Skipedia

The sad demise of the catered chalet ski holiday

by iain on Sep 25, 2023 • 8 Comments

Looking through a recent survey from Le Ski, I was struck by one stat in particular. While it was encouraging to read that the number of UK skiers and snowboarders is predicted to grow by 14% in winter 2023/24, the fact that only 13% stay in catered chalets highlighted how...

Ideas

Will ChatGPT make ‘ski experts’ redundant?

by iain on May 11, 2023 • No Comments

AI (Artificial Intelligence) is changing fast. A few years ago, it was just the name of one of Steven Spielberg’s less good movies, but in 2023 AI has moved from the world of ‘futurologists’ into the mainstream. The chances are that even if you haven’t tried ChatGPT (or Google’s ‘Bard’),...

Iain / Ideas / Tour Operators

‘Parrots in the Snow: the rise and fall of Bladon Lines’ – article in ‘Ski+Board’ magazine

by iain on Mar 8, 2023 • 3 Comments

Iain’s article ‘Parrots in the Snow: the rise and fall of Bladon Lines‘ has now been published in ‘Ski+Board’ magazine. It’s also now available as a special episode of The Ski Podcast My first experience of working in the ski industry came 35 years ago when I went to Chatel...

Iain / Resorts

Ski Touring in Morocco: A Photo Essay

by iain on Feb 8, 2019 • No Comments

Iain from Skipedia recently went ski touring in Morocco. Flying into Marrakech, and then travelling to Imlil (1740m), Iain then spent three nights at the Refuge des Mouflons (3207m), ski touring to different 4000m peaks. Ski hire was from Braemar Mountain Sports, guiding and logistics were organised by Toubkal Guide. You...

Resorts / Tour Operators

‘I’m a modern-day Batman’ says anti-ESF campaigner

by iain on Nov 2, 2014 • No Comments

These are difficult days for the ESF in the UK. The current legal cases against Simon Butler and Le Ski have stirred up plenty of negative sentiment within the British market against the ESF. Both cases – which deal with different aspects of the law – are currently at different...

Tour Operators

Why do chalet girls bake a cake every day?

by iain on Aug 13, 2011 • 2 Comments

Okay, not strictly anything to do with marketing, but just for fun… So why do chalet girls bake a cake every day? As far as I know chalets have always left out a cake for their guests to tuck into for ‘afternoon tea’. After a long day on the slopes,...

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Ideas / Tour Operators

UK Snowsports Market Twice As Large As Thought?

by iain on Feb 6, 2015 • No Comments

New research from ABTA has suggested that the UK ski market is actually twice as large as previously thought. The main sources for estimates of the size of the UK snowsports market in recent years has been the Crystal Ski Industry Report and the Ski Club of Great Britain report. The ABTA numbers refer to...

Events / Marketing / Resorts

Airbnb turn Courchevel cable car into chalet for night

by iain on Jan 28, 2015 • No Comments

Only last month we noted on Skipedia how Airbnb were targeting French ski resorts, with a goal of having 10,000 listings by the end of the season. Spectacular guerrilla marketing This week however Airbnb have pulled off one of the most spectacular pieces of guerrilla marketing in a ski resort we’ve seen for some time...

Resorts / Tour Operators

Airbnb Targets 10,000 Listings in Ski Resorts

by iain on Dec 31, 2014 • No Comments

The London Ski Show has generally seen fewer destinations and tour operators exhibiting in recent years, but one notable new arrival in 2014 was Airbnb – ‘travel’s most fascinating company’. Over 1 million listings worldwide The company was founded in the summer of 2008 and is now valued at around $10 billion – with...

Branding / Marketing / Social Media

What were the Top 10 Posts on Skipedia in 2014?

by iain on Dec 30, 2014 • No Comments

During 2014, we published 60 posts on Skipedia, covering brands as diverse as Lidl and HSBC, destinations from Flaine to Denmark and tour operators from Crystal to AliKats. But which were our most read blog posts? Here’s our top ten – in reverse order – from 2014: 10. Mountain Base hit a PR goldmine We reported...

Marketing / Mobile / Social Media

23 Takeaways from Searchmetrics SEO Ranking Factors report

by iain on Dec 11, 2014 • No Comments

Searchmetrics recently released their annual SEO Ranking Factors & Rank Correlations white paper. You can download the entire document here, but if you’re pressed for time here, here’s 23 takeaways to get you thinking… Content High quality, relevant content is increasingly the focus of search Content is no longer an addition to, but is the...

Mobile / Social Media / Tour Operators

Crystal Ski Deliver On Digital Promise

by iain on Dec 11, 2014 • No Comments

Back in September we reported on Crystal Ski’s plans to take digital customer service to a new level. Impressive and ambitious, but realistic? At the time, we were impressed, but dubious about how realistic some of their plans were. Crystal revealed that all 700 overseas employees would be equipped with iPads, each featuring bespoke...

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