 Poster: A snowHead
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Ive know booked up for this winters trips so sorted
In the past i have booking the second trip to much later in the year when I'm happy I have the cash to pay for them
I decided to book the other day due to the limited rooms and hotel and flight options available for the resorts I'm heading for this winter.
Having a look at a couple of the TOs they seem to have both cut the number of hotels and places available
Not sure if this is over all their destinations or just the couple of resort Ive been looking at.
Both trips are in off peak weeks
Looking at the hotels Ive book they still have places available but I'm not a DIY fan for winter trips
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Fewer options? 
I've not looked for later in the season, to be honest, but unless I'm going for a last-minute deal, I'm tending more and more towards DIY trips.
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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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There are definitely far fewer flights for next season. Maybe some airlines haven't released flights yet but I'm not finding much as yet. Plus TOs seem to have cut short some of their routes, finishing early or mid-March rather than end of season. It might be slim pickings out there...
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| Quote: |
finishing early or mid-March
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that's the best part of the season! Might mean some really great DIY trips can be arranged for Easter, which is early next year and could be a far better option than half term for those stuck with school holidays.
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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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Fewer flights? BA are doing more to Salzburg than last year, I believe, which is great news.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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There are definitely far fewer flights for next season
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maybe that's true of TO flights - in which case, I wonder if this coming season will see a long-term shift, with more DIYers.
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| queen bodecia wrote: |
| finishing early or mid-March rather than end of season. |
Easter is when the tour operators shift their flights to the more profitable summer resorts - regardless of when Easter is.
This means that late March is even quieter than normal!
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Gosh, I can tell everybody and not just me is bored with the Olympics already, here we all are discussing snow trips on the first weekend in August.
I normally wait till the leaves go crinkly before I start thinking of the snow! I've obviously joined a forum of ski fascists.
Anyway I think I'll nip down the Hemmel Fridge now.
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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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jonm, BA to Salzburg is Gatwick only so not convenient for the majority of the population. Flights to Salzburg are not easy to find, it looks like Jet2 from Manchester or Leeds is my best bet.
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queen bodecia, easyJet from Liverpool?
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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It may be that we are limited to flying from Scotland or Newcastle but the DIY cost comes out more than TOs comparing like for like
We have been grateful to TOs a couple of times over the years due to weather disrupting things
We diy to the alps regularly in the summer though
Just for balance one TO severely p***** us off on a ski trip and I have never used them since
If we were close to a south cost ferry port I would consider driving though
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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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Garfield, Although you are not looking at like for like! Alas, us Brits have a reputation and tend not to get the pick of rooms. In many cases there may not be a saving or a huge saving but you can pick your choice of hotels, and as you say many of the TO's have cut back on their hotels. If this is the case, better hotels and locations may be sourced by the DIY'r!
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pam w, yes that's possible or Luton, both about 2 hours drive. Leeds is much nearer though. Shame there are no flights at all from the midlands.
Garfield, yes DIY only potentially works for me if I go to visit the lovely  Austrian contingent. Otherwise it's more expensive and not in the slightest bit convenient. But it works for some people.
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You know it makes sense.
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Although you are not looking at like for like!
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It's probably hard to be sure. The worst holiday food I ever had was in an Austrian hotel, with Inghams, where we'd booked into a catered chalet but problems with the kitchen meant we had to be shifted into the hotel for food - they were the owners of the chalet. I'm sure that the "proper" guests in that hotel were much better fed (or they'd never have gone back) but we had a special allocated table in the corner and I suspect Inghams only paid the hotel the absolute minimum, so we got what they paid for, which was minging! Reminds me of a "breakaway weekend" deal I did many years ago, in a nice hotel in Dorchester. The waiter would come over to us and ask "are you breakaways?" before telling us what our options were.  The hotel probably hated the way Inghams drove a very hard bargain so they were pretty unfriendly - to the extent of refusing to deal with a problem when the lift got stuck between floors at 2 am, with 6 people in it, on the grounds that it was the middle of the night and they needed their sleep.
Transfers tend to come as a shock to people who buy cheap flights and don't factor them in from the beginning.
DIY will often be cheaper for renting apartments - with a bit of sensible research which will probably mean looking further than the websites of British owners - because of the TOs "under-occupancy" prices which make a nonsense of their headline rates.
queen bodecia, I don't think you can reasonably grumble at a 2 hour hour drive to an airport. I live on the south coast - Heathrow is only 1 hour and 20 minutes at 4 am, but at any normal time of day we have to allow over 2 hours, because of the M25. Gatwick - closer geographically - is an hour and three quarters if the roads are quiet - I'd always allow a bit more as there is potential for holdups on that route, too, though it's more predictable than the M25.
The brief heyday of having so many local airports in the UK is probably over. We are all becoming choosy, about how we travel, where we go, what we want when we get there. The choice for choosy people might become one between more upmarket, and expensive, tour operators or DIY, with the "rock bottom" TOs just offering a narrower range of what, for them, are the least risky and most profitable options. So people will have to go where Crystal etc choose to take them, or do their own thing.
My sister lives in the Midlands and used to use East Midlands and Birmingham airports to fly out to Geneva, but obviously too few people did, as many of the routes have now closed 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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Poster: A snowHead
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pam w, yes totally understand and a 2 hour drive to an airport is reasonable, so airports like Manchester, Luton and even Stansted are OK for me but obviously I'd prefer East Midlands, Birmingham or Doncaster just to keep costs and timings down.
RobW, I meant to Salzburg, bit more convenient for the fabulous Austrian mountains than Munich, although I was very impressed with Munich airport, manages to be both massive and very clean and efficient in a way only the Germans can pull off.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Munich to Mayrhofen is well under 2 hours, to Soll even less.
Re DIY, I do it for short trips but always find that a TO is cheaper if going for a week. That said, I am DIY-ing at New Year for the first time as there is so far no real discounting going on. Hotel and flights (Edi to Muc) half board in Mayrhofen (3*) is under £600 per person. Was going to train it, but can't face the number of changes with kids in tow so will drive.
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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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