Rocket Ski

This is the sister company of Equity Ski, who are best known for packaged family ski holidays. I cant comment on Equity, but Rocket have had a total restructure, and have pulled out of a lot of resorts. This comes at a time when the ski holiday market is in deep financial difficulty, and there is talk of accommodation being dropped by the bucket load, and at least 1/3 less flights next season.
Rocket tell me they are focusing on the school trip rather than adult holidays, and have therefore made the decision to pull out of certain resorts. The 2 I had lined up, Schladming and Folgarida, are both no longer available as a package.
This may well be indicative of what lies ahead for the ski holiday market, and I have already read articles advising me to book up now as there will be much less availability and no late bargains like we have become used to.

All I can say is I am glad I have 1 definite trip lined up already for next Jan. The 2nd trip might need a total rethink now.

Tony, you should make the effort to DIY one of the resorts because if a lot of TOs are pulling out I would have thought it would be very quiet.

Pablo Escobar wrote:Tony, you should make the effort to DIY one of the resorts because if a lot of TOs are pulling out I would have thought it would be very quiet.

Good idea I might try that.... :wink:

At the risk of getting a few slaps from our Tour Operator partners... :lol: ... this looks like spin to ramp early bookings and improve cash-flow. Nothing wrong with that necessarily, and you should probably take notice if you really are restricted to package holidays in peak weeks.

However...

Yes, definitely, the TOs are dropping accommodation and pulling out of resorts to a significant degree.

But that accommodation isn't going to be demolished, any more than those resorts will disappear. On the contrary, they represent opportunity for some great deals. In many cases the affected accommodation owners (and resorts) will have previously been giving the TOs good margins in return for the TOs doing the leg-work of bringing in the customers. Now, with a little bit more effort, those owners and resorts have that TO margin to discount by...

There will be some resorts almost abandoned by the TOs - so expect to see great deals on lift passes (and quite possibly transport).

Seriously, go flexible, go DIY; drive out or fly mid-week in the off-peak weeks and you've got a very good chance of skiing very quiet pistes at bargain prices.

But DON'T PANIC! 8) You will be skiing next winter.

Is there anyway of finding out where TO have pulled out of? Ive 2 holidays booked but have been thinking of a DIY holiday and next year could be a great time to do it!

Admin wrote:...But DON'T PANIC! 8) You will be skiing next winter.

Thanks Admin - you've just made my summer! :thumbup:

If you tell them you used to work for them they'll give you a 10% discount too. I worked for them years ago and they offered me a discount even though my name has changed since then and they didn't even question me.