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Cutting your costs – 2010/11

28th October 2010, by Chris Gill

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In 2009 we introduced our Resort Price Index figures. These were based on a huge survey carried out by the WTSS team and our faithful readers, who recorded over 2,500 prices in the bars and restaurants of the Alps – the biggest such survey ever conducted, we believe. We repeated the survey in 2010, and updated the RPI figures accordingly – adding figures for the resorts and areas we weren’t able to cover last time.

Exchange rate movements in the last year have affected our RPIs. We do the comparison in euros, so our figures are affected by changes in the value of the euro against other currencies. The Swiss franc has strengthened against the euro and, as a result, individual prices and RPI figures for Switzerland have gone up.

Similarly, North American figures have gone up, though there are also other factors at work here – we have got better at allowing for sales taxes. These rises have pushed the averages up, so RPI figures for Eurozone countries have come down a bit.

Our RPI figures give a simple guide to bar and restaurant prices in each resort, by relating them to prices in the average resort. A resort where prices are about average has an RPI of 100. The range in the Alps runs from 70 (the cheapest) to 135 (the most expensive). The figures for eastern Europe are lower. To see the full tables go to our Price Index 2010 feature.

The figures for individual resorts are given on the first page of each resort chapter in the book. High figures are coloured red, low ones green.

But as explained above, the figures are meant as a guide to how pricey each resort is compared to the average. Average resorts include some of the most expensive ones in Austria – Ischgl and Obertauern; some of the cheapest resorts in France, such as Morzine, Les Menuires and Serre-Chevalier; and some of the cheapest resorts in Switzerland, such as Engelberg.

THE RPI PICTURE BY COUNTRY

In most countries there is a wide range of RPIs, but there are also clear national differences. Italy, often thought of as the Alps’ bargain basement, in fact is more or less matched by Austria: both have resorts ranging from about the average of 100 down to 70. Only Austria’s super-smart Lech and Zürs are above average, at 110.

France and Switzerland are more expensive. Last year we were able to bracket the two together in much the same way as Austria and Italy, but the exchange rate movements discussed in the introduction mean that Switzerland now looks slightly more expensive than France, overall. Ten Swiss resorts are now flagged as expensive, with RPIs shown in red boxes (that is, the RPI is 115 or more). That’s about half the resorts we cover. All but two resorts cost above average.

In France, only six out of 25 resorts are red flagged as expensive, and quite a few resorts come out as average or slightly below average. St Moritz in Switzerland now takes top slot as the most expensive resort in our survey, with an RPI of 135.

Outside the Alps, prices are lower but not necessarily really low. The lowest RPI in France is the figure for the Pyrenees resorts. Duty-free Andorra, once synonymous with low prices, is now very much like Austria and Italy for prices. Spain is much the same.

Slovenia, bordering Austria and Italy, which we cover in more detail than ever this year, is cheaper than anywhere in the Pyrenees, with an RPI of 65. Off to the east, Bulgaria is cheaper still, particularly for certain items, and has our lowest RPI of 45. We lack information on Romania, and we have also not given RPIs for Scandinavian countries – Finland, Norway and Sweden – because the data we have isn’t quite solid enough.

Across the pond, comparisons are complicated by many cultural differences. Beer comes in fl oz. Coffee comes in pint-sized styrofoam cups (and is undrinkable, but that’s another matter). Coke comes from a tap. Pizza comes in slices. Soup comes with salad. However: at this year’s dollar-euro exchange rates and with full allowance not only for taxes but also the inevitable tips, the USA and Canada now look very much like France and Switzerland – some resorts around the average mark, quite a few well above it.

OTHER COSTS

We devote our energies to pinning down on-the-spot food and drink costs because these are the costs you can’t find out any other way. But of course there are other major costs you’ll want to control if you’re on a budget. Even within the Alps, the cost of a hotel package holiday can vary by a factor of two, if you compare hotels of a given standard in the cheapest resort with the most expensive.

You can save 25% on lift passes by going to a cheap resort rather than a pricey one – and appreciably more if you go to a small, cheap resort. Savings on ski school lessons and equipment hire can be even bigger.

OUR SURVEY

Every price gathered was categorised, and compared to the average price for its category.

So all large beer prices were compared to the average pint (€4.90, since you ask – based on hundreds of pints). This gives us an index for each
of those prices.

Similarly, all dessert prices were compared to the average dessert price, all small coffee prices to the average small coffee price, and so on. Prices from
countries such as Switzerland and the USA were first converted to euros at rates applying in mid-summer – so the value of the pound doesn’t really matter.

Then for each resort we averaged all the index figures to get our Resort Price Index. An RPI of 100 means you are looking at what you might loosely call an average resort. The lowest RPI in the Alps is 70, and the highest is 135 – so almost twice as expensive.

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