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When to book for Christmas

 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
I know I know, we have only just got back!

We now want to book for christmas Happy

Is it best to wait until this season is well and truley over, or just to go for it now?

We have looked at Hotel Edelweiss in austria and the discount is a mere £90 although seems a good deal as everything is included, skis, lift pass, food, drink etc etc

Just dont want to look 3 months down the line and find out we could have saved £500!
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Yes, it is a quandry - Puzzled
I suppose it depends on where you are going & how much demand there is for it ...

We go to a fantastic chalet and we book the next Christmas before we leave - it is the only way to guarantee a place the following year - one couple that were new this year had tried 3 years in a row to get a Christmas slot !.

I can fully understand your dilema - once you've booked it is best not to look... Madeye-Smiley

Hope some one with better advice comes along for you...
Noisey Smile
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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?
korgscrew, although there could well be more than one or two Hotel Edelweiss in Austria, I would get on and book quick now that you have drawn attention to it wink
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
I've been skiing at either Chirstmas or New Year for the last 6 years and have never booked sooner than 5 weeks before. Hold your nerve and the prices will drop.
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 Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Quote:

there could well be more than one or two Hotel Edelweiss in Austria

Lou, Laughing
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 You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
korgscrew, - if you hold your nerve (start playing poker - it helps) look down the line in 8 months time and you will save more than £500, I can almost guarantee it - the only drawback is that your Hotel might be called the Hotel Post or maybe the Hotel Austria et al - don't worry, most 3 to 4 star hotels in Austria are of a good quality these days - in my experience Toofy Grin
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 Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
korgscrew, if you want a particular hotel in a particular Austrian resort at that time, then book directly with the hotel. Most of the good hotels have a very loyal direct customer base that book for the next Christmas and New Year period as they pay their bill for the current one. At 4 or 5* the staff will be fluent in English and you will have no problem finding out the best prices and putting together your own package.

Otherwise, wait until the brochures come out and compare the prices. For the peak period of Christmas and New Year the hotels here tell the tour operators that they want a definite booking confirmation way earlier than usual as they can nearly always fill themselves with clientèle from countries on the mainland of Europe. This is why you rarely get any good discounts for that sort of hotel in the late booking offers.

A couple of 5* hotels I regularly use are already full for that period. Toofy Grin
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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!
This is my experience from last New Year. Neilson were offering 7 nights in a 3/4* hotel from Tuesday 28/12 to 01/01/11 for arounf £800pp.

I reckoned we could do this cheaper DIY and we needed to travel Monday to Monday (27/12/10 to 03/01/11) due to school holidays. I managed to bag some cheap BA flights (booked with BA Miles so probably £100 a head for the taxes for three of us).


In April I tried to make the hotel reservations but a lot of the hotels were responding with no availability. I understand that a lot of Austrian hotels offer rooms to repeat customers before opening up to new guests. Note that a lot of the hotels do not use the regular UK hotel portals (Expedia, Bookings.com, etc). The widest range of choice appeard to be www.tiscover.at. Our hotel budget was around £1500 for the three of us (half board) in a 3 or 4 star place with a pool.

We did manage to find somewhere in Seefeld that were willing to take a Monday to Monday booking. However, in September the hotel wrote to advise us that they were closing and cancelled our booking. We started looking again and there were a lot more hotels taking Sat-Sat bookings but still very few taking Mon-Mon bookings. Incidentally the TO's like Neilson were doing Tues-Tues. After we had pretty much run dry with Seefeld hotels I was advised to try the local tourist board. this worked really well, you send them your requirements and they ask local hotels to make you offers. We received maybe 10 offers, mainly smaller establishments but some of them were quite tempting. Another tip is to turn on the charm a little when correspinding with austrian hotels!

Whilst looking into Seefeld I managed to find a hotel in Niederau for €1600 for the three of us (Hotel Austria). We booked this (and incidentally had a great time).

In around November the late deals started to appear. From what I can recall there was an offer for the same hotel that we had booked into for around £1800 (inc flights and transfers). This was probably very slightly cheaper than our DIY deal bearing in mind the transfer costs (but was still the Tues/Tues that we didn't want).

So what I've learned is....

Austrian hotels Sat to Sat bookings.
Don't even bother trying to book a hotel direct until after the skiing season has finished.
Use the austrian hotel portal (Tiscover) and local Tourist Offices.
Late Christmas and New Year TO deals can be around 30% cheaper but don;t appear until Novermber.
Booking flights on an Austrian non changeover day is a high risk strategy and will limit your options.
When costing DIY don't forget to include transafers. A return taxi from Innsbruck to Niederau is around £200.
Book skis online before you go, there's a good saving to be had.
Consider Austrian 3* hotels as well as 4*. They might not be quite as luxurious but they are perfectly acceptable.
The cheapest way to go is bag some cheap flights then book a hotel as late as possible.
Austrians celebrate Christmas on Christmas Eve (not Christmas Day).

Hope this helps!
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