Ski Hire deal

[trice]

I have just booked our skis through Snowell again. We saved over £300 last year and it all worked really well, we got the dcs ski hire free. I hadn't heard of them before last year and I was a bit worried that it would be difficult to arrange but it was smooth sailing.

that's pretty ace compared to what we are paying, thank you for that.

I must be missing something, I have compared the prices of the last 2 shops we hired from in 2 different resorts with the prices on here for the same hire shop, much cheaper to rent direct with the shop direct.

I'm with natation, always hire from local shop (no pre booking) & always competitive price.

I can't see the tech specifications of the equipment - how do you know you're not just getting some shit from Decathlon? What if you want to ride a specific model or length?

Depends where you are going. We are going in the eurozone, and I anticpate getting a better exchange rate by then, so will just hire when I ge there. (Same reason I declined to book the passes in advance thru the tour operator).

MrsguyofChristmasBorn, oh I wish I had your optimism about exchange rates, we are paid in sterling and live in Euroland! If the pound makes it to 1,20euro just go for it, the exchange rate has only once got above that in 2 years.

Paying in advance in sterling for ski hire and ski passes too is 9 times out of 10 a bad financial decision, when buying through travel operators. Often resorts have special offers at beginning and end of seasons which TOs do not advertise, or there are family ski passes, or there are packages with ESF. Last year where we skiied, at the last moment, 550euro family pass (already excellend value) was reduced to 350euro for all 6 of us.

Indeedy!

Perhaps it varies from area to area. If we booked direct with the shop (intersport) we would be paying 524chf whereas going through snowell we have paid 264chf for the same thing.

Alpinepony, you choose the rental shop so I chose the shop we always use as it is next to the ski school. The shop doesn't hire out crappy equipment and although last year we paid for the economy set we all got upgraded to brand new five star kit as they didn't have the right size in the standard.

I suppose if it's what you want - but personally I like to ski on a very specific (and usually quite small) range of planks. There is no way on earth I'd pay money up front and roll up and be fobbed off with a pair of 2006 buttery women's narrow-waisted carvers in 161cm!

Trice,
are you sure that 524CHF price is not the "full price" for Intersport? It's normal for such exhorbitant prices to be quoted, then you see offers like 40% off online and you can often go into shops and get 40% off "full prices", I've never paid the quoted full price.