Short breaks are big business

Not everyone can afford to spend a week skiing, for some one week a season isn’t enough and others just want a few days on the slopes to try out the sport. For all these clients, mini breaks are the answer.

A few years ago, tour operators offered only seven or 14 night ski holidays and most of the bigger operators still mainly offer one or two week breaks.

However, there is a handful of smaller operators who have tapped the short breaks ski market, including iGOSKI, part of Alpine Elements.

TravelMole associate editor Linsey McNeill travelled with iGOSKI to La Tania, part of the vast Three Valleys ski area in France, on a pre-Christmas mini break and was pleasantly surprised at how much skiing she managed to cram into just a three-night stay.

"If our Aer Lingus Sunday morning charter flight to Lyon had left on time, we would have arrived in La Tania just in time to get in a decent afternoon’s skiing. As it happened, it took off from Gatwick 90 minutes late at around 8.30, so we didn’t get to La Tania – a two-and-a-half-hour coash transfer from Lyon – until around 2pm, too late to make it worth while getting a lift pass and ski hire.

Anyway, having got up at the ungodly hour of 4.30am, I was too shattered to ski that first afternoon, so instead I walked over to the ski hire shop two minutes away to sort out my equipment hire for the following morning.

IGOSKI actually has a boot and ski (but not board) hire facility in the basement of the Hotel Montana where we were staying, which is super convenient, especially for beginners who might want to change their boots for a more comfortable pair after the first day, but I found that it was about 25% cheaper to use Ski2000, which is less than a minute’s walk away.

Incidentally, for those bringing their own equipment, iGo also offers an overnight waxing and edging service. My colleauge paid just £15 to get his skis all sorted for our first morning on the snow.

The reps held a welcome meeting on the first evening, during which they handed out our pre-booked lift passes, and James from the local New Generation ski school came along to talk about the ski area and find out if anyone wanted to book lessons. On this ocassion I didn’t go for lessons, but I’ve used New Generation in the Three Valleys before and can highly recommend them.

For the next three days we skied in brilliant sunshine from the time the lifts opened to around three in the afternoon, fortified by a large cooked breakfast in the hotel and revived with the Montana’s afternoon tea, followed by a three-course dinner in the evenings.

The ski in, ski out hotel is conveniently placed between a bubble lift that takes you up to the main ski area, and a drag lift that takes beginners up to practice slope. At the end of the day, you can ski right back to the door, assuming there’s enough snow on the lower slopes to get down to the bottom of La Tania. During the few days of my visit, there was little natural snow but the resort had managed to keep one of the home runs open using its own snow-making facilities.

By the time we left the hotel at 5.15pm on Wednesday to catch a 9pm easyJet flight back to Geneva, I felt that I’d done more than enough skiing.

In addition to La Tania, IGOSKI offers ski weekends and midweek breaks to seven other resorts in France plus St Anton in Austria.

Prices start from £347 including flights, transfers and accommodation, which is cracking value if all of the hotels it features are of the same standard as the Hotel Montana. Although it had a bit of an upmarket youth hostel vibe, my room was large and comfortable, I had a full-size bath (which is unusual in the Alps), and the food was pretty good. The evening menu was varied, with plenty of choice even for vegetarians, and the very young staff were well-trained, smiley and helpful.

According to Alpine Element’s La Tania area manager Murray, many clients book short breaks not to save money but to save time. "They can’t always get a week off work, so they come for just three days," he said.

My fellow shortbreakers in La Tania were mainly couples or small groups of friends and there was one stag party too. All seemed to have made the most of their short time away to get in lots of skiing or boarding.

Many skiers take a short break in addition to their main holiday, said Murray, so it’s worth asking clients booking a seven night break if they fancy an additional short trip as well."