Messages posted by : AllyG
I was wondering about it because I read this: Plus, there's a free bus on Thursdays and Fridays from the Sonnschein and the Harfenwirt taking you over to Hopfgarten, so it's easy to ski the Ski Welt and stay in Niederau. on: http://ski-buzz.co.uk/2010/12/23/sun-snow-and-soll/ and I was wondering if it was true. Do you think, maybe next time you're in the Sonnschein or the Harfenwirt you could ask them please? It's not so much for me, because I might never go there, but for other J2ski readers. Thanks, Ally |
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Thanks Dan,
Have you any idea how much a taxi would cost? Obviously I'd need one out there and back again at the end of the day, and they'd have to be able to carry skis. Ally |
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Thanks Dan, I'm curious about the rumoured free bus to Hopfgarten (to connect into the Skiwelt) from a couple of the hotels. Do you have to be staying in those hotels to get it, and does it run all week or only on certain days? If I was ever going to go to Niederau (and I'm quite curious to see it after all the discussion about it) I'd want to ski some of the Skiwelt as well. Ally |
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Hi Emma, I'm glad you got back okay, and I hope you had a great time :D I packed my helmet with socks and things so it didn't really waste too much space in my suitcase. As long as your suitcase has enough depth I wouldn't have thought it was too much of a problem. I haven't, however, tried packing one with a visor. I'm not sure I could ski with a visor down :shock: Ally |
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We have a very good (and amusing) long running thread on this topic here:
http://www.j2ski.com/ski-chat-forum/posts/list/496/6621.page Ally |
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It depends what exchange rate Inghams were using when calculating their prices. At the moment the pound is the highest it's been against the euro for over a year, and today the Visa rate is 1.20 euros to the pound, less whatever your bank charges you for foreign transactions. So, if you really want to know the answer to your question it involves you doing some homework, because you'll have to check all the prices online and then calculate what you'd be paying in pounds, and then compare this with the Inghams rate. And if you decided Inghams is too expensive you'd have to book it all separately, which is a lot more work. There's probably not a lot of difference in the price, and Inghams may be doing a deal where if the lift passes are cheaper in resort they'll refund the difference. You could ask them. I was thinking about buying my own lift passes online today, and paying for the rest of my holiday which is priced in euros, and buying some euros, because of the exchange rate at the moment. I don't suppose things will improve further from our point of view, although one never knows. Ally |
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Hi Amy, I don't know anything about the finances of catered ski chalets, but I do know quite a lot about self-catering cottages in the U.K. We have been running our smaller one (2 bedrooms for 4 people) for 14 years and our larger one (4 bedrooms for 6 people) for 2 years. What surprised me was that it's harder to get bookings for the more expensive larger one than the smaller one, presumably because most British families don't consist of more than 4 people, and if we get 6 people it's usually 2 families. Of course my situation is a bit different because our guests are booking the whole cottage, not one bedroom. However, I have a feeling that it might be harder to fill a larger chalet, judging by the discounts available if one books an entire chalet. With the smaller one our bookings gradually increased year by year from around 16 weeks to about 34 weeks - but I think the average for our area is only about 22 weeks. For the year that's just finished we had 26 weeks on the larger one, but as I said we've only been doing it for 2 years (and they were both new businesses). For the capital invested we definitely make more money on the smaller one. For one thing, I have to employ someone to help me clean the larger one and pay to get the ironing done. And then I have all the worry of what happens if my helper doesn't turn up because they're ill or whatever. Whereas with the smaller one I can clean it all myself, and I've never missed a day cleaning in 14 years however ill I've been. I am sure getting reliable cleaners in the Alps or wherever is just as much a problem as it is here in the U.K. I find other people are never as careful as I am myself. So, I suppose if I was thinking about running a catered ski chalet I'd get one small enough so that my husband and I could manage it ourselves. I reckon chasing staff to make sure they do a good job is more exhausting than doing it oneself. But then maybe it's me - and I'm just not very good at managing staff :D I'm quite sure that the larger the chalet the more stress would be involved, even though you'd potentially make more money. And these days people expect very high standards - like en-suite, airport transfers, free wine with the meal, heated boot rooms, jacuzzis etc. We are continually having to upgrade our cottages - like putting in broadband, heated towel rails, top quality bedding etc. I know teaching is very stressful, so I understand where you're coming from. I only lasted one term of a PGCE course many years ago before I dissolved into tears because of the stress and gave up. And I've been self-employed ever since. Ally |
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Ian, That does rather prove my point - teachers wages go up to £105,000 for Heads and Deputy Heads, and £31,000 for the rest of them. Plus they get long holidays. I would think there was a lot of money to come out of the £86K you calculated as gross profit, before the owner could take their share. Just the food bill must be pretty large - how many people can stay in that chalet? I know we don't make more than £5000 net on each of our self-catering cottages, and it would be a lot less than that if I was paying a mortgage or deducting the money I could have earned from the capital by investing it somewhere else. Ally |
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