help thinking its angled at a luxury market when by your own admission bedrooms are in duplex appartments & "cosy" i.e. nothing different to the standard Tour Operator shoebox. I'd be prepared for some management of expectations.
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Poster: A snowHead
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| gryphea wrote: |
| If its the singular and the company then it should have an s on , I believe, you believe, he believes, we believe, they believe. The company is the equivalent of it or he and so should have an s |
Yep, you're right (I'll just shut up) can't find a dim-wit emoticon 
Check it out
http://conjugation.com/search.php?verb=believe
Mind you, back on topic., the e mail address is still on the home page.
So I may get into the tractor parts business, as well the anatomical enlargement, little blue pills, etc, businesses and send them (or it  ) a mail to see if they want to buy some.
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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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Snow and Sunshine, hello
looks ok but I'd have a couple of gripes with your luxury upgrades;
A bottle of chilled champagne in your room on arrival £20. - fine but you could have a bottle or two or three of something sparkly communally in the price
A mid week linen and towel change. £15 I would say that this should be included in the price and I don't see either feature as luxurious.
A selection of miniature chocolate bars in your room on arrival £10 not very luxurious unless valrohnas best hope your not trying to charge £10 for some mini marsbars
A packed lunch to take up the mountain with you - £6 per person per day. about what other people charge for packed lunches- but again not luxurious!
A travel cot made up with cot linen and a highchair to use for the week. £15. sorry- this is just annoying- and would stop me booking with you. you really can't charge for this.
A well stocked fruit bowl in your room on arrival. £15 too much.
Your web site looks great and prices reasonable. Good resort/ski area and well produced.
The luxury upgrades- for me as a regular but keen (3 weeks a year) punter are a bit of a turn off.
We regularly go to a similar owner run chalet in Peisey- hot tub, cots, high chairs, little bowls of chocolates, fruit bowl on table, and linen changes all included. These all help make for a really good quality holiday.
What about having upgrades on wine (although we don't often use this- when we do it is usually a couple of bottles of champagne- some do- every night)
You can't expect people to pay !15 for th euse of a high chair and cot and expect them to be happy about it- when they are probably spending £2-3000 on a holiday all in.
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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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Nice site, simple, easy to navigate, not sure if you have any bookings yet but it would be good to see availability/not available information for each particular week.
Your business model is your own, so I will not comment on that - it is up to you
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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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Hi all,
Thanks for the messages and all of the feedback - and the good luck wishes! That's a great tip Miranda - I'll remember it next time I'm having a paniced moment - it all seems a bit more real when it's your own money rather than another company's that you're spending!
I've decided to leave the e-mail address on for now - I'm loath to lose a booking if someone can't get hold of me or doesn't like the idea of using the contact form. I've got a pretty good spam filter - and I'm considering investing in a tractor
The bedrooms aren't too bad at all Bob - certainly better than with most of the larger companies who are in the same price bracket. But, as you say, a lot of tour operators have shoeboxes! But, I felt that I'd rather be honest on the site than get more bookings and have hundreds of complaints - hence the "cosy" mention. I'm still not sure about the wording of this though as I'm worried it'll give people the impression that they're tiny - any suggestions?
Thanks for your suggestions Ed - I take your point about the cots and highchairs and I'll make those free of charge now. I really like the idea of having an upgrade wine list too. Unfortunately I'd have to put the prices up if I included all of the rest free of charge - assuming that the chalet that you go to in Peisey is also on the piste I'm guessing that my prices are probably a bit lower than their's. What's everyone's view on this? If you were going on holiday would you prefer to pay for things like this seperately if you wanted them? Or would you prefer a higher all inclusive price?
Thanks again everyone for your feedback - it's so hard to check things like this for yourself so massively helpful to read your thoughts and suggestions.
Best wishes,
Heather
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Like the website but as others have said loose the email address....you will get spammed and that's nothing but hassle! Your pricing model is a tad expensive especially for peak weeks. My view is that some of the luxury options should be included as standard. Clearly you are looking to deliver a quality product for your clients. At the prices you are intending to charge clients expectations will be high, and clients can be cruel if their expectations aren't met.
Good luck and best wishes for a successful season.
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rayscoops, Thanks for having a look - no confirmed bookings as yet but the first ad only went up properly last week so I think it'll take a little while. I like the idea of having availability on the site so I'll have a change round of the pricing page to see if I can make space for it once I've got a few weeks sold . .
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Hi all,
I've taken the cots and high chairs off the upgrade page now and added them free of charge as part of the hosting service - thanks for your feedback.
Any more thoughts / ideas / suggestions?
Best wishes,
Heather
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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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Snow and Sunshine, obviously the economics of running a chalet are harsh!
Our favourite chalet is in le Villarette- down the lobster pot lift from Peisey and a bit of a walk - so not ski in ski out- but standard otherwise seems very similar. I think owner run halets are vastly better than TOs- so I really wish you good luck- Mark and Cathy who run Chalet Himalaya and Pierra-menta in Peisey/le Villarette have realy built up a very loyal client base- who go back year after year- and tell their friends...
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I'm still not sure about the wording of this though as I'm worried it'll give people the impression that they're tiny - any suggestions?
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Yes, include the dimensions. If you just say "cosy" with no concrete information people will indeed assume the worst.
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Now if the Uk would only stagger their holidays properly like france do . . . .
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not sure what difference that would make. French prices go up massively for the whole 4 weeks. Suggesting that prices should not reflect demand is unrealistic.
I couldn't find any information on where the chalet is (ie where in the resort). That would be a key bit of information for me.
It looks very nice but I'd like to see some more pictures of the chalet - the whole thing from the outside, maybe to show it's relation to the piste, and some typical interiors.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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I think the site is really nice so this is not a criticism, just a suggestion.
You could include something like this View our location or, better still, include an IFrame in your site.
Users now consider this normal.
This said I am not really a fan of IFrames. I prefer small maps, created in English as I am selling to a predominately English speaking market. So you want to design a small map with a link to Google Maps.
Example of small map - jpeg only so the links don't work
Example of the map insitu with imbedded hyperlink
There are loads of sites that will create a map for you if you don't have Photoshop, but you're always better, if you can, creating your own.
Last edited by snowHeads are a friendly bunch. on Mon 21-06-10 8:14; edited 1 time in total
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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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Snow and Sunshine,
re the email address you should be OK if the email address is a not clickable to send email. Contact forms as even worse for Spamming!!. The spam issue is not just about getting loads of emails, it can effect your Google ranking as Google see you as the Spammer and kills your position.
With reference to Google did you do your own Meta tags and words for your home page or is your software doing it for you? If you are controlling it I would suggest that your first meta keywords for search engines are a based on individual words and also targeted 3 word phrases such as ,luxury ski chalet,
best of luck with the new venture
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You know it makes sense.
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Hi all,
Thanks for all of the help and advice - and the links too. I love the idea of adding an exact chalet map and I'll have a go and try to design one!
livetoski, I am doing my meta tags myself for the moment but it's not an area that I'm an expert in at all. I've got mostly individual words at the moment and I live the idea of short phrases too - I'll try some out.
Thanks again everyone for your help and suggestions - really great to have some feedback!
Best wishes,
Heather
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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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Hi Heather,
Personally speaking I always like to see a photo gallery showing as many real interior pictures (or even videos) as possible. Too many websites have lots of arty pictures showing cakes or close-ups of features within the property but not enough pics showing the real property (size of bedroom etc). I appreciate you have a floor plan but I’m never convinced when websites do not to show detailed wide angle pictures of the property...
Good luck - hope it goes well for you.
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FAQ
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