SNO secrets of how to choose and book ski deals online
1. the best ski deals are usually not the cheap ski deals
Although it seems like a bargain to go skiing for under £200 per person, the best deals snowboarding and skiing are actually the half board, inclusive and catered chalets.
Why? Well the logic goes like this: If your package holiday skiing is discounted, that's a great saving, but you still have to eat and drink at full price for the whole week, but... on catered ski deals which are at least half board, or chalet deals which are slightly better than half board, or all inclusive ski deals at the top of the discount skiing stakes... you'll save while you're there too, because the whole package (including food and drink) is discounted.
2. check if that cheap deal is only an "online" price.
If, like me, you prefer to book and pay for big ticket items like a ski holiday by speaking to a human, then you need to check that your deal skiing or snowboarding can be had when you call them, or if its only available when you book on their website. It terrifies me to think of entering some detail wrong and being stuck with hundreds/thousands of pounds of ski holiday that's not what I wanted... and a lot of people feel the same way... so beware of those "best deals are online" boasts.
3. to decide whether a ski company is really offering a great deal, go compare.
If you spotted a Christmas ski deal on sno, just copy the "hotel and resort name" and paste it into Google - you will see which other online ski travel agents have offers there too, and whether their prices are as good. All things being equal (ie are they ATOL bonded like us, do they give amazing customer service even after they've taken your money, etc) then you can basically just go with who ever is selling the cheapest ski holiday for christmas.
4. don't always wait for the last minute ski deals.
There's no doubt that the cheapest ski holidays are usually the late ski deals, but they are also very limited in choice. If you don't mind where you ski and you're a group of 4, then you'll find the biggest bargains are found by booking last minute, but... if you want to ski somewhere really great and stay somewhere pretty good too, you can imagine that its not usually the most desireable ski holidays which are still available in the week before departure!
For the best deals sking on popular dates like the school holidays etc, it usually pays to book super early - the skiers who consistantly have awesome xmas or new year ski holidays are those who book next year as soon as they get home from this year's trip.
5. use a big site with many ski tour operators offers on
This might sound obvious, but you really don't want to be trawling the websites of every ski company, scribbling down accommodation specs and prices, to find a cheap deal, so pick a big website like sno, where a single search let's you see discount ski offers from all of the big ski travel suppliers. When you search sno ski deals, you're seeing all the best skiing offers from all the major suppliers, including crystal ski, inghams, thomson, neilson, first choice and more - all ATOL bonded and all at their best online prices - sno BIG deal
So there you have it, sno secret now!