Helping you secure your first-choice accommodation!
Posted on March 01, 2023
The Ski Company is an agent and we work with partners who own, operate & manage multiple properties (apartments, chalets & résidences) in many ski resorts across France. As an agent, we are beholden to the booking schedules and prices set by these partners.
All fine so far, but … and there’s always a but … whereas our lovely clients start enquiring in January for holidays taking place the following season (11-16 months hence), our partners do not release prices until between mid-March and mid-May. This is not just the case for The Ski Company, all agents will be subject to the same rules and timeframes.
We will, however, continue to work with you to find your perfect accommodation and, depending on the relative popularity of your chosen accommodation and the week in question, The Ski Company will make a judgement on whether to invite you to book or pre-book. For popular, larger properties in peak weeks (Christmas, New Year and half-term) in the most sought-after resorts (Tignes & Val Thorens), we can’t, in good faith, invite you to book as we are unable to guarantee that we will be able to provide what you are expecting and so we will invite you to pre-book.
How does Pre-Booking work?
To pre-book a property, we will ask for a deposit of 5% of the cost of the accommodation. Pre-booking qualifies you to “join the queue” and have first refusal for your chosen accommodation when sales open. We have been using pre-booking for four years now and have a success rate of 92%. If, however, you are unsuccessful (normally because the Operator has sold the property directly to last year’s occupants), you can ask us to re-start the search to find you an alternative accommodation or we will refund your 5% deposit.
We absolutely understand that this is, by no means, a perfect solution but pre-booking gives you the best chance to secure your chosen accommodation and the alternative is, well, to wait and then find you are further back in the queue.
