Interview: Mathew Prior, managing director, First Choice Ski

New First Choice Ski managing director Mathew Prior (left) is planning several improvements to its service this season to attract more customers.

Prior has been in the job for six months after switching from the operator’s charter division and, after reviewing the business, believes it can improve standards to keep pace with customer demand.

“I was a ski rep ten years ago and so much has changed since then,” Prior told TravelMole. “The expectations of people have risen so much and they demand higher quality accommodation and a much more professional service.

“I’m happy with our product and in France, for example, our chalet programme is second to none. But we’ve got some upgrading of our customer service to do, because some of it is not particularly different from ten years ago.”

First Choice Ski owns or part-owns 27 Club hotels and 50 chalets, predominantly in France, and this is where Prior said it could make the biggest improvements in customer service.

“We have people flying on Air 2000, our aircraft and then they are staying in our hotels, so we control the product,” he said.

“We will experiment with various improvements. For example, how good can we be at getting people reliable daily ski reports? We’re thinking about what people want on holiday. Do they want a rep flogging them a fondue evening when they arrive or can that time be used better?”

Prior said the main changes to its programme would be for winter 2003/04.

“We’ve got a preview programme for next year coming out in December and then the full brochure in April. In April we’ll include some of the service improvements that we will trial this winter and there will also be some product changes.

“We’re constantly evaluating the products and asking ourselves where the demand is. In North America, which has a limited programme, we may offer some more resorts.

“We’re also reviewing all the hotels for quality and productivity so there will be some changes.”

Prior said customers were booking later this year and predicted Austria would have a good season while Italy would struggle.

“It’s fuelled by the ski conditions in previous years. Austria is popular because the conditions were good last season, but Italy has suffered from having a couple of years without good snow.

“It’s a shame because Italy has got great après-ski, great food and, when the conditions are good, great skiing.”

Prior said there was an increasing demand for its upmarket weekends programme, Flexiski, which offers luxury weekends from around £750, and its budget weekends division, skiexpress. Skiexpress has a dedicated team which can help travel agents arrange ski holidays for clients.

Prior said he was satisfied with sales so far but said bookings for Christmas and the first couple of weeks in January were slow.

“There are some good bargains if you want to get away for Christmas,” he said.

See previous TravelMole Interviews:
13-Nov-02: David Clifton, md Europe and Asia, Interval International
04-Nov-02: David Norris, brand manager, ifyouski.com
29-Oct-02: Chris May, managing director, Hayes and Jarvis
21-Oct-02: Fiona Jeffery, Reed Exhibitions director
14-Oct-02: Brent Hoberman, ceo and co-founder, lastminute.com
09-Oct-02: David Burdon, sales and marketing director, Cosmos
02-Oct-02: Jeff Rebello, UK marketing manager, SAS
24-Sep-02: BITOA chief executive Richard Tobias
17-Sep-02: Alan Croft, deputy managing director, Bridge Travel Service
10-Sep-02: Noel Josephides, managing director, Sunvil Holidays
04-Sep-02: Geoffrey Lipman, World Tourism Organisation adviser
26-Aug-02: Jo Rzymowska, Walt Disney Parks and Resorts
20-Aug-02: TravelMole Interview: Peter Shanks, senior vice-president, Cunard Line
13-Aug-02: Tom Allen, The Theme Park People
05-Aug-02: Chris Kroeger, Sabre
30-Jul-02: Chris Mottershead, TUI UK
23-Jul-02: Seamus Conlon, Airtours Holidays
15-Jul-02: David Soskin, cheapflights.co.uk
09-Jul-02: Bruce Bishins, Genesis TDS
01-Jul-02: Howard Frost, Travelink
25-Jun-02: Rob Wortham, RWA
17-Jun-02: Paul Blackney, Worldspan
11-Jun-02: Mark Jones, Online Travel Corporation
27-May-02: Oliver Hillel, UNEP
20-May-02: Keith Webber, Telewest
13-May-02: Mark O’Brien, Rosenbluth International
07-May-02: Alicia Gardner, Sabre
29-Apr-02: Carolyn Ezzell, Delta Air Lines
23-Apr-02: John Davis, Pegasus Solutions
15-Apr-02: Gregory Hunt, ABTA Arbitration Scheme
09-Apr-02: Stuart Winter, Atinera
03-Apr-02: Roberto Da Re, Dolphin Dynamics
26-Mar-02: Arnaud Debuchy, Amadeus
19-Mar-02: Helen Baker, Lastminute.com
12-Mar-02: Pat Minogue, Galileo
07-Mar-02: Jon Hart, MyTravel
28-Feb-02: Lawrence Hunt, Rapid Travel Solutions