Esprit's last-minute deals seem to be disappearing quickly

[tulpe]

Just in case you are thinking of booking a last minute deal with Esprit and considering leaving it a bit longer........I booked our last minute hols with them yesterday when they had at least 4 deals to Belle Plagne. Their onsite deal stock is now much depleted (all Belle Plagne deals sold for Jan/Feb).

Oh and the other thing with leaving them until the last minute is that they sting you for an extra £23 per person for late booking fee if its less than 21 days to your hols.

[LIZS]

They had nothing in Feb last time I looked anyway.

[GothDetective]

The days of really good deals are gone. 6 or 7 years ago me and DH had a fab holiday with them that cost £99 each.

[tulpe]

They had one or two things for feb yesterday. When I called to book they said that week beginning 7th and 14th was all random one or two seats left on flights. (half term ishoos I guess).

Goth - we did manage to get £1200 off the brochure price for our hols this year and last using their last minute deals. Altho I grant you - still not a £99 special

[GothDetective]

I booked about 6 or 7 weeks ago and paid full price. So £550 per adult and then DD at whatever the discount rate is (80%off?).

DH now not happy as family of 3 at same chalet was £899.

But when we booked we didn't have much choice of resort (had to be a specific week). And we have to fly from Gatwick which would have been our last choice.

Another year when we left it quite late booking there was no ski lesson availability for DD. I haven't wanted to risk that again, we were lucky last time as the rep took pity on us and said they would have a class of 9 instead of 8. We didn't ask, we had been going to sort out lessons in resort. The other parents were furious, caused problems.

[tulpe]

Don't understand why other parents would be furious at just allowing 1 more child into class , altho there can be a certain Esprit "type" whom I can imagine being so . Plus, ime, inevitably some children move classes during the week so class sizes can change anyway.

Thing is that when they do advertise a discounted price, they then end up adding all kinds of supplements to it. They discounted a suite at Deux Domaines and advertised as £1699 but then add a supplement because it has a balcony I just don't get that because if it is the only room that's left we can't have any other can we? We weren't actively choosing between 2 rooms - one avec and one sans balcony! So to have balcony as "optional extra" on the base price is total nonsense.

Have you ever taken "advantage" of these early bird offers where you can book next seasons holiday now? I have flicked through brochures whilst still in resort but haven't found them particularly cheap in comparison to their regular prices.

[GothDetective]

Nope, never done an early bird offer before.

Esprit seem very good at sneaking extra supplments on, supplement for a balcony, supplement for a shower, etc! We've had to pay for a suite even though we didn't want one so I was a bit suprised to see a room for 3 being advertised as a last minute offer at the same chalet on the same week! Was tempted to ring up about that and see what the score was.

Re; the furious parents; they were unhappy that the brochures promised class sizes would be a max of 8 and DD put it up to 9. Lots of shouting.

[toomanyprojects]

We did an Early Bird Offer the second year we went as wanted a chalet which was supposedly very popular. Was then disappointed to see that there were some good late offers on the same chalet. Since then we have booked three or four weeks beforehand (this will be our fifth time with Esprit) - the extra couple of hundred that they may discount very late in the last couple of weeks is still a drop in the ocean to the total holiday cost. We are a family of five so need three different lots of childcare/classes and there were only two slots left in one clas so I had to book! We basically got all the children free but we had to pay for their ski lessons and cocoa club which were the Early Bird Offers. It was still much cheaper to book late. The advertised special offer price of the acccommodation was 1299; total holiday price is still over £3K..

[LIZS]

" The advertised special offer price of the acccommodation was 1299; total holiday price is still over £3K.." I thought it was pretty inclusive - is the extar just lift pass, hire and lessons or are there other hidden extras ?

[toomanyprojects]

LizS

There was a room supplement (£100)and flight supplement (£200) as we wanted to go from Southampton which brought it up from £1299 to £1600. The rest is a family lift pass, 1 x nursery, 2 x child lessons, 2 x child lunches and 2 x cocoa club. Plus ski hire for four.

[greygirl]

that sounds about right - accomodation is always only half a skiing holiday cost, and it's hard to reduce the 'extras' except by picking a resort where it's cheaper, buying your own gear or joining up with friends to arrange childcare on a rota.(or don't take the children and leave them with grandma at home....)

[LIZS]

wow that does add up . hmm, wondering if it is even worth it for us. Not sure dc would do their lessons or go locally and would n't need creche or adult ski hire. I didn't think Cocoa club was chargeable, as it was free on the summer deal we did once, am I wrong?

[toomanyprojects]

LIZS

No you are right - it's free in the summer and used to be free for skiing as well but it's now £29 per week per child. Lessons have gone up to £171 each now as well.

Counting down to when we won't need the childcare anymore. This is the last year for lessons for my nine yr old and we have dropped the Snow Club for my seven year old as he will be able to ski with us as well this year in the afternoons. Still a way off for the two yr old though.

Where are you thinking of going this yr?

[LIZS]

No idea tbh, just liek watchign their offers and looking for end March/April but it is too soon really for last minute deals. We could go to a friend's apartment otherwise, don't mind diy packages but something more organised might work better for dd.

[GothDetective]

Coco club is sometimes still free. It is for us this year but last year was £29.

[usplus3]

tulpe: We too have booked a "late offer deal" at Deux Domaines for £1699 - by the time we had finished with the supplements (2 adults and 3 kids) and the rest of the stuff it came out at over £3,700! Amazing how it adds up!