Fewer holidays available this coming season?

Interesting conversation with a tour agent just now as I booked my holiday (Serre Chevalier next March) ....
Now, I know I am extraordinarily picky about my skiing holidays both in accomodation and travel arrangements, I want exactly what I want!
:roll:
Having a chat whilst processing and I was told that bookings have been coming in fast and furious for the last week or two after a very quiet "start".
One thing led to another and we were talking about tour operator availability. This is where the less available came up and it makes sense in the present financial climate.
Seems like there are less "confirmed" room allocations in hotels from major operators - so if last year they took 10 rooms for the season, this year it is 5 or 6.
And flight availability seems down, particularly for regional airports.
Wondering what other peoples views and experience has been?
I'm sure that there will be "offers" and late booking deals and I am talking about mainly hotels and self-catering availability rather than chalets and British run hotels .....
Interesting ...
:?:

As well as the financial climate, I suspect the tour operators are also being hit by an increasing number of people going DIY. Not sure this will translate into great deals on accommodation. In my experience, most of the hotels in Europe are pretty inflexible on price, at least when dealing with the general public :evil:

I suppose that if there are less "confirmed" rooms with the TO's it will mean that there may be more "free" rooms if you approach the hotels direct. Whilst I (sort of)agree with the statement that hoteliers are inflexible with their prices they sometimes need reminding that an empty room is a room that is not earning money!! 8)

OldAndy wrote:Interesting conversation with a tour agent just now as I booked my holiday (Serre Chevalier next March) ....

Good on you Andy, great place to ski :thumbup:

Interesting topic, Andy. It is evident that there will be some unfortunate folk who will be directly affected by a loss of work, a reduction in pay, or for some of those in work, who do not feel confident about the future. So, there will be fewer people skiing this year, and people who previously went twice, may only take the one week.

This is not just a UK issue, it affects the whole of Europe.

The hotel capacity remains, and there will be hotels that will offer flexibility. I know my hotel friends will be moving early on their offers this year. Few Brits are brave or experienced enough to make an offer to a hotel, but it is worth the try. Hotel owners know that once there you will spend on food and drink.

Airline capacity has been somewhat reduced, but there are always alternative flights if you are prepared to go DIY. Even with the reduced flight capacity, the TO's will catch the hotel offers.

A big inflexible issue is lift pass cost. Interestingly, Switzerland has recognised this, and two for one offers have appeared, seemingly on a larger scale than before.

The above factors may alleviate the position for some people, but not for all.

I think you are right Andy, I suspect there will be fewer people going skiing this year, or, doing less skiing, Europe-wide. I wonder if it is likely to hit families more.

The Swiss tourism industry has been acutely aware of the problems caused by the strength of the Franc this year. CHF is now pegged to the Euro at AFAIR 1.20. GBP has gained ground against CHF in the last few weeks....some way to go though!

I recently read a newsletter from Crans Montana on FB that spoke of reinventing itself and was asking for ideas to be put forward.

I know of 2 resorts that are not putting up their lift ticket prices this coming winter. My season ticket cost has not risen in CHF :D

I think there are a number of issues here, yes the state of the economy has had a huge effect on the ski holiday industry. However I think some have used it as an excuse while a few have seized the opportunity to examine their offering and move forward.
Some operators have been really lazy and simply cut numbers and given their customers less choice. The company I use for all of our group trips have not sat back, they have looked at every aspect of what they do and worked really hard to improve customer service. Not that it was bad before, but in the last 2 or 3 years the food, professionalism of the staff and customer service has gone from very good to great.
It must be working as they are increasing the number of properties available not decreasing like most of their competition. Make sure Ski World are on your list when looking for your next holiday.

We were all set to book a great place in Paradiski, but are now being possibly over cautious and will be booking last minute - not ideal but as long as we are both still in work then we will just get a last minute holiday - assuming of course they are available.

It will be interesting to see what's about late Feb, last year we ended up in N, it was a bargain booking two weeks before we went, but I got to ski and I know it's not everyones cup of tea but I'd rather go there than not at all. So DM, we might see you there again next year :)