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,...

Latest entries

Marketing / Tour Operators

How MountainBase hit PR goldmine with promise to refund term time fines…

by iain on Mar 14, 2014 • 3 Comments

Marketing – sometimes the best ideas sink like a stone, sometimes they soar like a bird. In the last 24 hours MountainBase has transformed itself from a modest one chalet operator in Morzine to front page news, with press coverage worth tens of thousands of pounds. So, how did they do it? It started with...

Resorts

Why Alpe d’Huez is Lost In Translation…

by iain on Mar 14, 2014 • No Comments

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a ski resort in possession of a UK customer list must be in want of a good translator. If Jane Austen were writing about ski resorts, she may have been tempted to write the above. Even more so if she received an email like the one below, from...

Branding / Events

Red Bull win Sochi Olympics awareness over official sponsors

by iain on Mar 7, 2014 • No Comments

Research has shown that Red Bull came out of the Sochi Games with a higher association with the event than any of the official sponsors. P&G best of the rest Media tracking company Global Language Monitor calculated the figures. Second in the list were P&G, who were recognised to have run one of the most...

Resorts

Folie Douce bring more ‘sweet madness’ to Megeve

by iain on Mar 7, 2014 • No Comments

It was in 1969 when Luc Reversade, a former ski instructor, founded the first La Folie Douce in Val d’Isere. The restaurant and bar soon built up a reputation as the place in Val to go for apres-ski. As has been clear for years at the Krazy Kangaruh and Moosevirt in St Anton, apres-ski doesn’t have to...

Ideas / Resorts

Is Banksy working for the ESF in Meribel?

by iain on Mar 4, 2014 • 3 Comments

Probably not, but after the recent raising of diplomatic tensions surrounding the ESF in France, it’s reassuring to see some rapprochement. This marvellous image was spotted by Ski Marmalade yesterday on the Altiport chairlift in Meribel: Homage to Banksy There can be little doubt that this is a homage to Banksy’s ‘kissing policemen’, which appeared...

Resorts / Social Media

Courchevel use YouTube to drive early season ‘ouverture exceptionnelle’

by iain on Feb 19, 2014 • No Comments

On Saturday 23 November 2013, Courchevel opened for a unique ‘ouverture exceptionnelle’ offering free skiing in the resort for one day only: We recently interviewed Dominique Bellavarde, Digital Manager at Courchevel Tourisme about their thinking behind the event. Q: How did you come to the decision to open the resort for this one day? Several factors...

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