Download - Ski Trade Issue 5 - February 2014
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Dave Edwards talks about his role with BSS and what future we can expect for British ski racing
theskitrade.com | @theskitrade
Is Now The TIme For olympIc Glory?
Dave Edwards is the Chief Executive of
British Ski & Snowboard (BSS), and the
Ski Trade caught up with him recently to
talk Olympics, British snow sports, and the
journey so far for BSS.
Would anyone really want Dave Edward’s job?
Great Britain is ranked 21st in the world in Alpine
ski racing, which is a pretty decent position
despite the challenges. We have the world’s
second largest outbound ski tourism numbers
after Germany, we have professional skiers
hitting the podium in international events, yet
the sport has little or no government funding.
With a background in business
management, Dave Edwards was brought
into the newly-formed BSS in February
2010, initially for 6 weeks to rescue and re-
establish the organisation from the ashes of
the previous set-up.
Almost 4 years later and he’s still in the job. I
was interested to hear about what progress
he thinks it’s made during that time.
Skiing has been part of Edwards’ life since
his mid-twenties, when he decided to take up
the sport following a school ski trip several
years earlier.
I asked him what his biggest achievement
has been so far with BSS. ”We created a new
national governing body for snowsports”, he
said. ”We formed a company and raised the
funds necessary for it to survive.”
Funding is a constant battle and seems to be
a topic that always seems to be an integral
part of any discussion about British ski
racing. I asked Edwards where most of what
we do get comes from.
”Forty percent is from UK Sport and the
rest is from private enterprise. Companies
like Delancey and Sir John Riblat, who are
absolutely essential for making this work.
Athletes also fund their own programmes.”
Dave Edwards took over his position at BSS at
a time when it looked like we might not even
have a British team at all. Not an easy task,
and funding from that point was a challenge.
To have British snow sports athletes at the
Winter Olympic Games at all is perhaps
testament to a good job done, but I wanted to
know if he has had any regrets so far.
”Yes, that we have not managed to secure
more funding for our athletes”, he said.
Is Now The Time For British Athletes To Take Control Of Their Olympic Destiny?
But I wanted to know how it’s possible to
achieve that funding? Will the Olympics help?
Will sporting success drive the market and
increase funding?
”It [the Olympics] increases interest and
therefore participation. Holidays then drive
clothing and equipment sales, but it’s a very
complex decision to buy a ski holiday.”
Would winning a medal at the Olympics make
a difference? And if a freestyle athlete won a
medal, how would that impact on the sport? As
much as someone winning an Alpine medal?
”Yes, it would,” says Edwards ”but remember,
choices are different today. People have
many options on Sunday afternoons
compared to 20 years ago when the Bell
brothers were household names.”
”We are taking action with Betony [Garner
– Media Officer for Snowsport Industries of
Great Britain] funded by the industry. This will
drive sponsorship arrangements and help
position athletes for success. It’s fantastic that
the industry is investing in Betony and we also
have to invest in athlete programmes.”
I wanted to know about the funding, and why
athletes at the grassroots level who have
clearly got potential to reach the top level are
not given what they need to support them as
professionals. I asked Edwards specifically
about Ben Cavet, and why the British mogul
skier decided to race for France.
”He wanted to ski with his mates, he lives in
France and that’s where he felt his loyalty
lies. You can’t buy loyalty. We need to identify
talent and nurture it, we’re now looking
forward to what could be our best ever
winter games, we think we’ll do OK. I didn’t
hear from Ben, so he made his own choices.”
”Funding works to deliver medals, but we
have to walk before we can run.”
So what’s next? BSS has a new software
system that tracks and monitors athletes
performance at a very high level.
”It’s a good investment, and we’ve ensured
that financially it works very well for us. I’m
constantly asking myself how we keep our
admin costs down; we run a tight ship and
Sophie and Lucy that work out of the British
Olympic Association office do an amazing job
– without them, BSS would be nothing’.
teambss.org.uk
Get Involved
We’d like to hear from members of the
industry, and have created a survey on the
Ski Trade website to get your opinions on
British skiing and snowboarding.
Go to theskitrade.com to complete the survey.
Our questions are:
1. Should athletes get funding even if they
don’t have medal chances?
2. Do you donate money to British ski or
snowboard athletes?
3. Would you consider doing so?
4. Do you think we will get better results
if funding significantly increases, or is it
just an excuse?
5. Will Great Britain ever compete on a
world level in Alpine skiing?
6. How would you improve our funding
and medal-winning chances?
02 theskitrade.com | @theskitrade
Is Now The TIme For olympIc Glory?
Chief Executive Of British Ski & Snowboard On His Journey To Improve British Snow Sports
Rob StewartCo-Editor
February 2014 | Issue 05N
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03theskitrade.com | @theskitrade
It’s an annual conundrum and it never
gets any easier. Living year-round in
the Alps, I spend 7 months of the year
watching the next winter approach.
The snow is on everyone’s mind, all of
the time, even on the warmest August
afternoon. Yet here we are, mid-February,
and there’s a collective ”I’m over it”
feeling in-resort. Digging the car out of
the snowdrift, created by the snowplough,
at the end of my drive is never fun.
Neither is joining a 30-strong queue in my
local Carrefour on a Saturday afternoon,
the fresh influx of holidaymakers
obstructing my quest for a nice (and well-
deserved) bottle of vin rouge.
February is arguably the hardest month
of the year for everyone involved in the
winter sports industry. Back in December
we’re fresh and rested. Our excitement
levels grow as the snowline descends. But
February is families and children, requests
and amendments. February is lift queues
long enough to keep even the most keen
skier off the hill. February is chaos on the
roads, and carnage at the airport.
But what’s a winter season without
February? A poor one, I’d say. February
is the profit month that keeps most
resort-based winter sports companies in
business. Running at full capacity for 28
long days may well be knackering, but it
affords many of us the chance to live in
the mountains all year round. February
is also the month of the new skier. We’ll
welcome first-timers into our businesses,
and we’ll collectively do all we can to
make sure they fall in love with their
winter sport of choice. It’s everyone’s
responsibility to increase the size of our
industry, here in-resort we play a major
part in that objective.
We’ve broken the back of the season
now; you’ve surely noticed the days are
getting longer, and our mid-season blues
are about to be replaced with the joys
of spring skiing. You’ll no longer need
double thermal layers for après parties,
it won’t feel like the middle of the night
setting out for those 6am departures, and
you’ll forget to compare the lift pass office
on a Friday afternoon with that of a war
zone. Winter gets easier from here on in,
reminding us all why we moved here in
the first place.
Amie PostingsCo-Editor
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Issue 05 | February 2014
After another hugely successful 150km sprint around
the Portes du Soleil in France to raise funds for
snow sports youth charity Snow-Camp took place
in January; so now tentative plans are underway
to develop a bigger and better Alpine Challenge
for winter 2015. While the Snow-Camp fundraising
events calendar is also under development,
the Alpine Challenge is likely to become more
accessible to a wider audience, including the winter
sports trade. Snowsports Community Manager
Dan Keeley told us ”We’re exploring opportunities
to vamp up the Alpine Challenge to make it more
mass participation for 2015. Keep a close eye on the
Snow-Camp website for more information on how to
get involved.” snow-camp.org.uk
Snow-Camp Alpine Challenge Gets A Facelift
Here we are in February, the month of the family
ski holiday. Across the Alps ski lessons will be
shuffled and nannies will be juggled. There’ll be
tantrums on the slopes, and at the dinner table.
Mum and dad will be left wondering … was it all
worth it? This month’s industry survey looks at
changes and challenges in the family ski market,
and how likely they are to affect your winter
sports business.
View the full results at theskitrade.com.
58% of survey respondents believe the
family winter sports market is currently the
same size as last winter. 17% believe it is
growing, 17% believe it is shrinking.
58% of winter sports businesses have
identified opportunities for growth in the family
market over the next 5 years.
The demands of the family ski market are
changing considerably. Adaptive services that
cater for the specific needs of families, and the
different ages of children, are now required.
According to many respondents, the family
ski market is more price sensitive than ever
before. There’s concern that half-term price
hikes, coupled with schools clamping down on
term-time holidays, is making winter sports too
expensive for most families.
”The tightening of rules governing taking children
out of school had a definite impact on sales in the
late-summer and early-autumn”, Chris Thompson,
Program Director at Ski Famille told us. ”We saw
extraordinary demand for school holiday dates,
while January and March departures were slow to
sell.” While you can fill your chalet beds, book up
your ski instructors, and pack your transfer vans
full ten times over during half-term week, the rest
of the season lags behind in terms of demand.
While the UK government strictly states that
a child’s leave from school is unlikely to be
granted for the purposes of a family holiday,
parents have experienced a softer approach
from headteachers. At infant and junior level the
line from many heads seems to be “we can’t
give authorised absence, but unless a child
has attendance issues, we won’t impose fines”,
Thompson explained. Or, as one of their guests
put it, ”as you were, but don’t take the mickey.”
And then there’s the issue of price. Many winter
sports businesses come in for criticism for hiking
their prices during school holiday weeks, when
demand is considerably higher than the rest of
the ski season. ”Ski companies generally set
their prices based on normal laws of supply
and demand. Selling the most popular weeks at
higher prices allows us to attract clients for other
weeks at lower prices. If schools were to stagger
their holidays evenly throughout the season we
would be able to set a mid-price for the whole
season, and everyone would be happy”, believes
Paul Eyre at Chilly Powder in Morzine.
Our survey raised many questions regarding
standard and expectations. ”Parents want to bring
children but not take any responsibility for them, on or
off the slopes” said one respondent. ”There’s a move
away from big name resorts to smaller family-friendly
resorts, where ski passes and ski hire are cheap, and
there are fewer crowds” answered another.
Have your say at theskitrade.com.
Will the market changein the next 5 years?
54% Same Size
15% Shrinking
8% Not Sure
23% Growing
€1million Compensation Payout For Tignes
Should Accommodation Providers Share Dangers?
04 theskitrade.com | @theskitrade
Amie PostingsCo-Editor
Having hosted the European Winter X Games
for the last 4 years, the resort of Tignes in
France had grown to bank on the €10m (£8.3m)
generated in visitor revenue each winter from the
event. When American broadcaster ESPN, owner
of the X Games format, pulled all four of its non-
US events on 19 November due to ”economics”,
there was widespread disappointment, especially
amongst European athletes hoping to use the
event for their Olympic preparations. Tignes took
legal action against ESPN for loss of earnings,
and the resort has received a €1m (approx.
£828k) settlement. Only time will tell what impact
the absence of the event will have on the wider
winter sports market.
With an unstable snowpack, and high avalanche
risk across the Alps, accommodation providers are
increasingly warning guests of the dangers of off-
piste thrills. Avalanche deaths are bad for business
after all. Stuart Macdonald at Avalanche Academy
recommends caution, ”It’s difficult to know where
to draw the line when it comes to warning and
advising guests. While it’s essential to point guests
in the direction of avalanche safety information, or
the details of a qualified mountain guide, are you
really experienced enough to recommend and
warn skiers yourself?” It’s an interesting question –
where do we draw the line in the provision of guest
information when it comes to mountain safety?
Have your say at theskitrade.com.
Year-Round Cross-Country Skiing With The SkiFIT Club
Capitalising on increasing levels of participation in
cross-country disciplines, Swedish health coach
Lotta Sutton has launched the SkiFIT Club. ”Roller
skiing is the best way to get into shape all year
round. Great Britain is the perfect place to take
up roller skiing, with its abundance of country
roads” Sutton told us. The SkiFIT Club host roller
skiing courses and training camps in Sweden
and France, with under-18 roller skiing ladies
champion Fern Cates as part of the team. Whether
you’re practicing to head for the slopes or not,
roller skiing is one of the best forms of exercise
available. The roller ski range starts at £155 for the
actual rollers, £96 for boots, and £38 for bindings.
roller-skis.com
The Family Ski SurveyWould staggering half-term holidays really make a difference?
February 2014 | Issue 05
05theskitrade.com | @theskitrade
ISO 14001, the Environmental Management
international standard, is a level of a
certification top resorts around the world have
been striving to achieve for the best part of a
decade, but what about article L. 1431-3?
This is an addition to French transport code,
which, as of this season, requires ski lift
operators (in common with the operators of
all public transportation facilities in France)
to publish details of how much CO2 their
operations produce.
Not a total figure for the company but an
averaged-out figure, so that skiers and
boarders get a little percentage total that their
1-day pass buys a share of.
The implementation of the new law has
been haphazard so far. A few resorts have
published their CO2 stats alongside their lift
ticket prices for public consumption, but if you
saw “Day pass CO2 emissions 400g”, would
you know what that meant?
The Sybelles region, with 310km of piste
spread across a dozen small areas, was one
of the first to clearly publish stats upfront in
the early autumn alongside ticket prices.
Emissions ranged from 186g for a day pass,
through to 4658g for a full season pass. It is not
clear whether the area has taken into account
emissions from piste grooming or snowmaking.
Espace Killy has opted to publish its stats in
the small print, along with all the other terms
and conditions. Item 7 notes that an Espace
Killy 1-day ski pass involves the emission of
295g of CO2, which they helpfully explain is
equivalent to a 2.1km car drive – so that at
least gives you some context … a day of skiing
is about the same as the school run back
home for a fairly lazy parent.
The lift company, which services the Espace
Killy area, break the figures down further, with
a slightly lower level of emission (375g) if you
just ski on the Tignes side, so that if you just
take a single lift ascent it’s the same as driving
150m in a car.
If you don’t ski but just ride the lifts with a
pedestrian pass, you’ll only cause the emission
of 49g of CO2 – presumably because you will
not be contributing to piste costs.
Interestingly, using the lifts in the summer is
nearly seven times worse, with a 1.8kg share
of the emissions, equivalent to a 13km car
drive, presumably due to fewer people using
the lifts so the economy of scale is lost.
Paradiski, which says that its lifts run on 100%
green energy, also has its CO2 emissions at
item 7 in its small print, “Le CO2 transport pour
un skipass 6 jours Les Arcs/Peisey-Vallandry
est de 1387g équivalent à un parcours en
voiture de 10km,” … if it’s acceptable to divide
that figure by six we get a CO2 figure of 231g
per day.
In Val Thorens’ 36-page English brochure on
lift ticket pricing, it says, “For the record, the
amount of CO2 emitted in Les 3 Vallées … is
319g per day per skier.”
Méribel actually explains how the figures
are calculated – they’re based on electricity
consumption over 3 years, divided by skier
days over 3 years, multiplied by a 5.3g
”emission factor”.
Well, whatever the figures for individual
resorts, the good news for skiers and
boarders is that these CO2 numbers appear to
be very low, so if we forget about the CO2 we
generate getting to the resort (and if you really
care about that it’s probably best to go by
electric trains, like Eurostar, or fill a reasonably
efficient car or coach), at least we know that
once we reach the slopes we’re likely to
generate less CO2 than we do in our day-to-
day lives back home.
Patrick ThorneColumnist
KNowING The co2 From FreNch sKI lIFTs, Does IT help?
Issue 05 | February 2014
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06 theskitrade.com | @theskitrade06 theskitrade.com | @theskitrade
Numbers at the 2014 ISPO, Munich, remained
consistent compared with last year, as visitors
exceeded the 80,000 mark. Notable awards
included an ISPO Gold Medal for British
backpack company Snow Mule, an outdoor
award for head wear market leader Buff and
their Balaclava Cross. Ortovox won several
awards including one for their new Pocket
Spike Emergency Axe, which combines a snow
shovel with an ice axe. Another award-winning
innovation from Black Diamond is their Jetforce
Avalanche Airbag pack, the first airbag pack that
inflates and deflates with a battery-powered fan,
instead of a gas or air canister. ispo.com
ISPO NumbersHold Up
With the 2014 Winter Olympic Games now in full
flow in Sochi, we have the one big opportunity
to showcase all categories of our sport –
Alpine skiing, freestyle skiing, and a variety of
snowboarding and Nordic events, including
biathlon, ski jumping, and cross-country.
But there’s one sport that seems to be missing in
action when it comes to the Winter Olympics, and
that’s Telemark. Snowsports Industries of America
(SIA) report that between the 2008–09 season
and the 2012–13 season, Telemark skier numbers
have nearly doubled, but yet there’s no sign of
the sport at Sochi, and no guarantee at this stage
we’ll see anything in South Korea 2018.
Telemark equipment has evolved during the
last 15 years too, making it easier and more
accessible for recreational skiers to dip in and
out of the sport.
The FIS Telemark World Cup circuit now starts in
November and continues through until March,
with eight events held in Austria, France, Slovenia,
USA, Sweden, and Norway. Great Britain hosts the
Rauris event in January, which doubles as the British
Championships. The format is exciting to watch, and
includes a giant-slalom-style race with a jump.
With the growth in North America, and the
evolution of equipment, you’d think the sport
would feature more prominently in the media,
but it doesn’t seem to be the case. Jasmin Taylor,
British women’s champion, recently placed
second in a World Cup event in Hintertux, Austria,
yet despite this, she gained little coverage from
both mainstream and the ski press.
I asked her why she thought this was the case.
”Not being an Olympic sport makes a huge
difference”, said Taylor, who’s spearheading a
campaign to get Telemark skiing into the next
Winter Olympic Games. ”People are always amazed
when they see Telemark skiing and appreciate the
technical difficulty involved at a high level, although
it’s not a hard sport to get into, whether you’re
already a skier or complete beginner.”
Taylor also wants to encourage younger skiers to
get into the sport.
”There are plenty of opportunities to become
successful, whether you come from Alpine
skiing, cross-country, or start out with Telemark
– there are many options. Come to the British
Championships in Rauris, Austria, or do some
French Cup races – you can train in Les Houches
or Samoëns, all Telemarkers are very friendly!”
Scott Hammond, a British national residing in
Lillehammer, Norway, who represented the
country for Telemark skiing at the Interski
Congress, as well as being an ISIA Telemark
Trainer with the DNA (Norwegian Ski Schools),
thinks that equipment manufacturers and retailers
are missing an opportunity. He says, ”While
Telemark is a niche sport, it’s the discipline with
the most equipment owned per skier. Every
ski rental company has a plethora of skis and
snowboards for rent, whilst Telemarkers buy. It’s
one of those sports that hooks you in, you’ll go on
the forums, you’ll join social media sites, and for
the largest part, you will buy skis, boots, and other
accessories associated with the sport.”
He concludes by saying, “Telemarking is special,
Telemarking is difficult, Telemarking is the original
and the best!”
Let’s see if the International Olympic Committee
thinks the same way in the future.
Delancy Announce Extended Support for BSS
SkiA Endorsed By The Benni Raich Race Centre
Rob StewartCo-Editor
With the 2014 Winter Olympic Games now
underway, British Ski & Snowboard are assured of
future funding with the announcement that Delancey
will continue their support up until May 2016. The
deal includes sponsorship for Alpine, snowboard,
freestyle and cross-country teams, helping both
upcoming and established athletes to train and
compete. Jamie Ritblat, Delancey’s Founder and
CEO, said, “With exciting young talent to watch at
the Olympics, such as Sheffield-born James Woods,
snow sports have become more popular than ever
before. However, if we are to inspire and create
success internationally, we need to provide the
financial resources to do that.“ teambss.org.uk
The Benni Raich Race Centre in Austria,
founded and run by the famous ski racer, has
given the British made SkiA Sweetspot Ski
Trainer a glowing endorsement, using the
device with their pupils on training camps.
Head Coach Alfons Schmid commented, ”The
SkiA Sweetspot Trainer is a great training aid
to train balance on ski boots.” SkiA Designs
Founder Dr Martin Breach was delighted with
their remarks, and said, ”It’s fantastic to get this
independent recognition from such an influential
and authoritative source in the ski industry.” The
trainer has recently been featured at ISPO, Slide,
and SIA in Denver. skia.com
The Jump Takes Snow Mainstream
Channel 4’s The Jump has brought winter sports
to a mainstream audience who might not normally
view snow-sports-related content. On 28 January it
was the second most tweeted TV show, with 17,027
”tweets”, proving that the combination of celebrity
and snow seems to work well. As we went to press,
X Factor winner 2009 Joe McElderry had won
the competition, beating his rival the investigative
journalist Donal MacIntyre, whilst fellow finalists BASI
President Sir Steve Redgrave, and comedian Marcus
Brigstocke had had to pull out due to injuries. The
eight episode show, made by Two Four Productions,
also pushed the well-known faces down a ski cross
course, slalom and speed skiing hill.
No Tele On Telly For Us
February 2014 | Issue 05
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07theskitrade.com | @theskitrade
I was recently lucky enough to visit the
resort of St Moritz for the first time, and
experience the luxury lifestyle that the
town is renowned for.
Although there is certainly an abundance
of jet-setting activities, restaurants, and
shops to keep even the keenest oligarch
amused for weeks, I couldn’t help think
that the Engadine valley, which graciously
cradles the town of St Moritz, has a lot
more to it than you’d expect.
There’s a huge variety of sporting
activities available in the valley, the skiing
is good and suits all levels, and it even has
a youth hostel, which could easily pass for
a hotel in other destinations.
It got me thinking that our perception of
resorts does not always match the reality of
our experience, and wondered how difficult
it is to change our perceptions of them.
Alina Zaiceva lives in St Moritz and
works as a Marketing Manager for
Ski Cool, an English-speaking ski
school run by BASI member and
ISIA Vice President, Vitorrio Caffi.
Zaiceva says, “there’s lots of choice for
accommodation in the Engadine valley,
from small family-run hotels to large
five star palaces. But most people don’t
realise this, they think it will cost far more
than other resorts in Switzerland, but it
doesn’t have to.”
Changing that view is something the
Engadine Tourist Office is keen to do, and
introducing a CHF25 per day (around £17)
ski pass, for stays of 2 nights or more, is
one step towards achieving this, but until
you actually experience a product it’s hard
to see it in a different light.
Livigno used to be known as a family
resort with tax-free status, particularly
suited to intermediate skiers. But over the
last few years their marketing strategy
has targeted a different audience with
successful results. The location means
that short trips are difficult due to long
transfer times, but it’s very snow-sure. It
has targeted younger skiers who want
great snow and good snowparks – they
generally stay for longer periods too. The
recently introduced Freeride Project aims
to share avalanche safety information with
skiers on a daily basis, and this reinforces
the message, which helps to encourage
this kind of skier or snowboarder.
Another resort that has hit the headlines
this winter is Warth-Schröcken, with its
new link to Lech-Zürs. I asked Angela
Schwarzmann from the tourist office
if she thought the image of Warth-
Schröcken was purely based around
family holidays. “No, I don’t think so”, she
said. “The area is suitable for families,
but there are also lots of couples and
groups of friends. There is a huge
amount of freeride possibilities too,
especially with the new link.”
Val d’Isère is an obvious choice for
expert skiers, with its steeper slopes and
extensive off-piste offerings. Therefore,
marketing is geared heavily towards
the lower end of the ability spectrum to
counterbalance this view.
“We have developed quiet slopes at
the top of the ski area which enable
beginners and families to experience the
panorama and to ski together on suitable
slopes”, we were told by Justine Mathé,
Commercial Development Manager for
the tourist office. “Val d’Isère is holder of
the ‘Family Plus’ label, which means that it
is a kid friendly ski resort and we all know
that kids mean mainly beginners.”
Rob StewartCo-Editor
Issue 05 | February 2014
sKI resorTs AppeArANces Are DecepTIve
08 theskitrade.com | @theskitrade February 2014 | Issue 0508 theskitrade.com | @theskitrade
When we started Venture Ski in 2003,
the market was no different to how
we see it today. The UK has always
produced keen skiers each winter. We
started the company because we love
the mountains, and because we wanted
to be in control of our own destiny. We
now build, own, and operate nine chalets
in Sainte-Foy, with 113 beds in total.
Over the last couple of tricky years
we’ve experienced the same business
challenges and patterns as every
other operator, but we’ve tried to carve
ourselves a niche. Making your winter
ski accommodation product different
is very hard, so we’ve developed a
number of USPs to help us stand out.
We’ve also concentrated our expansion
activity in just one resort, expanding our
portfolio one property at a time.
I personally became involved in the
ChaletManager property management
system back when it was just an idea.
Here at Venture Ski we needed to
organise and process a lot of guest
information to be able to provide our
luxury ski holidays, and match our
guests’ expectations. We literally had
mountains of paperwork, and we used
a lot of spreadsheets. It was all very
labour-intensive and repetitive. Over
several years ChaletManager has been
tweaked, tested, and perfected. The
system has been taken to a whole new
level, with lots of extra features that I
never even knew I needed.
All of our team on the ground in
Sainte-Foy have access through
ChaletManager to the guest
information they need to do their jobs,
and because of the different admin
levels, no one can make a mistake
in the system that’s disastrous. The
system itself is very straightforward
to integrate into your other business
systems; it’s intuitive, and minimum
staff training is required to use it,
making it perfect for seasonal teams.
Our guests also get to see how
efficient ChaletManager is through
the ”mybooking” function. We like
to micromanage our guests, and
when we confirm a reservation we
send a welcome pack, including a
ChaletManager username and password,
giving our guests full access to their
booking details in advance of their stay.
We gather a lot of important and valuable
guest specific information this way.
Last summer we started using the
real-time availability calendar on our
website, which was very easy to install,
and has had a huge impact on the
quality of the enquiries we receive. We
now get fewer dead enquiries, where
our chalets are already fully booked,
which in turn gives us more time to
concentrate on live enquiries that we
can actually accommodate.
ChaletManager
chaletmanager.com
Venture Ski
ventureski.co.uk
managing mountains of Guest Information
Feature Sponsored By
Mark Livesey | Venture Ski
There aren’t many accredited courses or
formal qualifications in the winter sports
industry, and with mountains covering
24% of the Earth’s land mass, there’s a
lot we don’t know about our favourite
playground. Professor Martin Price,
Director of the Centre for Mountain
Studies at Perth College University of
the Highlands and Islands (UHI), and
UNESCO Chair in Sustainable Mountain
Development, tells us why the winter
sports industry can benefit from their
online masters degree.
What are the entry requirements for
the course?
An honours degree in any field of
study is all you need to join the MSc
Sustainable Mountain Development
course, and a strong interest in
mountain areas obviously. The course
is totally unique, there’s nothing else
like it in Europe. We currently have
30 students studying, and while the
majority are in the UK, we also have
students in Bulgaria, France, Germany,
Spain, and the USA. The course is
delivered online, so students from
anywhere in the world can join.
How does the course specifically
relate to ski resort management?
There are three core modules on
the course. We look at the broad
environmental and social issues in
mountain areas, in addition to looking
at sustainable development, and
policy analysis too. Optional modules
include: bio-diversity; and economic
development. Sustainable tourism
and water management issues are
covered, and students have the option
to complete a placement module,
which can, of course, be spent in a
winter resort. Course assignments can
be based in or on ski areas, as can the
15,000-word dissertation, required to
complete the course.
What kind of employment can
graduates expect after the course?
Employment prospects are varied,
and very much depend on the
student. Nearly everyone on the
course is a mature student, bringing
with them a wealth of other work
and life experience. Our graduates
will typically find employment as
consultants, teachers, and lecturers.
Two of our recent graduates have
won very prestigious awards, with
one becoming Alpine Student of
the Year, and another winning a
prize from the Royal Geographical
Society for his dissertation. As the
environmental impact of winter
sports, and the management of
mountain resorts become more
prominent, there are sure to be a
growing number of employment
opportunities.
In the long term, do you think the
course will have an impact on the
European winter sports industry?
It certainly could do if more people join
the course. How our mountains are
managed has year-round implications:
it could be that we see ideas and
concepts for more sustainable
methods of operation come from the
studies of our students. Because of the
online, flexible nature of our modules,
the course can work nicely alongside a
seasonal business.
Find out more at perth.uhi.ac.uk/
specialistcentres, or email Professor
Price at [email protected].
moUNTAIN sTUDIesAmie Postings Looks Into Sustainable Mountain Development Courses At Perth College