With all the media coverage of the current financial chaos ,i was wondering as people are watching what they spend and are more hesitant…will tour operators, airlines etc offer cheaper trips to get customers,or do you think they will put prices up to maximize the money they get on present and future bookings?

Since many companies have already anounced their prices for the next season I don’t think it will make much difference. But then again if the season has little snow many "fence sitters" won’t go and there will be lots of discounts available. Or, on the other hand, if it a fantastic season then every one may be heading for the mountains.
 
Has anyone used Alitalia to go skiing? I thought that the recent troubles with the channel tunnel would push prices up, but they appear to have remained about the same forthe Christmas period.
 
If I could forecast market trends or even currency fluctuations (the pound seems to be rising at the moment) I would be a very wealthy man, but for how long and how far I couldn’t even guess. Should I buy my euros now or wait until it rises more? Who knows?
 
Don’t pin your hopes on getting lots of bargins.

Hi,
 
Its in the lap of the gods i think…mind you as long as i can find a return flight for less than £65 (i usually fly out and come back mid week ) and a weeks car hire for less than £160 i am happy.
 
Mind you now i have decided to keep my apartment even if the flights and car hire came to £260+ ,the holiday would still not be that expensive.
 
I think we will have another good year for the white stuff so we will have to see how that affects things.
 
Jon.

Jon,
 
I am glad you decided to keep the apartment. It looks very nice; I looked at teh web site. I hope you have plenty of time to enjoy it.
 
£65 for a return flight looks very good. Does it include baggage? My wife found a flight to Geneva for Christmas eve for £40, but the transfer to Les Arcs was 70 euro! Eventually she decided to pay more (about £65) and fly to Chambrery and get the train to Bourg, which IIRC is less than 30 euro. Getting the best price is always a good optimisation exercise.
 
I will check again in the morning but P and O appear to be offering return ferry crossings (car and 3 people) for the Christmas period for £75. It looks too good to be true. We budget on a return car trip, ferry + fuel + tolls, at about £300 - about £100 each. If I could avoid the restraurants and L’Abreuvoir it would be almost as cheep to go to Les Arcs as stay at home.
 
I am optimistic that the next season will bring lots of snow.
 
John

Prices for most holidays seem pretty high at the moment, but I reckon with more folk opting to holiday in the Alps than North America this winter (apparently, that’s the recent news) there could be some bargains to North American resorts lurking later in the season.
 

I think there could be a struggle to get deals in France though, especially with half-term so oversubscribed. Probably a good time to try the less well-known resorts there!
 
Lucky you finding a flight at such a good price: I’ve not found anything under £100 (all in) for December.
 
I wonder if some folk will opt for longer stays rather than short breaks, given the price hike?
 
Predictions are for a similar winter to last year - and with the first flakes falling in Austria and France this week…we’re really hopeful.
Ooooo - can’t wait!
 
W  

Wendy,
 
EasyJet were offering £40 Birmingham to Geneva for Christmas eve. FlyBe about £70 Birmingham to Chambrey . Both were one way and since I will be carting all the luggage down in the car earlier in the week she will not need any of the hidden charges.
 
You are partly right about half term in France. The holiday has been compressed into 2 weeks whereas last year it was over 3/4 weeks. Rental rates for those 2 weeks are very high, but there is lots of availability. Looking at the Alpes Horizon web site for rental in Les Arcs there are approx 295 apartments available on 18/4/9 and 240 on the 14/2/9. In other words 80% of the apartments are still unlet for the start of the half term period. This is not unusual. In most years there are only a trickle of bookings before Christmas. The bulk arrive after people have actaully seen if it is going to snow.
 
One reason British skiers are so welcome in France is that they book early and come even if the snow is bad

John: You asked about Alitalia -  just read this news, that Alitalia is one of the airlines under threat in the current economic crisis.
 
"Alitalia remains on the ?edge of an abyss? after an investor group walked away from a rescue bid.
Key unions representing pilots ands cabin crew vetoed plans by investor group CAI which would have led to around 3,000 job cuts.
The Italian cabinet is to debate the crisis at Alitalia today. The airline is reportedly losing $3 million a day and may run out of funds by the end of the month. It has been operating under government bankruptcy protection for three weeks."
 

Wendy

My gut feeling is that discounts will need to start coming out fairly soon, as punters sit back and watch what happenss - Zoom XL etc must be putting folk off. Don’t think people will be willing to commit in current climate but according to previous posts, ski bookings are still OK.
 
From a personal point I have paid full whack for flights but opted for Stuben, whereas I would have gone straight back to Oberlech under normal finances. I also know that a few friends of mine, some of whom are affected by the poor housing market, are tigthening the strings too - booking independently as opossed to package.
 
Do not know whether package holidays will gain (ie ABTA protected) or whether independent and staying B&B etc will gain.
 
We’re all doomed!!!

I think that last minute bargains will be few and far between - particularly those involving air travel. Given the number of airline failures (and potentially more in the pipeline), capacity is likely to be much lower than it was last year. In the current climate, unsold holidays are more likely to be cancelled than sold off below cost.
 
Book your travel with a secure airline (if you are able to identify such a thing) or travel by surface!
 
John

Hi John,
 
Thank you for the nice comment about the website,much appreciated.
 
The flights i look at are usually Easyjet from Luton Airport to Geneva and have never paid much more than £67 or so (flying mid-week to mid-week ),then from the airport i have always used Auto-Europe for car hire and again cannot remember any weeks hire being more than £130 - £150 ish.
 
But as yourself and other contributors say, more decisions will be made when the snow comes and people can see which resorts have the best snow.
 
Also as Wendy states about French prices and the compact holiday period being two weeks as opposed to three to four,i wish other owners who rent just to cover their outgoings and commercial businesses would keep a basic prices down to give holiday makers a bit more value for money and not hike prices during the popular periods.
 
From my own point i have a set price from spring t early winter ,and a set price for the skiing season ,with only xmas and new year being higher (this is for my own sake as i hope it puts people off going at xmas and new year leaving it free for myself,although the last two years this has not worked…by the way does this make me sound bad?).
 
From a purely business point of view if companies keep their prices down in theory they should attract more business which in turn will make up for the lower costs.
 
I have also read in todays paper that a long range weather forecaster (who advises organisations planting crops that we are in for a more severe winter than usual with lots of snow,but again nothing is 100% reliable.
 
jon
 
 

Certainly mid week in Jan to midweek in Jan, Luton to Geneva is good value at £46 without any luggage.
 
I don’t set the price for my apartment but let the letting agent, CIS-Immobilier, do that. I just reserve it for my own use at for Christmas and New Year and again for the Easter period and if I change my mind I can always alter the bookings provided no one else has booked in. Incidently bookings come no where near covering the running costs so we don’t hike the prices at busy periods only cut them at quiet periods to recover some money as opposed to none.
 
The BBC reports that some Alitalia flights have now been grounded.
 
John

Hi John ,
 
Sorry if i made it sound if i was saying you may hike you’re prices ,this was not my intention i was meaning the larger rental companies or private individuals who rent as a commercial business.
 
I am unsure as to you’re running costs for the year,i have just received my Taxe Foncieres which is 393 euros, with the Taxe D’Habitation due in a month or so which wll be roughly the same amount ,then my co-propriete charges for the year are around 1600 - 1800 euros per year, so if i can rent out for 5- 8 weeks this pretty much covers my outgoings.
 
Since setting up my website free with Microsoft Office Live have been lucky enough to have enough bookings to cover about 85% of my costs for the year.
 
I also have heard that Alitalia flights have been gounded,which does not bode well,i caught a snippet of news last wednesday or thursday saying Silvio Burlesconi was trying to do a deal of some kind….mind you nothing new there for the devious little criminal,also that the industry expects to lose up to 30 operators europe and worldwide over the comming few months.
 
Jon.

Costs for last year were :
 
Item Euros
Service charge per annum 2900
Electricity 88
Insurance 202
Maintenance (very variable) 200
Taxe d?Habitation + TV licence 630
Taxes Foncieres 542
Total 4562
 
Tax is a little more this year and I suspect sevice a little less
 
Your service charges and tax appear much lower than mine. What is your surface area? Ours is 35 m2 for the flat and 2m2 for the cave (for which we have to pay tax and service).
 

Hi John i hope you are well,
 
My surface area is a little smaller at 25m2 ,i do not have a television in the apartment (when i originally purchased the apartment i did enquire as to the cost but the agent said not to bother as they thought french tv was rubbish,as for buildings and contents i am with Andrew Copeland Insurance and pay £158 per year ,i suspect you’re charges may be a bit more due to the extra cost of transporting anything required for the upkeep of the apartments up the hill to Les Arcs.
 
My charges have been higher this year than normal because the co-propriete has renewed and stained all the wooden rails, balconies etc throughout the whole establishment.
 
Even with the higher tax costs there seems to be a bit more efficient and spend the taxes on more appropriate things than my local council back in the UK, where the service is appalling…in fact wellingborough council could not run a bath it seems.
 
Jon.

Jon,
 
I have looked at my taxe Foncieres for this year and it is 551 euro. This means that I ma paying 15.74 per m2 and you are paying 15.72; effectively the same. I am really glad we shared this information since I was really worried that somehow I was being taxed for more property than I actually owned. Friends in Grenoble pay much less than this per m2.
 
We just fixed our insurance up with axa in Bourg; it was very easy and appears competitive (you are actually paying a euro or so more!). The service charge does vary from year to year depending on major work being done.
 
I share your agents view that the TV we get over cable in Les Arcs is rubbish. There are French, German, Spanish and Italian language services but they are all dire (it is remarkable how they all do a version of the weakest link with red headed women!). I did watch an international rugby union match between England and France on it last October and laughed myself silly over the commentry "oh la la" all the time. We have it to play DVDs on and as a tick box for rental.
 
Once again thank you for sharing costs and prices with me. I really have no idea how much I should be paying.
 
John

Jon, it’s possible that the credit crunch will bring down an entire resort.  Tamarack Resort in Idaho is under possible foreclosure by Credit Suisse for defaulting on its loans and Bank of America is threatening to repossess a high-speed quad and a fixed grip triple chair.  Yet another bank is already foreclosing on the resort’s employee housing.
 
http://www.idahostatesman.com/eyepiece/story/512376.html