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On his future, his past and why the Olympics is about performing to the best of your ability

theskitrade.com | @theskitrade

As we watched Jenny Jones win Britain’s "first"

on-snow Olympic medal ever, we are reminded

that it is 12 years since Alain Baxter secured

third place, in a bronze medal winning run at

the Salt Lake City Winter Olympics – a medal

that was subsequently cruelly ripped away

from him, for reasons that shortly afterwards

were known not to be his fault.

This magnificent achievement by Jones

has brought back old memories of Baxter’s

journey, and as a result thousands of people

have signed a petition, pleading with the

International Olympic Committee (IOC) to see

sense and reinstate the medal that he won,

fair and square, back in 2002.

I sat down with Baxter at the 2014 SIGB ski test

in Kühtai, Austria, to find out what he is up to,

and how he felt about all this recent attention.

Baxter has recently started a role with HEAD.

First off was a job working with the race

department in the factory near Bregenz,

Austria, for 2 months. "Hubert, Head’s boot

fitting expert, helped me set up my shop

(Alain Baxter Sports in Stirling)", said Baxter,

and he went on to talk about his new role.

"I gained lots of experience with him. We

were fitting boots for ski racers at the top

level and in those 2 months I worked with

180 athletes. I really enjoyed working with

skiers at that level".

"Some of the up and coming British team

guys were also involved and then Matt

Humphries (HEAD UK) asked me if I wanted

to be an agent for the north of the UK."

"This means I can now help everyone from

beginners to World Cup ski racers."

I asked Baxter what he thought about the UK

snow sports industry and what opportunities

there are in the future.

"It’s exciting to be involved", said Baxter.

"There’s so many changes in skis now, even for

beginners. Then you have great intermediate

skis, park, big mountain. This can all bring more

people into the sport. Snowboarding and skiing

are getting closer, they are now competing in

the same event! Slopestyle. This has brought in

a new crowd, as soon as skiing when into the

park and half pipe – it’s brought the two sports

closer together."

After Baxter retired from ski racing in 2009,

he didn’t really know what he wanted to do.

Since the age of 11 he’d been racing, starting

mainly on Cairngorm Mountain he made

the British Ski Team by the age of 18. Then

followed a career that included three Olympic

Games and seven World Championships.

"After retirement I was offered a talent

transfer programme by the Scottish Institute

of Sport and raced on the track, and at the

same time had some work commitments

with the BBC at the Games in Vancouver,

and with Dare 2b", said Baxter. "I missed out

of qualifying for the Commonwealth Games

by seven-tenths of a second, and after that

thought I need to get a proper job!"

It was on the golf course one day that a friend

suggested he got into boot fitting. "2mm can

make the difference of a second or more for

ski racers, and there’s the comfort side too."

We returned to the subject of Salt Lake, and

how recent events have brought back those

memories, and how Baxter still feels about

this. He talked passionately about how he

felt. "It’s been 12 years since Salt Lake, and it

was 8 months of court hearing after that until

I was cleared."

"I’ve had so much support in those 12 years.

We went public with it 3 weeks afterwards,

and people that knew me just kept saying

this is not Alain, he’s not a drugs cheat. The

majority of coverage was mostly positive in

that respect. I only have fond memories of

Salt Lake and how I was skiing that week, it

was amazing. I never thought of the Olympics

as anything other than just another ski

race, I never went to the opening or closing

ceremonies. Slalom is always one of the last

events, so I flew in, raced, and then flew out

again. I never realised how big the Olympics

were until I reached the podium. I saw some

of the press cuttings from home after the

medal and thought, this is massive. Before

that happened, it was just another race."

I asked him how he felt about the IOC, and

how it has dealt with the situation since

removing his medal.

"It’s their loss", he said. "If I was cleared by

the court of arbitration, and when other

sports then recognise that, then why can’t

they? I think in time the medal will come

back. I was one of the best in the world in

slalom skiing at that time, but after what

happened I swore in front of mum!" I’m f****d’,

he said after taking the call that broke the

news about the negative test.

"All I had was some herbal sleeping tablets,

and two forms of sinus control, including

Vicks and some ibuprofen; that was it. Then

Jenny won and it all kicked off again."

"I’m really happy for Jenny. I felt a little strange

when they announced it was the first medal

on TV, but I emailed Jenny and congratulated

her. The Olympics is about performing to the

best of what you can and if you do that, you

have the chance to win a medal."

A recent petition has been started to ask the

IOC to reinstate Alain’s bronze medal, and I

asked him what he thought about this.

"It’s brought back new feelings", said Baxter.

"But the support has kept me going. We had

an amazing team back then, and seeing that

support coming out again is amazing. It’s

emotional to have that, but where do we go

from here? I thought during the 8-month court

period that we’d won it, but the IOC said no."

"The first race back after the Games was a

Nor Am in Loveland Colorado. I came third

and do you know who came fourth?’ Baxter

said to me. "Benni Raich! He came up and

apologised to me, about Salt Lake, he said,

‘I’m sorry’. ‘I’ve heard that when British kids

get his autograph he always apologises to

them. But that first race was very surreal."

At the time we went to press, there were

over 5, 400 signatures on the online petition

but only time and the IOC can confirm

Baxter’s prediction that one day his medal

will return. In the meantime, we are all

celebrating the fantastic results that British

skiers and snowboarders fought so hard

for in Sochi and despite recent political in-

fighting between officials within the sport, it

appears that the athletes themselves only

have hunger for success.

02 theskitrade.com | @theskitrade

The Olympic skier talks to The Ski Trade and tells us he believes his bronze medal will one day return to him

Rob StewartCo-Editor

March 2014 | Issue 06

ALAIN BAXTER

03theskitrade.com | @theskitrade

Despite the divided opinions, I personally

enjoyed Ed Leigh and Tim Warwood’s

commentary of all things slopestyle and

freestyle in Sochi. The duo have come in

for some stick regarding their unusual, and

slightly unorthodox (for the BBC anyway),

style, especially in conjunction with Aimee

Fuller’s enthusiastic contributions. Like it or

loathe it, let’s look at the likely impact it’s

had on snow sports.

Over a coffee in the centre of Avoriaz,

France, one sunny afternoon during the

Games, a friend (who has a very "cool"

business, which takes him across the

Alps each winter) expressed his complete

disgust. "Embarrassing" was his summary.

"Parents, whose kids want to take up

freestyle skiing or snowboarding will think

we’re a right bunch of tw*ts based on the

ridiculous commentary," he passionately

proclaimed.

At the last count, 400 people had

complained to the Beeb about the pair’s

enthusiastic style. Perhaps it was this

exchange, Leigh: "I can feel my pulse in my

lower intestine"; Warwood: "That’s not your

pulse Leigh"; or the live crying that put

people off. At the very least, regardless of

which side of the fence you’re on, we must

all admit it got the nation talking about

snow sports like it never has before. Call it

a legacy if you will.

With spring on the horizon, this is your last

issue of The Ski Trade this season. Launching

a new printed trade magazine in tricky

economic times was never going to be an

easy task, but the three of us have been more

than up for the challenge. We’re grateful to

everyone in the industry that’s been in touch

with feedback, comments, and ideas. It’s our

aim to make The Ski Trade an integral part

of the winter sports industry, and we believe

we’re firmly on our way. We’re now working

on a summer issue, and if you’d like to get

involved, we’d love to hear from you.

Amie PostingsCo-Editor

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Issue 06 | March 2014

Swedish ski pole brand Pole Position has

developed a new product aimed specifically at

slalom ski racers. The basic principle relies on

adding a small, specially developed, weight to

the end of the ski pole, which builds more power

to the turns. Owner Pelle Stenbäck launched the

product at ISPO, and told us, "The Iso-Kinetic

works by adding weight inserts to the tip of the

poles, so you will increase your turning power

up to 50%, and the ski-plane will become more

responsive through this new feel and experience."

Some slalom racers are already using the device

within their training programmes, and initial

results are positive, although at this time it’s not

allowed in World Cup races under FIS regulations.

Want ToRace Faster?

Throughout the Sochi Games we asked the winter

sports community for their thoughts on levels of

athlete funding. Some interesting opinions have

been formed off the back of Team GB’s successes

and failures. With funding levels for most winter

sports disciplines allocated on a "chances of

success" basis, it will be very interesting to see

what happens next.

View the full results at theskitrade.com.

81% of survey respondents believe that

athletes should be given funding, even if they

don’t have medal chances.

Despite this, only 9% of respondents actually

donate money to British ski or snowboard

athletes. 45% said they do "sometimes", and

46% never donate.

At the same time, 73% of respondents would

consider donating, which raises the question,

how do you actually go about donating

money to GB winter sports athletes? Is more

awareness needed?

When asked whether better results are likely

to occur if funding significantly increases, 45%

believed the answer to be yes. "There needs

to be a wider scope of funding from the very

grassroots of all skiing," one respondent believes.

Only 9% of survey respondents believe GB

will ever compete on a world level in Alpine

skiing.

We opened up the survey, asking respondents

how they would improve our funding and medal

chances. Adding winter sports to the school

curriculum, as in Austria was one suggestion.

Support for disciplines in which we have a chance

of success, such as Telemark, or for those that

other countries don’t fund or support was another

idea. Suggestions were made regarding the

allocation of more direct funding to regional ski

clubs to create opportunities for young people.

Access to good facilities and good coaches

should be localised to ensure the most is made

of any potential talent. Many respondents also

suggested that British Ski and Snowboard

(BSS) should take a lead from the success of

GB cycling, with one suggestion that Sir Dave

Brailsford should be enlisted to the cause.

Betony Garner, Spokesperson for BSS has just

returned from Sochi so we spoke with her. "Our

Team GB snow sports athletes put in our best

ever performance by quite some margin, with six

top ten finishes, and Jenny Jones’ bronze medal.

If we look at why this has happened, we have

to acknowledge the funding from the National

Lottery via UK Sport, and the professional

programmes BSS has put in place, specifically for

the Park and Pipe programme. With the existing

and emerging talent in the UK, we’re in a really

strong position, especially with property company

Delancey now supporting all the snow sports

disciplines, with headline sponsorship of BSS, and

UK Sport announcing that there will be increased

funding for winter sports. The breakdown of how

this funding will be allocated between the winter

sports will be announced this summer."

We also caught up with BBC pundit Ed Leigh be-

fore the Sochi closing ceremony for his thoughts.

"No matter what UK Sport says, the snowboarders

and freeskiers who have performed so well at

these Games have not done it with their money.

UK Sport came to the party late, and provided just

enough funding over the last 3 years to ensure

they can share in the success that is now being

showered on the British freestyle team." Looking

to the future, will there be a legacy? "The industry

should now enjoy a new period of prosperity with

the amount of people who have been introduced

to the sport. Better sales figures, more ad rev-

enue, and a much easier sell to sponsors, are just

some of the perks. I’m confident that when money

starts to pour into the industry, a solid chunk of it

will be reinvested in grassroots development."

Lesley McKenna is the Park and Pipe Programme

Manager for BSS. "We need to increase the level

of facilities available to our winter sports athletes.

Whether we do this at the indoor snow centres,

in the Scottish Highlands, or on dry slopes, we

need to support the development of our current

and up-and-coming talent. Funding is needed to

develop reduced risk training facilities for learning

and progressing tricks, and to progress with our

4-, 8- and 12-year performance plans. We have

one of the best park and pipe coaching teams

in the world, with a progressive attitude, and a

culture of development, and hopefully we’ve

now captured the attention and appreciation of

the general public. The future has never looked

brighter for UK snow sports."

Should athletes be given funding, even if they don’t have medal chances?

82% Yes

9% No

9% Not Sure

Bumper Year AgainFor SIGB Ski Test

BASI AnnounceInterski 2015 Team

04 theskitrade.com | @theskitrade

Amie PostingsCo-Editor

A good base and a fresh dump of snow ensured

the 2014 Snowsports Industries of Great Britain

ski test in Kühtai, Austria, was again a successful

event. Eighteen ski hardware brands attended,

with a total of 764 skis to try out. There were

over 25 retailers, and at least six media

companies in attendance, as well as accessory

brands like SkiA and POC. We spoke to Lesley

Beck, organiser of the ski test, on the second

day, and she said, "It’s been another great year

in Kühtai, and what a place to test skis. We saw

fresh snowfall over the weekend, and then the

sun came out, so we’ve had perfect conditions

for testing the full range of ski categories that

are available."

Ten elite British Association of Snowsport

Instructors (BASI) skiers have been picked

to represent the organisation at the Interski

conference in Ushuaia, Argentina, during

September 2015. The skiers were picked after

qualifying at a test week in Zermatt, Switzerland,

which took place at the start of December 2013.

BASI Product Director Roy Henderson said, "The

skiers were selected for their excellent technical

ability, their delivery skills, and their knowledge

of our pathways and philosophies." The perfect

ten are: Alain Baxter; Jaz Lamb; Rupert Goldring;

Rupert Tildesley; Lynn Sharp; Amanda Pirie;

Paul Garner; Giles Lewis; Craig Robinson;

and James Lister.

Snow & Olympics Boost Scottish Skiing

Glenshee recorded one of its busiest days on

Sunday 16 February, as a combination of snow

and sunshine forced the police to close the

car park gates. All the lifts and ski runs were

open with exception of The Tiger, which was

buried under 5m of snow at the top. Half-term

week ensured that nearby Lecht 2090 attracted

families across the country, and it looks certain

that 2014 will be one of the best years ever

financially for Scottish resorts. Managing

Director Pieter du Pon added, "We are going to

develop our snow park so it starts from the top

of the chairlift all the way down, this will provide

a fantastic facility for British freestyle skiers

and boarders."

The Big Funding QuestionWhat will it really take for our athletes to realise their full potential?

March 2014 | Issue 06

05theskitrade.com | @theskitrade

Just how much effort does it take to make a

ski resort "sustainable"? The short answer is

that it’s an eternal and ongoing battle.

However, the SATA lift company at Alpe

d’Huez in France (sataski.com) has recently

released facts and figures relating to the

2-year period it spent attaining, and then

retaining, its ISO 14001 Environmental

Management international certification, first

awarded in 2010, which provides some idea

of the steps involved.

It also shows how most ski resort operators

these days now have sustainable operation

truly at the forefront of their thinking, in a

way that many skiers and boarders on the

slopes simply don’t realise.

Over a 2-year period before getting their

certification, the resort began a systematic

process of following sustainability

regulation and best practice for every new

project they instigated (such as installing

snowmaking, or replacing a lift).

Firstly, this meant being fully aware of

known sensitive areas (Natura 2000, wet

areas, protected species – even snakes

and frogs), and mapping how development

might affect these, however small. There

was also systematic replacement of

all vegetation with compost and grain

specially adapted for mountainous areas,

to return it to its original state after the

work was complete.

For example, when building a new lift,

Alpe d’Huez looks to replace several old

lifts and increase capacity, while having

less support towers and less impact. They

use helicopters to lift and remove towers

to avoid impact with the ground, and use

natural material, particularly local wood, in

construction. And architecturally, buildings

at the top and bottom of lifts are designed

to have minimum visual impact.

Works for this ski season saw six fewer

lifts, 60 less support towers, 10km less

cabling, and yet greater uplift capacity,

with a new lift boasting a world record

3900 skiers per hour.

Grooming the pistes can also be done more

sustainably, the resort has found. With 250km

of runs to maintain, including the world’s

longest groomed run at 16km, the piste

groomers use biodegradable oil made from

the colza plant. The drivers are trained every

year in "eco driving" – a technique that is

estimated to save 10% in fuel each year.

Through a locating system, the drivers of

the machines also know the amount of

snow they have under their machine, and

can thus avoid more automatic snow being

made if it is not necessary.

There are other sustainability tricks too.

When snow is first made at the start of the

season it is kept in large piles, rather than

spread out on the slopes, so less grooming

energy is used and less melting.

Alpe d’Huez has also worked with

the manufacturer Kassbohrer on the

development of an electric piste groomer,

and this season has unveiled the industry’s

first hybrid engine piste groomer.

Then there’s a long list of training,

recycling, and other initiatives in eco

management and sustainability achieved

at an administrative level; for example,

the company employs 550 staff, who

used to arrive in more than 400 private

cars between them each day, but now

they arrive on nine coaches for work early

each morning.

sataski.com/en/common/environment-

and-sata/

Patrick ThorneColumnist

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Issue 06 | March 2014

06 theskitrade.com | @theskitrade06 theskitrade.com | @theskitrade

The UK February half-term holidays are often

considered a mid-season litmus test for many

in the winter sports industry. If UK families are

travelling to the snow, it’s generally viewed

as a sign of industry strength. Marion Telsnig,

Head of Public Relations at TUI Ski, reports that

this February’s half-term was busier than the

previous year, mainly because more schools

in the UK took the same half-term week for

their break. "We believe that more than 80,000

skiers and snowboarders went abroad for

their ski holiday during February half-term

week. That’s nearly 10% of all ski holidays

annually." The Crystal/TUI Ski Report, an annual

insight into the industry’s performance, will be

published in July.

Half-Term Didn’t Disappoint At TUI

There’s been a new wave of debate surrounding

on-snow safety, which has again focused on the use

of helmets.

Following Michael Schumacher’s tragic accident in

December, and Sarka Pancochova’s recent helmet

smashing incident on the Sochi slopestyle course,

it seems like the call for mandatory helmet use has

never been greater.

Whilst advocating the use of helmets seems like a

logical and sensible precaution, is the focus on this

one area taking us away from what might be the

seed of the issue?

Ski equipment has changed, and as fantastic as

that might be, recreational skiers can travel faster

now than they did 20 years ago. Ski resorts have

high-tech methods of grading and preparing slopes,

which often turn them into high-speed motorway

routes – there’s not a bump in sight. Ski lifts are

fast and efficient, eliminating queues, but placing a

larger number of skiers on the same runs.

Let’s not halt progress. The sport is set-up far better

today than it was in the past, but we should consider

that these changes are contributing to the kind of

accidents we see on the mountain.

Simon Clark has completed over twenty seasons

in the Alps, and currently spends winters in Val

Thorens, France, where he runs events linked

with Europe’s highest pub, The Frog & Roastbeef.

He’s noticed some changes in behaviour during

the last few years, and feels things are getting out

of control.

"Everyone is obsessed by the debate on wearing

a helmet," says Clark, "but I feel there needs to

be more education on how to behave on the hill.

Unfortunately it’s the people, by and large, riding out

of control at too high speed that causes the majority

of these collisions."

He continued by questioning, "does wearing a

helmet with music in your ears take away one of the

most essential senses needed to stay safe on the

hill? Awareness of what’s around you is vital, and if

you can’t hear, you can’t be fully aware of everything

going on.

There’s been a campaign to make everyone wear

a helmet, but surely if we can reduce the number of

collisions, we will make the hill safer."

The negative headlines often talk about

avalanche deaths off-piste, but the National Ski

Areas Association in North America states in its

factsheet that, "most of those fatally injured are

above-average skiers and snowboarders who are

going at high rates of speed on the margins of

intermediate trails."

Ski Trade recently spoke to Konrad Bartelski, and

he felt strongly about this issue too. "There’s a major

problem with recreational skiing, and that’s speed.

Helmets are not the solution, they make you ski

faster. Also resorts are designing slopes that make it

easier to ski faster, it’s dangerous," he said.

Solutions to this are not easy to find, but there has

to be some form of control on certain slopes. Expert

skiers and snowboarders should be allowed to

travel at high speeds, but could that be confined to

certain areas?

Aimee Fuller stated in her controversial, but

inspired, Sochi commentary recently that we should

all "get that lid on". She’s probably right, but it’s also

time to keep our heads on and educate snow sports

participants in how to act properly on the slopes.

The First Social Media Winter Olympics

Boost For Paralympics From Channel 4

Rob StewartCo-Editor

A number of interesting social media stats have

been reported since the Olympic torch left Sochi,

with both Twitter and Facebook unveiling their

"most mentioned" data. Ice hockey was the most

mentioned Olympic sport, followed by curling,

then figure skating. 72,000 tweets per minute

were recorded during the USA victory over

Russia in ice hockey. Shaun White was the most

mentioned athlete on Facebook, while Jenny

Jones was the most mentioned female athlete.

Over 40m Olympic-related tweets, and 45m

different Facebook users generated 120m posts,

likes, and comments, during the Games, making

them the most viral winter sports event ever held,

by a considerable margin. Read more about the

Sochi social strategy at theskitrade.com.

Channel 4, the winner of a BAFTA award for

its coverage of the London 2012 Paralympic

Games, will broadcast 150 hours of coverage

from the Sochi 2014 Paralympic Winter Games.

Its broadcast schedules will include 50 hours of

live coverage, on Channel 4 and More4, during

the 10-day event. There’ll be two additional HD

channels for live streaming, daily reports on

Channel 4 News, and special editions of the

hilarious The Last Leg. Daily live coverage will

feature all five disciplines – Alpine skiing, ice

sledge hockey, wheelchair curling, biathlon,

and cross-country skiing. Paralympics GB is

sending 12 athletes, and we wish them the very

best of luck! Find the full broadcast schedule at

paralympics.channel4.com.

All Set For TheInaugural ISTM

The International Ski Travel Market (ISTM) opens in

Kitzbühel, Austria, on 17 March. With 65 exhibitors,

including the Olympic mountain resort of Rosa Khutor

from Russia, organiser Reed Travel Exhibitions told us,

"ISTM looks set to provide an essential springboard

for new business across Europe." Each day includes a

forum session, then pre-arranged meetings between

exhibitors from ski resorts and hotels, buyers, and

ski tour operators and agents. The topic for debate

on day one is "The Future of the Mountains" from the

perspectives of the environment, the family market,

social media, events, and marketing. On the second

day a panel of industry experts will focus on "Market

Growth and Resort Development", examining how

American resorts have successfully partnered with

European destinations for marketing advantage.

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07theskitrade.com | @theskitrade

It’s not news that adding video

content to your website is an effective

way to engage your existing, and

new, customer base. When Google

announced that its algorithm now

counts time spent watching videos as

an indicator of quality content, a flurry

of new promo videos were embedded.

Video is the best way to demonstrate to

travellers what your business looks like,

and how it works. You can show viewers

what they can expect upon arrival, and

give your target market confidence in

your product. A video sells your business

values in an inspirational and informative

way – if a picture says a thousand words,

then a video says many more.

"It’s emotional engagement that

makes video so perfect for the snow

sports industry," Filmmaker Ross

Fairgrieve believes (rossfairgrieve.com).

"Thousands of people are dreaming

about their next ski trip, and actively

hunting out content that will get them

even more excited for it. Nothing really

hits home, and gets people reaching

for their suitcases, better than a well

thought-out and produced video that’s

genuinely fun to watch."

The tools required to make and edit a

video of your ski chalet, rental shop,

or ski school, have never been more

accessible. Entry-level GoPro’s can

be snapped up for as little as £189

(gopro.com), while editing suites can

be downloaded for free. But what will

your market make of it? "2.3 million

GoPro’s were sold in 2013 alone, which

means that your homemade video will

be old news to the majority of your

customers, unless there’s more to it,"

believes Fairgrieve.

Experienced winter sports video

makers, with the knowledge and

experience to make a great promo

video are available. They’ll produce an

engaging stream of video content for

your potential customers. If you don’t

have the skills, confidence, or time to

make your own, it’s worth looking at

some of the specialist companies that

can work on your behalf.

If you’re planning a series of website

upgrades during this spring interseason,

including the addition of video content, it’s

worth remembering the following rules.

Do: Plan properly – storyboard how your

video, and if you’re featuring in it to

introduce your business, develop a well

practised speech, which reads naturally

and confidently.

Use the correct equipment. If you

don’t have the correct kit, seek the

assistance of a professional video maker.

Involve your customers. If you have

real, existing clients, who are willing

to provide a testimonial on camera,

get them involved. Maybe your team

members would like to get involved too?

Involve your in-resort partners. If you

work with a particular transfer company

or ski school, for example, they may

like to share in the production costs for

exposure in your video.

Include a call to action at the very

end of the video. "Contact us now for a

quote" is an effective prompt.

Use every opportunity to share

your video. Start with social media,

embed links into your company email

signatures, and share with your partners

in resort. Make sharing the video as

easy as possible.

Don’t: Make your video too long. An ideal

length is around 1 minute 30 seconds.

Anything longer and you risk boring

your potential clients.

Set false expectations. Focus on

your realistic selling points, creating an

honest presentation of your business.

Rely purely on your own music

collection for background music.

Inappropriate music will put viewers off.

Over-brand. The more prominent or

intrusive your business logo, the more

likely viewers are to stop watching. Your

buyers have an unconscious aversion

to being persuaded.

Forget to make the most of your

location. If you’re in the Alps, then that’s

what your potential customers want to

see. Internal and external shots of your

business engage the imagination.

Copy what your competitors are

doing. Video content is everywhere

now, but for the competitive edge, you

need to make your video different.

View the best, and worst promo videos

at theskitrade.com.

Amie PostingsCo-Editor

Issue 06 | March 2014

THE FUTURE IS VIDEO

08 theskitrade.com | @theskitrade08 theskitrade.com | @theskitrade

"It’s a question that our guests ask us

a lot. What differentiates a chalet from

a chalet hotel, and a chalet hotel from

a hotel? Here in a winter resort, the

answer is "plenty"!

The Hotel Chamois d’Or in Les

Gets, France, is a full service hotel,

refurbished in winter 2013. Although

we have a minimum stay length of 3

nights, we often take advantage of 1 or

2 night enquiries to fill the white space

in our booking inventory. Our 60-cover

restaurant is also popular with non-

residents, whilst our hotel bar has quite

a local following too. We believe this

makes us a hotel by definition, while at

the same time we like to welcome our

guests with a chalet-style service.

Collecting important guest details

relating to dining times, food likes

and dislikes, children’s names and

ages, drinks preferences, and special

occasions are really important to

us. At the same time we need to

maximise our revenue streams, and

be as flexible as we can in order to

accommodate as many of our enquiries

as possible. Balancing this flow of guest

information, with the importance of

generating revenue is quite a challenge

at the best of times. So to aid this

process, we decided to implement the

ChaletManager property management

system in the middle of the winter

season.

I genuinely felt that we were missing

the opportunity to convert valuable

enquiries into confirmed reservations

with our old system. Our manual

spreadsheet worked most of the time,

but in hindsight, the margin for error

was quite large. In the throes of winter,

a deposit payment could easily go

unrecorded; a provisional reservation

unchecked; or a batch of enquiry emails

could go unchased. I’d imagined that

ChaletManager was just for chalets,

but I was wrong. The system gives us

every opportunity to function as a hotel,

without any compromises.

Loading all of our reservation data from

our manual system into ChaletManager

was a daunting task that required some

strategic planning. We decided to load

all bookings into the system first, so

we could begin to use the new system

when checking availability for new

enquiries; we then subsequently loaded

all individual booking information, guest

details, and payments as a second

stage. To put that into context, we’re

a 15-bedroom hotel running at an

occupancy level of 89%, with an average

stay length of 4 days. That’s quite a few

individual reservations; and it took a total

of 50 hours to get everything up to date.

It was time well spent in my opinion, and

the efficiencies that have come from

the new system have resulted in more

bookings.

ChaletManager is planning a number

of new features in 2014, and as a hotel,

we’ll be able to make full use of all of

them at no extra cost to our operation.

Guests will be able to process their own

deposit and balance payments through

the "MyBooking" function. The new staff

management feature has a staff rota

application. The most exciting add-on for

me is an improved "Reports" function,

which means the reports that I use

most to communicate guest information

between the hotel’s departments will run

automatically. I’m genuinely excited to

get stuck into these updates when the

spring comes!"

ChaletManager

chaletmanager.com

Hotel Chamois d’Or

hotel-lesgets.com

Chalets, Chalet Hotels, and Hotels. What’s the Difference?

Feature Sponsored By

Emma Jane Carney | Hotel Chamois d’Or

If you don’t turn off the bath taps, the

water first runs through the overflow

plughole, but eventually pours over the

top, flooding the bathroom floor.

The normal solution is to turn off the

taps – stop the flow of water and you

stop the flood.

Unfortunately, when it comes to business

and ski production, the taps take time to

turn off. You need more water to survive,

and consumption is hard to gauge.

Turning off the taps results in job losses,

less turnover, perhaps less profit – that’s a

tough decision to make.

When there’s more skis being made

than people buying them, it’s obvious

you’ll create an excess in stock levels,

resulting in either a pile of skis on the

scrapheap, or a reduction in prices.

During the 2-year period leading up

to and including 2010, despite the

economic crash, the situation was

looking pretty good for UK ski hardware

sales. Then in 2011 things changed.

There appears to have been a

combination of factors that have

contributed to a huge amount of

excess stock floating around in the

market. There was an increase in online

retailers, who were fighting on price and

were happy to sell last year’s skis – and

it appears some manufacturers were

happy to sell them too.

There were lots of ski sales in the

2010–11 winter ski season, the economic

crisis hadn’t fully filtered through to

the more affluent skiing population, or

professionals with disposable income,

and it was a bumper start to the winter

snow everywhere. Retailers were

confident and continued to buy stock,

but skiers ceased buying later in 2011.

The following winter was tough; the sales

didn’t match up to the previous years,

not even close. But are we turning the

Kernen-S? Are the green shoots of spring

starting to push through the ice?

Lee Hardy from Scott Sports thinks so.

"We’re in a more stable situation now,

more consistent. It’s definitely better

than the last 3 years. But we are always

realistic and don’t over supply the

market with stock."

So what are the challenges for this year

and beyond? It appears that independent

retailers are finding the online world a

challenge after a period of growth, and

now some larger web retailers are being

supplied by manufacturers, even when

they don’t have a "bricks and mortar"

front door on the high street.

With this development in mind, will it

come to a point when the manufacturers

see the opportunity of going direct to

the consumer via the web?

Lee Hardy doesn’t think this will happen.

"Skis are a very specialist tool, and

retailers play a vital role in ensuring

consumers get the right product for

them. If you remove that link, then

ultimately the consumer will suffer, and

they are obviously key to our success."

Ski Trade spoke to Scott Dobson at

Dynastar Lange UK, and asked him if

there are manufacturers offering big

discounts on equipment. He told us,

"many companies have greatly reduced

their stock holding so there is not the

old stock availability."

And when we asked him if there’s a

danger manufacturers could cut the

retailer out, and go direct to consumers

online, he said, "some brands are

doing this already. It may not cover

all of the items, but it is happening.

But we support our retailers by giving

them the best margins possible, and

keep excess stock levels down so

that there’s no excess stock in the

marketplace."

It remains to be seen if the balance

between brands and retailers

remains the same in future, or if

demands from consumers drive the

market in other directions.

SOFTER TIMES FOR HARDWARE

March 2014 | Issue 06

Rob StewartCo-Editor