Despite reports of the availability of chalet holidays being down by 70% for the coming winter 21-22, at least one tour operator say they are expanding their chalet selection next season.
SkiWeekends will offer two new chalet properties in the 3 Valley’s and Portes du Soleil to offer 10 catered chalets in total along with a wide choice of hotels in 21 resorts across France and Switzerland. The company says it will also offer flexible booking terms and has what it describes as, “robust Covid guarantees in place.”
A number of chalet holiday operators have gone out of business due to the commercial strains of the pandemic. Some other ski holiday companies that are still trading have cancelled or scaled-back their chalet programmes for reasons including pandemic operating regulations making chalet holidays more challenging to deliver. It is currently unknown what impact the virus may still have in eight months’ time. There is also the issue of Brexit making it difficult to source British staff – currently most companies require applicants to work for them in providing 21-22 ski holidays to hold EU passports.
Despite these challenges though, SkiWeekends has launched its new 2021-22 winter holidays in the French and Swiss Alps, with 10 fully catered chalets in Courchevel Moriond (1650), Avoriaz and Morzine, plus a number of hotels ranging from 2* to 5* across 21 resorts.
The two news chalets are in Courchevel 1650 (Mouria, sleeps 16-21) and Avoriaz (Poudreuse, sleeps 12-14). In addition a third chalet in Avoriaz has recently been fully renovated inside and out (Jean France, sleeps 12).
“Our guests still want a fully catered chalet holiday and we have strong bookings for next winter,” said SkiWeekends Managing Director Dan Fox.
All chalets will be staffed with SkiWeekends hosts and offered on a chalet-board basis, including breakfast, afternoon tea and 3 course evening meal with wine (5 days a week). A new VIP upgrade service includes welcome drinks and canapes on the first night, fully cooked breakfast, cheeseboard at dinner and superior bottled wines.
“We strive to make life easy at SkiWeekends, we are geared up for guests to travel and ski on the same day with bag store and changing facilities before and after checkout, maximising ski time where a week’s stay means 7.5 days skiing and 3 nights means 3.5 days skiing. We live and breathe our motto, Be Happy Ski More, that’s why our 5 ski in ski out chalets in Avoriaz are so popular,” said the company’s Sales Director, Sarah Fox.
