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

Is skiing hard, dangerous, fun or easy?

by iain on Jul 28, 2014 • No Comments

Google can give an interesting insight into the mind of the public. We have looked at this before on Skipedia when we considered how Google auto-complete could tell us about the industry. This is a more prosaic example… What is skiing? Dear Google user – don’t panic! We reckon the answers are ‘maybe at first’, ‘not...

Ideas

Great Use of Drones in Ski Resorts by New Zealand Tourism

by iain on Jul 24, 2014 • No Comments

Earlier this week, New Zealand Tourism introduced #nzdronie – as far as we know, the first tourism organisation to use drones to promote their destination. According to the video below, their drone will be appearing at different ski resorts in the South Island, offering holidaymakers the chance to let the drone take a unique video...

Ideas

The ‘Belle de Neige’ chalet girl book: Reaching those unreachable places…

by iain on Jul 22, 2014 • No Comments

We recently managed to read ‘Belle de Neige’ – the funny, shocking, moving and at times horrifying exploits of one real-life season worker in an unnamed ski resort (that sounds a lot like Courchevel). A book for season workers It’s listed on Amazon as ‘women’s fiction’, but what they really need is a category for ‘ski...

Marketing

France Montagnes make the most of Le Tour de France

by iain on Jul 21, 2014 • No Comments

This weekend the 2014 Tour de France hit the Alps. Although some of the famous Alpine climbs, such as Alpe d’Huez, the Galibier and the Col de Madelaine didn’t feature this year, the less well known ski resorts of Risoul and Chamrousse both hosted stage finishes. A win for France Montagnes France Montagnes – responsible...

Mobile / Tour Operators

How well is the ski industry optimising for mobile?

by iain on Jul 4, 2014 • 1 Comment

Last night I spoke at Brighton Social Media, looking at ‘How is the ski industry optimising for mobile?’ My presentation, which is available on Slideshare, and has been embedded below, took a look at the rapid increase in smartphone use in the UK, and its implications for businesses (as outlined in a previous blog post)....

Mobile

12 Stats about Smartphone Use in the Travel Industry

by iain on Jun 27, 2014 • No Comments

We are currently researching for a presentation next week at Brighton Social Media on ‘How is the ski industry optimising for mobile?’ We’ll post our conclusions after the presentation, but for now here are twelve stats about smartphone use and the travel industry: Twelve stats about smartphone use and the travel industry 80% of people...

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The sad demise of the catered chalet ski holiday

Will ChatGPT make ‘ski experts’ redundant?

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

Ski Touring in Morocco: A Photo Essay

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

Why do chalet girls bake a cake every day?

Is skiing hard, dangerous, fun or easy?

Great Use of Drones in Ski Resorts by New Zealand Tourism

The ‘Belle de Neige’ chalet girl book: Reaching those unreachable places…

France Montagnes make the most of Le Tour de France

How well is the ski industry optimising for mobile?

12 Stats about Smartphone Use in the Travel Industry

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