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

Social Media

Ski Solutions make a social media splash with Air Line gondola stunt

by iain on Jul 11, 2012 • No Comments

Most British skiers are aware by now that a new gondola has opened in London, linking the O2 Arena and Excel. But how many miss the snow that much that they felt they had to travel on it? Flash Mob goes viral London-based ski travel agency, Ski Solutions, caused a stir on social media last...

Tour Operators

Crystal Ski Industry Report 2012 shows 1.8% fall in market, but mastery of Newspeak

by iain on Jul 10, 2012 • 1 Comment

The Crystal Ski Industry Report 2012 was released today. The disappointing headline news is that the market has fallen for a fourth consecutive year. But after falls of 13%, 10% and 5%, a decrease of just 1.8% seems like a success. The UK’s economic recovery is still to come, and we can only hope that...

Social Media

How much is a Facebook fan worth?

by iain on Jul 2, 2012 • No Comments

Following our recent post about Surface 2 Air’s extremely successful Facebook competition, we wanted to point out that fantastic engagement in itself isn’t necessarily a desirable end goal. Free money wins engagement and fans Let’s a take a look at a recent campaign by Barmade Ltd – a hospitality recruitment agency, based in London. They...

Social Media

Facebook ‘Voice’ gives more flexibility to page owners

by iain on Jul 2, 2012 • No Comments

Regular Facebook users who also administer brand pages may have noticed a small change that was introduced last week. Individuals can easily add comments and likes as themselves When logged into a Page, previously it has been possible, but inconvenient for admins to post as themselves. Now you can switch identities at the click of...

Social Media

Surface 2 Air Sports use a ‘Mega Giveaway’ competition to drive Facebook engagement

by iain on Jun 28, 2012 • No Comments

We have written before on Skipedia about how the rules on Facebook are rarely applied in practice. When brand pages such as Manchester United don’t worry, and Cover Photo rules are regularly ignored, even by reasonably large companies, then do the guidelines really matter? Perhaps not, but while many brands run competitions, only a few truly...

Ideas / Tour Operators

Has the demise of the British ski industry been exaggerated?

by iain on Jun 20, 2012 • No Comments

Earlier this year, I was talking to the owner of one of the leading snowsports websites in the UK. He suggested that much of the talk of the ‘collapse of the British ski market‘ was exaggerated. Yes, of course households and businesses were finding it hard, but there were still large numbers using the Internet...

Newer Older

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?

Ski Solutions make a social media splash with Air Line gondola stunt

Crystal Ski Industry Report 2012 shows 1.8% fall in market, but mastery of Newspeak

How much is a Facebook fan worth?

Facebook ‘Voice’ gives more flexibility to page owners

Surface 2 Air Sports use a ‘Mega Giveaway’ competition to drive Facebook engagement

Has the demise of the British ski industry been exaggerated?

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Follow Skipedia

Recent posts

Categories

Archives