How much are early bird offers worth?

Elegant accommodation Meribel combined with the ski area ski pass “3 valleys” all with a discount on the price of up to 20%? There is only one day left to take advantage of the “early booking” offer launched on August 19th by the Savoyard resort. “We started a little earlier this yearconfides Elsa Lavanant, commercial director of Méribel Tourisme. Since the end of Covid, winter residents expect more and the first big wave of bookings will arrive in October. The goal is to start introducing winter sports into people’s minds as soon as possible, starting in the summer.”

The professionals of mountain tourism so we will not complain about this end of the summer season that seems like the beginning of autumn. They also rushed to publish photos of the first snowfalls at high altitude, Thursday and Friday. But before the first rush booking, it is on the prices that the aim is to project vacationers towards winter, skipping the autumn box. “Early booking” is in fact one of the rare opportunities to reduce the costs of winter sports stays. increasingly expensive.

Accommodation/pass and ski lesson packages, packages dry and all-inclusive stays… Promises of discounts from -10% to -20% animate the websites of ski resorts and users’ mailboxes, digital campaigns are in full swing. “This first round gives us a clue about the dynamics of the season and for now we are optimistic while last season was record-breaking”continues Cécile Lavanant, who closed the month of August with a 33% increase in traffic on her e-commerce site.

Few offers for school holidays

For the first time, Méribel has included packages from the start of the operation in a package that benefits from a promotion of variable intensity (between -15% and -20%) over 13 weeks this winter. But outside the highly sought-after periods of winter holiday or New Year’s week. “These are the periods when we have the best occupancy rates, so we don’t need them», pleads the sales manager, who points out for example that a stay from November 4 to 11 will cost only 485 euros per person. With a few exceptions, it is difficult to find promotions for the most sought-after periods.

“The goal is also to optimize occupancy rates throughout the season”Arthur Cotteverte, head of communications at the Tourist Office of the Rose. In this other location in the Tarantasia where the most sought-after hotels are already full for the high season, the “promotions” on packages began on August 29 and end on September 28. On the “6 days and 7th day free” formula, the discounts range from 10 to 15%. The accommodation + ski pass + ski lesson package is also offered but only in the so-called “low” periods.

Three times cheaper than February

“This will be of less interest to families with children at school, but groups of adults and parents with very young children will be able to take advantage of these periods when skiing conditions are better and with fewer people on the slopes.”supports the professional. “And if we push it into spring break, housing can be up to three times cheaper than in February. That’s a good argument, and the more reliable we can make our employment forecasts, the better the social workers can prepare. » As of August 31, 543 families had signed up for the accommodation package, compared to 470 in the same period last year.

TO Gates of the Sun the vast domain of Haute-Savoie, the offers on ski passes are also in full swing with Avoriaz and Morzine at the head of the cable car. And the success of the offers, if on the one hand makes Benoît Cloirec happy, on the other confirms his concerns about the future of the mountain. “Ski enthusiasts increasingly tend to prefer our high-altitude resorts, where snow is more guaranteed”lucidly analyses the director of Portes du Soleil, thinking about the difficulties of his colleagues in some medium mountain locations.Our activity is however partly conditioned by the weather”he philosophizes, drawing up an initial balance sheet.

Private sales of packages, reserved for resort customers, took place over the course of one day…in April. Result: 15,332 sales made, including flash sales aimed at new customers. It must be said that the -50% was interesting… The early booking offer activated at the end of August offers even less 15%, until November 15. «The interesting thing when we look at package sales is that these are customers who have generally already booked accommodation or even ski lessons.Note. This gives us reliable forecasts.”

At UCPA, which has 21 sports villages in the Alps and one in the Pyrenees, the staycation campaign is also in full swing until September 24. On the menu, a promise of a -10% rate on all stays and on all dates (including school holidays) of the entire winter sports catalogue of the outdoor sports specialist. “We usually find repeat customers in this type of operation”reports Carine Meghzi, head of direct marketing and sales management. The target? Young adults without children, especially. Already last June, families were entitled to a first three-week round with a -10% operation. A success.

“35% of sales for next winter were made during this promotional operation”calculates the manager who plans some small promotional operations during the season. But they will be very calibrated, on the under 30s, dates or destinations for example. The narrow window of good deals will close quickly.

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