J2Ski Forum Posts and Replies by pigski

Never even thought of language immersion holidays although would be something that I would definitely consider (love teaching particularly if I teach willing participants!!)

We have been doing loads of research over the past few weeks and the advice on here has been brilliant so had loads to follow up. Our next step is a 'research' expedition :lol: at Easter to 2 of the main linked areas - 3V and Paradiski. We have a couple of properties to look at and some resorts we want to visit as well as the ones we are 'researching' to get s feel for where we want to eventually look to set up the business.

We have also been considering renovation projects too as well as looking into season lets to get an idea of cash flow potential.

With 11 weeks and 3 days to go we want to be 100% prepared for making sure we make the most of our trip as we won't be able to get back over until the summer hols.

Any tips on what to make sure we check out while we are out there??

This is a great thread!!

Only discovered skiing about 5 years ago and omg i wished I had the means/knowledge/brains to get involved with it earlier :)

Totally agree about the fact that everything goes out of the window when you are standing at the top of the slope looking out across the mountains and focussing solely on getting the turns in, watching others swishing past and also having fun etc and not thinking about anything else...bliss bliss bliss

Think I quite enjoy the fab laid back attitude that goes hand in hand with a good ski holiday definitely suits my 'laid back' personality 8)

Getting 'bored' of a resort is something that we are very wary of after our trip to L2A last Easter (sorry but not one of our fave resorts - on 2nd thoughts may have been due to us trying to cram 9 peeps in a teeny tiny apartment praps not the best idea we have ever had!!)

This is why we feel we have to go and 'research' some of the biggies at Easter (cannot justify 1/2 term prices unfortunately)....maybe 3V 1st and then one of the others??

Definitely would like to be in/near a resort that offer higher altitude skiing to prolong the season and potentially allows for glacier skiing in the summer?? :-)

Thanks to all the posts - seems we are not the only ones out there with the need to 'give it all up' for the mountain life.
However there are some really important points raised here and this has given us a lot to consider.

After constructing several brainstorms on large pieces of white paper (I'm a teacher what can I say? lol) the main debate we keep having is location. Although we have been to the Alps and know many that have been and loved it, we are not too familiar with the larger resorts tending to plump for the smaller or 'unlinked' areas. We would prefer not to have any emotional attachment to the area where we eventually set up business but very confused over the reviews for all the main areas....

We will attempt to try as many of the larger areas such as 3V, Espace killy, portes du soleil etc but worry that money we spend gallivanting around 'trying' resorts may be counter productive from a financial point of view.

What do people reckon?

:? :? :?

I think this definitely proves the point that working for a couple of seasons for someone else to get a good insight into the catered chalet industry is essential.

We wondered whether we could do just the one season and then get stuck into our own business but can 100% see the benefits of more than one season.

Just hope that we will get a chalet couple job for the season we want it considering we have never worked a ski season before!!

Ian Wickham wrote:

AllyG wrote:

Ian Wickham wrote:Just made a quick calculation, I took a chalets booking and averaged out the price over the season,
and basic turn over would be £86K ...... it does depend on the number of letting rooms.

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

That is the minimum turnover not including price increases for Xmas and New year etc,
Making a profit is all down to budgeting and waste control, if I could not make a profit from that turnover then I would need shooting.
These chalet companies do not do it for the love of it they make good profit out of the winter
season, if you wish to make extra money then you would focus on increasing occupancy for the summer season.
Now if I give any more information I will have to charge a consultancy fee :lol:

Hi Ian,
thanks for your financial advice - glad to see you haven't posted your fees yet :D

I would like to hope that it is all about business management that makes or breaks a business like a chalet. Summer occupancy is something we would look at offering too as we are deadly serious about making a living out of it. I'm sure pure enthusiasm alone will not win us the profits but as per your calculations, we think there is a chance that we could eventually start to make a profit.

So many things to think about!!!

AllyG wrote:
We have two self-catering cottages here in the U.K. and it is difficult to make much of a net profit. There are a lot of hidden expenses that people don't usually think about - like T.V. licences, public liability insurance, painting, renewing carpets and bedding, replacing the things holidaymakers break etc. etc. And I should think the fuel bills for a ski chalet in winter must be astronomical. Plus, the ski season is quite short, and although some places seem to be able to get customers in the summer the prices are much lower. We use an agency to whom we pay 22.5% commission plus VAT for publicity, bookings etc.

Hi Ally

Thanks for your comments. I am curious as to whether the size of the chalet makes a big difference to net profit or not? There are some absolutely huge chalets out in the Alps charging £600 a week per person in a 15-10 person chalet. In fact to buy one of those sorts of business is a humungous amount of money frankly something we do not have.
Does this affect your own cottages or do you feel size doesn't particularly matter and it is how you run your business that does?

(Didn't think about buying accounts tho - top idea!)

Amy

I fully appreciate that in teaching there is money to be made and the holidays are 2nd to none which is why the decision to give something else a go is such a tough one.

For me teaching has brought with it some very negative experiences and I'm not just talking about the teenage tantrums!! Also the holidays are fantastic but we are expected as part of your contract to spend a portion of the hols marking/writing new schemes of work/ planning etc. this means that by the time I've caught up on the housework and sleep that has been pushed aside in favour or making sure I'm doing everything expected of me in my job both during school hours and after hours, I have very little 'holiday time.'

This is one of my main issues with teaching....work life balance. As a keen snow sports fan and outdoorsy type person, I spend as much time as I can indulging my interests. Unfortunately most of the time I push the boundaries so much I am left completely stressed out/run down and poorly.

Apologies for the rant about teaching - I have just finished 1st week back and have some serious winter blues :oops: Bottom line is that I love being a teacher but feel I need to have a go at something I have always wanted to try whilst I can.

The response to my initial post has been great and I really appreciate it. Has been good to see that our caution about the venture and worries can be backed up by others experiences!!

Right, I'm off to stare out the window at all the lovely white stuff settling in my road....... 8)