 Poster: A snowHead
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Hi,
I've taken it upon myself to organise a mate's trip this winter with a mix of my uni and home friends (and their uni mates too).
Looking at going end of January/start of February to avoid school holidays and hopefully it'll be colder... (plus I'm visiting a friend in Austria leter so I want the trips spaced out a bit...)
I have a friend (who's coming) who has a friend who works at off the piste, so we're gonna try that angle first, based on my experience of uni trips. I was also looking at MountainSun etc.
I was also considering the merits of renting a chalet as I figured between a lot of us it could drive the cost down. Do they mind if you squeeze in more than the allotted number of people?
Currently have 8 confirmed, pretty sure we'll get it into double digits when I have more details. The resort needs to be high (preferably) with a decent mix of runs as it's a very mixed group.
Budget: as low as reasonably possible, given that some of my friends are still destitute students. Say £500 per head? My old uni trip is £339 this year (no hire/lessons), doubt I can match that.
Probably looking at the French resorts- 3 valleys, Espace Killy etc.
Anyone have any tips/advice/reccomendations?
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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bobmcstuff, when you say "Do they mind if you squeeze in more than the allotted number of people?" do you mean more than the maximum capacity of the chalet or more than you originally intend and advise? For example, our chalets hold between 12 and 15 people and - when you book it - the s/c price is the same whether you have a group of 8 (as you currently do) or if you get a few more taking the numbers up to the maximum capacity. You'll be given a pp price for a catered stay, but the maximum numbers rule will still apply . It is not OK to have more than that number, for various reasons, and most owners/operators will have this in their T & Cs. If you flout any conditions relating to numbers of people, you are likely to be asked to vacate.
As for your budget, what do you want to get for the £500? At the end of January, it would certainly be possible to get a well-located, comfortable catered chalet for that kind of money, but are you looking to have travel, lift passes etc inclusive in that cost? If so, you'll be better off looking at Bulgaria or maybe the Pyrenees/Andorra and self-catering, but remember that you'll need to budget for shopping/eating/drinking on top of whatever price you find.
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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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OK yeah, basically what I meant was "If I book a 10 person chalet and 11 people end up coming would that be a Bad Thing"
Chalets not essential, hotels would be fine. Went on a uni trip and stayed in a UCPA and that was awesome, exceptional food for the money. So that would be fine too. I'm basically just looking for the most economical way to do it.
A swift search on Off The Piste's website indicates we can easily do sub-£400 (lowest quote £321 - Tignes) for accomodation and lift pass, plus additional discounts if we get more than 10.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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If they are arranging flights, then they will only book 10 flights if you have a chalet with capacity 10. If they have the option to put a third bed in a twin room etc it will say so, so you could save money by doing that.
For £500 at that time of year you will get flight, transfers and accommodation. I doubt you will get it catered, and I doubt you will get anything approaching luxury (but that doesn't sound like a massive priority from your posts) alternatively you could get it catered but you won't get travel included. If it is £500 for flight, travel, accommodation and it is catered then there will be something horribly wrong with it.
If you can move it to the second week of January the trip will get significantly cheaper, though you may find many friends don't want to take a holiday so soon after Xmas so numbers get limited. For that week £500 would get you flights, transfers, and catered accommodation in a decent quality chalet, but you'd need a few mates signed up to get it down to that price.
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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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Hmm we'll see then- second week of January might be a possibility, people seem pretty flexible at the moment.
Don't really give a toss about luxury, I'm just going to ski! Plus we're all students or recently graduated, so used to slumming it - Hence why I was heading down the 'uni ski trip' style route.
Gonna get on the phone once I've heard back from my mate about Off The Piste, get some quotes and go from there. They give quite good discounts if you can get decent numbers.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Do you work for Off The Piste?
Every other operator I've ever dealt with has given good discounts if you can get decent numbers.
If everyone is (as it sounds) more likely to go for it on price over everything, go for second week of January, go for Andorra, and shop around with a large group committed to the trip with the big operators and you will probably get a reasonable deal for that price.
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No, someone I know does - hence seeing if we can get a good rate from them...
Yeah I think I will just ring around and see what can be done, just thought I'd ask if anyone had any good advice.
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Best thing to do is give everyone worst case scenario - £600 per person for second week of Jan, flights, transfers, accommodation and if you can get it, food. Get them to commit to the trip by sending you a cheque for significant deposit, with assurance that you won't cash it until suitable deal has been found.
However many cheques you have, that's the number of people coming on the trip. Then contact travel agents, TOs, any others and ask for their best suggestion within budget and within dates. They'll come back with all kinds of stuff, but that's part of the fun of it. Once you have those suggestions, ask us what we think of A, B and C shortlist, and we'll tell you either that it is a good deal or why it is so cheap.
At the moment everything is a bit too vague to really be able to offer specific advice. If you just want to know if what you are looking for exists, then the answer is yes. What other compromises you need to make to get that kind of deal is another thing, but it is definitely achievable.
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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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The problem with that is getting people to stump up £600 with nothing definite!!
Action Outdoor seem to be good, can't work out what the group discount would look like for ~10 people though.
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bobmcstuff, have you thought about a youth hostel? The one in Bad Gastein is get's some good reviews! You could get a whole dormitory to yourself for just over £100 each for a week (they have dorms for 8, 10, 12, 14 & 22 people). The hostel in Bad Gastein's great, has a great bar and apres and very close to the ski lifts. Here's the link:
www.euro-youth-hotel.at
Cheers
Kersh
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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| bobmcstuff wrote: |
The problem with that is getting people to stump up £600 with nothing definite!!
Action Outdoor seem to be good, can't work out what the group discount would look like for ~10 people though. |
The counter to that is that if you arrange something based on getting 20 people and only get 10, then those who have said yes are going to have the price of their trip increase dramatically.
By nothing definite, all you provide is "the trip will cost max this, include A, B and C, and will be somewhere good, just trust me" - if people will sign up on that basis then you've got a trip. It is the way I've ended up having to do things on my trips, but I guess with a group of 10 it is more manageable and you'll never be far short on numbers.
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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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Thing is I could book for ten and be able to guarantee ten, but I know some of my mates want to bring other mates so I'd end up having to say they can't, and then they might not be so interested...
Whereas if I book for 20, and I only get 15 in the end I'll be a bit screwed.
That's a good thing about the action outdoor one, you can have as many as you want sign up in your group.
Man, organising stuff is hard! Now I don't hate the people who organised ours at uni for taking the free places quite so much...
In other news, I'm supposed to be doing work here.......... Instead I've been looking at ski holidays all day. Woops.
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bobmcstuff, I organised something similar a few years back and used Century 21 in Les Gets. Was so cheap it didn't matter if I filled it - not sure what prices are like now (and I know the fx rate has changed), but could be worth a look...
http://resa.arkiane.com/Chevallier/ls_b_resa1.asp?langue=FR
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You know it makes sense.
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| bobmcstuff wrote: |
Man, organising stuff is hard! Now I don't hate the people who organised ours at uni for taking the free places quite so much...
In other news, I'm supposed to be doing work here.......... Instead I've been looking at ski holidays all day. Woops. |
I run an everybody pays the same regardless of organiser etc and all group savings are passed on system, partly because I am saving hundreds anyway on the cost of my trip (getting a £700 holiday for £400 each because of group size is a big saving if there's two of you) but if I added up the hours spent organising people and getting places confirmed, making payments, helping with ski hire, what to buy, where to buy, everything else, I'd be below minimum wage even if I got a £1K ski trip out of it.
You need to set a number that you are 100% sure you can fill. Then fill it. Don't worry about mates, friends of friends, family, whoever puts cash in your hand (or pays the travel agent) first is on the trip.
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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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If you go to a big UCPA centre, in a quiet period (end Jan/early feb would be ideal) then you probably could fit some more in at the last minute and there'd be no need to commit yourself up front so much. It's likely to be the only way you'll get a "big name" resort for your kind of budget. And hugely less work than self-catering.
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Poster: A snowHead
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Had a quote for UCPA Tignes w/c 14th Jan for $443 plus £120 return coach or £75 transfers, plus one free place for every 10 people. All inclusive, half day lessons, hire etc.
I was planning on passing on the free places as savings anyway, I'll get more people coming the cheaper it is and I'll have more fun if more of my mates are there.
Just waiting to see if I hear anything better from OTP (can't imagine I will), otherwise will be booked this week.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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bobmcstuff, sounds good. 
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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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I think it's really doable - especially self catering. flights, transfers, accomodation for <£300 at full occupany. £180 for passes, £70 for ski hire - all in £550. 2nd or 3rd week in jan.
I'd take a look at igluski and rocketski, also peak retreats and ernalow if you can face sorting your own travel
iglu @ £235 self catering inc flights: http://www.igluski.com/courchevel-1550/les-brigues-apartments_p1555?holidayid=38104005
rocket ski CATERED is £369 the same week again inc flights (montgenevre).
both would be absolutely fine for bargain hunters and rocketski are big enough to accomodate any late additions....
hope it helps, I used to end up doing this a lot but handily this year all my ski buddies are simultaneously not-so-broke for once!
aj xx
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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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It pays to spend an hour in the T.O.'s. I am in a similar position (sorting a hol for 8 of us) and like a bargain. Cheapest I got for the dates I want, today, were £435 (Les DA, SC, Lift pass, ski carriage and from my nearest airport). £499 same package in Val T and £550 B+B Saalbach.
Im still open to sugestions from other S.H.'s
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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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| Quote: |
self catering. flights, transfers, accomodation for <£300 at full occupany. £180 for passes, £70 for ski hire - all in £550. 2nd or 3rd week in jan.
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Plus a lot of food...
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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pessimist pam! We usually manage food for around E30 a head, it's the beer that's the killer 
I was cheating and going early jan though - late jan rocketski is £459 & those apartments are £325 - which makes the UCPA pretty convincing - the inclusive passes/hire really do make those a great deal.
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Yeah I can't really see how anyone can beat the UCPA deal.
The other thing is that the food is really good at UCPA hostels (stayed in the Argentiere one), I suspect that buying food youself for cheap wouldn't be as nice...
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Depends who's cooking
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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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a.j., if you can do good food for 30 euros a head, you must be brilliant. Am just recovering from our supper - the biggest, fattest, globe artichoke you ever saw, followed by fried onions, grilled tomatoes, steak and Shaggy Ink Cap mushrooms (at least, I hope that's what they were - if I disappear from Snowhead you can blame my misreading of my mushroom book) with baked figs for pudding. Nice bottle of Rosé between the three of us with the artichokes, nice light Chianti with the steaks.
Still cost zilch, compared to a restaurant, but not doable at 30 a head for a week!!
My daughter is a fussy eater and found no fault with the UCPA food.
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Mate's just come back with a quote from OTP... Just when I thought I had it all sorted and we were going to book UCPA!!
~£470 (depending on exactly where we stay) not including food and transport. So a fair bit more than UCPA, but the accomodation looks nicer and more central. The good thing is it's a flexible package so I can get rid of hire and lessons, thus making it much cheaper...Also Val T, UCPA quote I got was for Tignes, doesn't matter much though.
Talking about organising our own transfer and stopping to stock up on beer and food on the way.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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| Quote: |
Talking about organising our own transfer and stopping to stock up on beer and food on the way.
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if you do that when you have a package which includes transfers it's not that likely that you could save enough to make the additional cost and hassle worthwhile. But yes, if you are doing transport DIY, it's well worth doing. But flights and transfers are unlikely to set you back less than about £200 a head, particularly if you are flying with skis (and therefore don't need to hire gear). Could well be more, on a Saturday. So it's a LOT more expensive than UCPA. Don't write off their lessons, either - you might well get a chance to get some guided off piste which would otherwise cost you a bomb and they teach to high levels.
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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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Yeah, personally I wouldn't mind lessons and the UCPA guys who taught me to ski were very good. But I have the option to not take lessons at all on the OTP one and it cuts £129 off the price, combined with the £79 for having my own skis means a very big price cut!! Not taking lessons with UCPA only saves you about £30 so I probably would have taken them.
Sadly I'm part of a democracy so if everyone else says they want to go to Val T I can't do much about it...
Also found flights for £32 each way with free ski carriage from Manchester with Jet2, not bad at all! And £55 return transfer from Chambery makes it cheaper than the £150 coach OTP provide! We're talking about booking our own OTP transfer, which will be fine if there's enough of us.
Thing that annoys me most though is that UCPA food is really good (for the price) and I won't get it!
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bobmcstuff, There is always a compromise and if cost is your main driver then its OTP for you and your group. UCPA will still be there next year.
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You know it makes sense.
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| Quote: |
Also found flights for £32 each way with free ski carriage from Manchester with Jet2, not bad at all! And £55 return transfer from Chambery
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fantastic prices - snap 'em up quick!
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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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What does the £470 cost include, and what dates is that? Lift pass? Lessons? £470 plus flights plus transfers sounds like a lot of money for the January week, but if it is the week in Feb originally discussed that isn't bad.
If you are buying the flights, transfers, and accommodation separately, you are effectively organising a DIY trip. That means if the transfer bus doesn't turn up, the airline doesn't have any responsibility for getting you home (if you miss the flight) or if the operator changes accommodation location then you may lose the money paid for your transfers if you have to get a transfer to another resort for example.
As long as you understand and accept those risks then fine. Also bear in mind that you need to get your mates to book directly with the operators, not giving you money to make one big payment, as the law has changed around this and you could end up being liable for various bits of things as a result. There is a big difference between organiser and operator.
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FAQ
