Booking a holiday...

Hi guys, Firstly Happy new year too you all.

I'm just looking for a bit of advice on booking a ski holiday. I have always used your typical ski company...Neilson, Crystal and a few others.
But as I have a bit more time on my hands before we want to go again (Next NYE) I was thinking of trying to save some money and book things myself.

How easy is it? Do you really save that much money?

I have a lot of things that are on my mind about the whole thing.

The ski rental for some of our group, the lift passes and transfers. Is it really easy enough to arrange?

If anyone has any advice on how to research some things or any companies that are tried and trusted please let me know.

Thanks

How easy is it?
Simple really. Just book your flights and accommodation. Transfer depends where you are going - could be train, bus, hirecar, taxi or whatever from the airport.


Do you really save that much money?
Nope. I would say almost certainly you would NOT save money. But some people just prefer to handle things themselves and take more precise control. But I would be surprised if you save even a penny over a package deal.


The ski rental for some of our group, the lift passes and transfers.
Ski rental and lift pass is super easy everywhere. Just the transfer maybe more complicated depending on what you want.

It totally depends on your aims? Do you want a powder ski trip in Japan? Do you want to go cat-skiing in Eastern Europe? Are you heli-skiing in Canada?

If you are looking for a tailor made trip then book yourself. But if you just want a week in France or Austria - take the package trip - then you know everything is included and you have someone to moan at when stuff goes wrong.

p.s. You *could* save money.....but I think will be negligible/unlikely mainly due to the pretty fixed costs of flights and a week of staying someplace....that's gonna be £££££ at New Year however you try and hack it.

I think it depends on where you are going and when, but can give better options on non sat-sat or sun-sun. My parents have cut the cost of a near 4 grand trip almost in half to the same hotel.

Our holiday in a 4* apartment with lift passes and ski hire is cheaper than any TO can offer on anything without lift passes to the same resort. We could have filet steak every night and that still won't bring it to the cost of TO.

TO's do block book which can put up the prices in some resorts, the more they book the less chance anyone has of a self-build. Finding resorts they can't control is the best option, then you can make some good savings. Transfers could be your biggest cost.

We have cut our family trip near in half. I think if you've got children you almost definitely save a fortune as the TOs really rinse you. We still book ourselves for boys trips. I'm not sure we save that much but I enjoy the booking
Process as it lengthens the whole deal over just a phone call to a TO. Depending on where you are going, bens bus is a very good deal on transfers for some French resorts. Also try bonjour bonjour chalets in tignes/valdisaire they have been fab and do offer a big discount for groups plus their chalets are fantastic. I also have a great contact in Austria for chalets. English lady who is fantastic. Like someone said above, it all depends where you want to go.

As others have suggested it depends on how many of you are travelling and where you want to go. I have learnt this year the benefit of shopping around and watching out for early offers - we have booked a trip for Canada and by getting quotes from different companies I negotiated the price for 2 of us down by £900 from the first quote. With regard to lift passes etc. Skiworld often do a 2 for 1 offer for early bookers, but if there are only 2 of you and you don't mind booking late you can take advantage of late deals and have the benefit of knowing where the snow is good.

Tour operator. Unless you are travelling outwith week to week they are very hard to beat.

If you are going at peak UK dates then you can save a lot of money by booking yourself. Last year we saved about £1500-2000 on our half term trip by going DIY compared to using a TO.

The original poster did say this was for a New Years Eve trip - not half term.

If discussing the 1 special week of half term then YES - the tour operators are out to screw you and it is cheaper to book your own flights and accomodation.