Book in advance or wait for last minute bargain?

[rookiemere]

Sorry me again with yet another ski related question for all you wonderful experts?

So we aren't going this year, but I have been keeping a close eye on the ski holidays for half term to see if it's actually worth waiting until the very last moment and getting a bargain then. Some of the holidays do seem quite deeply reduced. Also I'm a bit overwhelmed with all the choice atm, so like clothes shopping I sometimes find it useful to have less options.

I suppose the only fly in the ointment is that I don't think DS would enjoy French ski school as he wouldn't want to be in a big class of non English speakers, and I guess if you book at the last minute, the opportunity to use an English ski school is probably not available. But I've heard that they are nicer in Austria and Italy, so maybe this would be ok.

Also by waiting we'd be able to see what the snow was like, but then again if they don't have snow at Feb half term, when would they?

What are peoples thoughts on this?

The only thing about leaving it until the last minute is availability. It was fine leaving it until the last minute before we were tied to school holidays, but pretty much no child places available when we were tied to school holidays and tried to book last minute.

it depends on the size of your group, how keenly you want to go, and how fussy you are about facilities and ski in/ski out.

if you only have one child in your group then much more choice last minute than if there are two or more children.

I don't think you will get holiday companies reducing any of their ski holidays during Feb 1/2 term because there is so much demand now that children can no longer be taken during term-time.

This means that there are now only the 2 week Christmas slot, the Feb 1/2 term plus Easter 2 weeks, available for British families to ski. Therefore, there are a lot of people wanting the same holiday dates and if you want something in particular, you will need to book early.

Conversely, if you can ski child-free, then you can take advantage of the much-reduced prices offered by tour operators during term-time, as they struggle to fill hotel rooms and flights.

Hi we've just got one DS and are resigned to the fact we'll need to share a room with him when we go. He's of school age so we are tied into school holidays.

I have seen some holidays discounted for this half term from our local airport. I guess I'll keep an eye on them and see what happens at the very last minute. Don't know if I could stand the suspense of not knowing what we're going until a few days in advance though

The flights would worry me.... But on Chalets Direct, there are / were som very last minute deals / cancellations. Perhaps you could book the flights early and then leave the accomodation until last minute... I do know people who have negotiated very good discounts on last minute deals with some of the well known family operators. And yep, ski school could be an issue...

I've been checking daily on Crystal Ski for this half term and they still have availability to France from the airport that's 20 mins away and Austria from the one that is an hour away. We're in Scotland so I think because there is Scottish skiing, it's less popular to go abroad at half term.

Interesting the prices dropped on Sunday, but have stayed static since then.

Unfortunately flight prices are already high - I hadn't realised Jet2 had already released theirs so at this stage it represents much better value to go for a package trip than it does to get the flights. However Easyjet flights aren't out yes so I might wait until they come.

Still not at all sure what to do - we have a big summer holiday this year, hence I think why I'm reluctant to start commiting for 2016, so I think I'll leave it for a bit as there don't seem to be any huge early booking discounts.

I think the best deals are done over the phone, not advertised!

It even modern technology, email!!