It’s been a week of both work and pleasure (well sort of) at Alpine Ethos HQ. We broke out the BBQ on Sunday, whipped up some tabbouleh, happy carrot slaw (a winner from the Leon cookbook) and a few other leafy offerings and threw some snags, drumsticks and burgers over the coals for our mates. It being the England vs Germany match (and having too many people to fit in our lounge) Andy rigged up our TV for an open air transmission. So it was fun to catch up with all our mates but of course the result left a few of our BBQ friends a little down in the dumps.
On the work front, Heather’s made in-roads into gathering all the data ready to prepare our first accounts and Andy’s been immersed in all things HTML and our new website is really starting to take shape.
As well as making our new website shiny we are also updating the information contained there and this week has seen us focus on the ‘how to get to us’ page, an important page of information if you’re booking any holiday independently. While railway timetables are not yet available flight times and prices are now published and there are some bargains to be had at the moment.
We looked at a number of options for 4 adults travelling to us from the North (Manchester), South (London Stansted) and Midlands (Birmingham) for the same week, 16th January to 23rd January.
Easyjet proved cheapest for flights from Stansted and Birmingham to Geneva for 4 adults including one bag each. Stansted to Geneva was a mere £300.42 return while flights from Brum were just £288.92. Jet2 proved the cheapest option from Manchester at £327.84 return. Remember those prices are for the whole group not each person!
Once you have made it to the airport you’ll need to get from there to the resort. Competition is fierce in the transfer industry and your basic options are a private or shared transfer. Private companies such as My Mountain Transfers will meet you in arrivals (with your name on a board for added glamour!) and take you straight to your destination for 260 euros each way.
Alternatively you might want the cheaper option of a shared transfer with a company such as Ben’s Bus. They operate a number of services each day, so you may have a bit of a wait in the airport before leaving but for £67 return per person smaller groups may like the savings!
In the course of doing this research we thought it would also be interesting to compare the prices our guests might pay for their total package with those of the large ski package holiday companies. With a flight from Stansted a group of 4 adults staying with us would be paying £623 each for flights, private transfers and accommodation (or £577 with shared transfers) the former of which works out at around about £30-£50 per person cheaper than package operators in and around Meribel. So this just goes to show that if you’re willing to put in a bit of time booking things separately you can tailor your holiday to your own needs, save a few quid to boot and get yourself some Alpine Ethos hospitality to boot.
Have a good weekend
Heather, Andy & Benny
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