Another great end to another winter season

It's the end of our second season running SkiHire2U and what a season it has been.  As we think back to the beginning of the season before the lifts opened there was glum mood around Chatel, just one look up at the green slopes would show why, No snow!  When would it arrive?  Then suddenly a little bit of snow appeared on the long range forecast at www.snow-forecast.com for Chatel.  Was this the start?  Oh yes, it started snowing and it didn't stop for 2 weeks, the resort was transformed to beautiful glistening white everywhere.  Everyone breathed a huge sigh of relief and we had one of the best Christmas's ever for snow.  It didn't stop there either the snow kept coming and coming.............and coming, fantastic.  We then had some incredibly low temperatures where it was warmer inside the freezer than it was outside, -26'C in the village at one point.  Then we had more snow and more snow, then 3 weeks of beautiful clear skies and wall to wall sunshine.  By this time at the end of March everyone thought that would be it for snow for the season, it didn't matter because there was so much snow anyway.  How wrong we were.........then came the snow, more snow and even more snow, an absolutely incredible end to an absolutely incredible season.  Chatel always gets more precipitation than nearby resorts because of the valleyed link to lake Geneva and this season has been no exception.  We moved here because of it's beauty and snow record and we know we made the right choice.  Chatel is without doubt the best place to live and ski in the Alps (we may be a bit biased but we love it here).

As for SkiHire2U in it's second year...we have without doubt led the way for ski hire in Chatel.  SkiHire2U has removed the trek to the ski shop and the often long wait when you arrive to get served.  One ski shop had a queue so long they were offering vin chaud to keep their customers warm outside in the queue...and that was just to return their skis.  It's difficult to know where to start thanking people as everyone has been so nice.  Our customers continue to appreciate the highest possible levels of service on offer - just read our customer comments at http://www.skihire2u.com/guestbook.php Our partner chalet owners and hosts who have looked after us all season with coffee, wine, champagne, cake, croissants etc the list just goes on and on - thankyou everyone :)  Finally a big thankyou to those who have been helping us out this year, Hamish, Gary, Cameron and Sam all of whom have been brilliant.

We had our most successful season ever and we'll continue to grow, but at our pace making sure we maintain those service levels our customers can now rightly expect.  So for next season we have already placed a huge order for a brand new range of ski hire equipment, some of our older stock will be replaced (after only 2 years).  Some people have said we must be mad to replace skis so soon, we say our customers deserve the best and that's what they will get. We have new ski ranges added, with one very special model that we know are customers are going to like, keep a look out on our website, www.skihire2u.com for latest information and if you haven't 'liked' our facebook page then do it now at http://www.facebook.com/SkiHire2U to keep right up to date.  That's not all, there will be a lot of work on our website during the summer months so keep a watch out for some things that are going make booking your ski hire with us the simplist and easiest thing to do on your ski holiday.

This has been quite a long blog, apologies for that but we have so much to tell and are so grateful to everybody.  

We will shortly be off to Gozo to open our Dive Centre, so if you're wondering what to do this summer and want the same level of service as SkiHire2U then come and see us at Bubbles and do some diving in Gozo, or even just learn to dive with us at www.diving-gozo.com 

Thankyou once again to everyone and see you next year.

David and Donna

A chilly half term

The season is well underway now and what a season it is turning out to be.  The snow is just incredible we have had so much it's breaking all records and it just keeps coming and coming.  Coupled with extremely low temperatures it's like skiing powder everyday.  It's so nice seeing such happy customers enjoying their holidays, clearly anyone coming to the alps this winter is in for an awesome time.  

Here at SkiHire2U we are very busy.  Business is significantly up on last year as our reputation continues to grow, which is fantastic news so once again a big thank you to all our customers and an extra special thank you to everyone who has left a comment on our website.  We recently had some Dutch customers who used us and when they called home to tell their friends about our service they simply didn't believe it and had to be pointed to our website to prove we actually do offer this kind of service.  That brought a bit of a smile to our faces.

We are now approaching our busiest time of the season and our commitment NOT to increase prices over the half term period has left us having to stop taking any more bookings this week as we are completely full for that period.  Increasing the price of ski hire during this time is wrong and not necessary.  We'll continue our consistent pricing policy so all our customers can see exactly what we charge and what they get for their money, the very best service with the very best equipment whatever time during the season they come on holiday.

We have our first customers from our Dive Centre business www.diving-gozo.com coming soon to Chatel and we are looking forward to seeing them - though it will be quite a difference from 30'C in Gozo to a chilly -20'C as it is here now. 

We see the UK is experiencing some colder temperatures as well, no doubt the usual chaos will be seen around the country but we hope you are not too adversly affected and make sure you all wrap up well and keep warm!

You may be interested to know that some of our partner chalets have some late availability so if you still haven't booked yet check out http://www.skihire2u.com/links.html for the very best Chalets around.

Finally it may seem a long way away but don't forget that if you are looking for something different this summer then we can promise you a fantastic time on the Maltese island of Gozo.  We can arrange everything for you - all you need to do is book your flight.  Check out www.diving-gozo.com for one of the best diving destinations in the world.

Busy, Busy, Busy!

It's been a hectic start to the season so far - it almost seems we haven't stopped working since Chatel opened for the winter.  The beginning of December was a bit worrying as we had no snow and annoyingly the UK press made the most of it by saying this was the end of skiing in the Alps etc.....probably written by someone with no clue about alpine weather.  Come the middle of December the snow arrived and it hasn't stopped since.  We've had an immense amount of snow for this time of year, by far the best in over a decade so it really is happy times in Chatel.  SkiHire2U continues to go from strength to strength and we are working with many more partner Chalets and apartments this year, so welcome to everyone who is using our services for the first time this year.  Check out our partners at www.skihire2u.com/links.html - we've already had some fantastic feedback. 

We've also invested in broadening our range of skis with the introduction of the Salomon Enduro and Shogun to name but two.  Again we have great feedback on them proving once again that our decision to go with top branded and quality items is the only way forward.  We also introduced the Quest boot this year and one comment from a lady who said it was the first pair of boots she had ever worn without pain and couldn't understand why other Ski Hire shops didn't use this boot.  Well that's simple - they go for the cheap poor fitting boot!  We made a promise to our customers never to do that and we'll stick to that promise. We only use top of the range boots to ensure maximum comfort and performance for our clients.

A few clients have contacted us saying they can get ski hire a few euros cheaper with online companies.  We would like to offer a word of caution when doing this. You are almost always dealing with a 3rd party client who only passes the booking onto a shop and then takes a commission, which means the ski hire shop is receiving even less. This is often achieved by providing old outdated and often unbranded equipment and they take your money up front with no refund available.  We have seen unserviced skis simply being re-issued to the next customer giving the client a poor performing ski throughout their holiday.  One customer booked on line only to arrive in Chatel and find out they had to go to Avoriaz (over 1 1/2 hours drive away) to collect their skis.  Is it really worth taking such a risk with your ski hire when you spend so much on your well deserved holiday just to save a few euros?

At SkiHire2U we never take any money up front, we only ask you to pay at the end of your holiday such is the confidence we have in our equipment and service.  Remember we come to your holiday accommodation at a time that suits you to fit your equipment without you having to wait in a queue and return as many times as you wish to change anything during your stay, who else can promise so much? A customer has just emailed us whilst writing this blog with the following comment "It really is a great start to the holiday not to have to queue at the ski hire shop............many thanks again for the great service..........I suppose my only comment would be that you could charge a small premium for the service as it is well worth it and people would be happy to pay for the service."

Finally, Gary Hayler has been out for a couple of weeks helping us out who sadly had to go back to University in Huddersfield but we look forward to welcoming him back at Easter.   We also have Hamish Martin helping us out at the moment. Hamish is one hell of a Snowboarder, have a look at him on Youtube www.youtube.com/watch?v=W3pdZhmZOF8 he's awesome and certainly puts me to shame :) but I do have a great time riding with him.

Remember if you really want the best Ski Hire service around then visit www.skihire2u.com