 Poster: A snowHead
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According to this press release from FasttrackSki:
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Ever spent hours trawling the internet looking for cheap deals on ski holidays? The constant hopping from site to site in search of that ski holiday at the price you want is at an end. FasttrackSki’s innovative ‘Ski Holiday Price Alerts’ search engine now offers today’s skiers first-class ski holidays at affordable prices without the hassle.
Although the internet has come a long in helping skiing enthusiasts find and book ski holidays online, the procedure to date has been time consuming and frustrating.
The sheer number of holiday sites combined with the number of ski holiday providers has resulted in internet users rummaging through sites, repeatedly keying in holiday information and recording the differentials in price between sites. Even when a bargain is found, upon returning to a site the ski holiday may have increased in price or become fully booked.
Within every industry there occasionally comes along a trailblazing piece of ingenuity that moves the industry forward and raises the benchmark. Designed to take the hassle out of searching for ski holiday bargains the UK’s leading online ski holiday site, FastrackSki, have introduced the Ski Holiday Price Alerts search engine. In short it is the one stop, simple and hassle free answer to all ski holiday bargain hunter’s prayers.
So how does it work? Its simplicity is a breath of fresh air. The user simply creates an account, chooses where they would like their ski holiday, the airport they would like to leave from, the date(s), the type of accommodation and what your ‘trigger price’ is. The Ski Holiday Price Alert Search Engine then does all the work for you.
Each day the search engine will see if there are any ski holidays matching your requirements and at the price you want to pay. If there are, you instantly get emails informing you and you can then proceed to book. Even better, the search engine allows for some flexibility, meaning if it finds a ski holiday in your price bracket but a few days either side of your requested dates it also lets you know.
The initiative by FasttrackSki is indicative of their commitment to a 100% customer orientated website explains James Welch, the companies Online Promotion Consultant. “Fasttrack ski was built on an ethos of customer satisfaction. We are therefore always looking for ways of making the ski holiday booking experience as informative, simple and friendly to the wallet as possible. The new Ski Holiday Price Alerts search engine is one of many steps we will take towards giving our users what they want.”
Ski Holiday Price Alerts now sits comfortably next to comprehensive Resort Guides, Resort Webcams and News Feeds all working together to provide the ski holiday enthusiast with a fantastic online resource.
For more information on FasttrackSki please visit their site at www.fasttrackski.co.uk or jump straight in and start looking for your bargain ski holiday using the Price Alerts search engine at http://www.fasttrackski.co.uk/register_for_ski_alerts.php? |
Would be interesting to hear from snowHeads if and when they try out this "trailblazing piece of ingenuity" 
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Hmmm, I wonder what the company get out of it?
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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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If it's mainly web-based, advertising, sponsorship deals, etc etc etc
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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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They probably get a commission from each holiday that's booked through them, I think that's how most of these sites work.
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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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My last 2 ski holidays were booked through fasttrackski (Soll and Les Deux Alpes). They seem very reasonably priced and cheaper than your average high street travel agent.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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On the surface it looks a very interesting idea, with some similarities to a 'Dutch auction' (here's eBay's definition of that concept).
It leaves holiday buyers in a situation of delay and uncertainty in securing the holiday they want, but obviously the higher they set their price alert the quicker they will buy a holiday! The reason all this horse-trading over holidays seems to take place is the complex conflict of interests (complicated by the sensitivity over dates) between buyer and seller in making the transaction.
People who are primarily price-sensitive about their ski holiday, but want the best resorts, will probably continue to gamble over availability of last-minute bargains. The above scheme probably doesn't answer that negative trend (from the trade's point of view) but it will certainly be interesting to see how it goes.
It beats me why people continue to support the package tour industry in such numbers - it's generally quite easy to obtain travel, accommodation and transfers, without all the hiking of prices that packagers indulge in for the key high-season dates. And most hoteliers will allow late cancellations without big penalties - making it possible to switch resort destinations if snow is scarce.
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Not that trailblazing....Iglu offered a similar service last year, I used it to track down a couple of last seasons late deals. Sign up, set your criteria, choose how often you want to be alerted and sit back and wait for the emails. It worked for me....perhaps Iglu needed to be a bit more proactive about promoting their trailblazing service last season - it was obviously worth copying 
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