UK Skier Numbers Drop for Third Season In A Row Says Industry Study

andymol2 wrote:I can't see how the tour ops can really know what numbers of us travel independantly.

The airlines don't necessarily know who's skiing on a flight to Geneva & the ferry operators certainly don't. Can they really get data from all of the hotels in the Alps on how many brits are staying?

I'm sure the recession has bitten and many of us are fed up with being ripped off in French resorts.

They may well know that fewer of us booked with the tour operators.

Skiing has always been expensive the higher you go the more you pay, but your right I have not used the TO's for years due to the price and the quality of product they supply, if they want to build on there so called falling skier figures they will need to take a good long look at their operation.

In defence of Crystal following the post from Tony_H (admittedly just his personal take on them), I have used Crystal for at least one booking in each of the previous five years. I have never had a problem with them.

Admittedly, I have used hotels and not chalets, but the food has always been of a decent standard and plentiful, and the reps have always been friendly, helpful and knowledgeable about anything we have needed to ask. As we drive, I especially like the way that the resort managers have called me personally just prior to travel to ensure that I was happy with my route and parking plans for the resort, and to give me up to date info on the road conditions for the local roads and passes.

I also book direct with agencies in resort and make my own travel arrangements, but given the savings against the extra hassle, it is often much better to go with someone like Crystal, especially when booking for a group with varied requirements. They have not let me down ..... yet :)

And no I don't work for them or have any family connection :D but any discount would be appreciated if they happen to read this )

Far Queue wrote:In defence of Crystal following the post from Tony_H (admittedly just his personal take on them), I have used Crystal for at least one booking in each of the previous five years. I have never had a problem with them.

Admittedly, I have used hotels and not chalets, but the food has always been of a decent standard and plentiful, and the reps have always been friendly, helpful and knowledgeable about anything we have needed to ask. As we drive, I especially like the way that the resort managers have called me personally just prior to travel to ensure that I was happy with my route and parking plans for the resort, and to give me up to date info on the road conditions for the local roads and passes.

I also book direct with agencies in resort and make my own travel arrangements, but given the savings against the extra hassle, it is often much better to go with someone like Crystal, especially when booking for a group with varied requirements. They have not let me down ..... yet :)

And no I don't work for them or have any family connection :D but any discount would be appreciated if they happen to read this )

Well its good to know its probably a limited bad experience then. However, ours was a chalet, and I had previously been told by an independent agent that they refused to put people in Crystal chalets because of concerns over food mainly.
Being part of TUI and having used Thomson for recent summer holidays, I would expect standards to be reasonable. Sadly my personal experience of Crystal is not a good one, and I would definitely not use them again for a chalet holiday anyway.
The reason we booked it was that they were doing 2 for 1 lift passes, which is £100 off per person basically. Never again.

I also would not read too much into what Crystal have to say on ski holidays as they have their own slant on it, and they also ( as has been pointed out) have no idea regarding DIY travellers etc.

Last season was poor for snow in general across Europe, and prices this season are up again, so I expect to see lower numbers of bookings from UK skiers, and I also expect to find A LOT of late deals coming up as I am certain there will be plenty of places not taken up which they will have to sell off cheap at the last minute.
Thats my hope anyway, as I'm reluctant to pay out £850 plus for a weeks skiing as I know I can get it cheaper than that (chalet board prices I am quoting here inc lift pass).

I do hear good things about Crystal from other people, but they're all hotel strangely enough.....