Fancy taking a bus to the Alps? - Jane Peel
Monday January 26, 2009 - Email this article to a friend

Is there anything better than spending a chilly Friday January night in the warm, eating delicious home-made lasagne, drinking a glass of red, watching a DVD of “Mamma Mia” (again), and then getting a reasonable night’s kip?

It sounds pretty good to me, especially if, at the same time,  someone is driving me to Morzine in France for eight days skiing.

Travelling by coach to the Alps was something new.   I’d done the snow train, daytime Eurostar, overnight Eurostar, flying, and driving.

The idea of spending around 16 hours on a coach did not fill me with glee.  The decision had been taken for one reason alone. 

What funThis was to be a cheap holiday – VERY CHEAP.

I figured it was worth the risk of a sleepless night and a cricked neck, if I could get a ski trip in these times of economic woe without breaking the bank. 

In the event, the coach was pretty comfortable with seats which reclined to 45 degrees.

My partner, James, and I had found the deal at the London Ski Show.  It cost us £279 each for transport and chalet-style board (B&B, afternoon tea and three-course evening meal with unlimited wine).

We hadn’t been at the Hotel les Chamois long when we realised almost everyone else had booked the same way.  The special offer was available at both the London and Birmingham shows.  

The place was full of people who said their skiing was non-negotiable, but they had to look at limiting the cost.  Skiing is, after all, an addiction.

An architect whose company is suffering a downturn in business told me she was here while on a month’s unpaid leave – enforced to ensure no-one had to be laid off. 

Jamie Oliver, eat your heart outThe hotel and the holiday company, Ski Chamois, is owned by an affable 34-year-old Aussie, Tim Weston.  A chef by trade, it’s only his second winter season as owner. He’s cut his prices for this week to draw in custom accepting that it means that he’ll only just  break even.

“It’s usually a dead week so I would rather have people in my beds cheap and hopefully they’ll buy a few drinks in my bar,” he told me. 

“I am passionate about this place.  I’m the cheapest bar and restaurant in the whole resort and the food is great,” he says, modestly!  I can’t vouch for this.  I haven’t tried them all.  But, yes, the food is good.

He has a captive market.  Hotel les Chamois is on the piste,  550 metres up the mountain from Morzine at the top of the Nyon cable car.  Once the lift is closed at around 5pm, you’re going nowhere.   

Nevertheless it’s been a stressful time for businessmen like Tim.  Back in the autumn even his regulars weren’t making bookings.  Now, though, he’s smiling.  He already has more guests booked in than he had in the whole of last season.

“I was wondering whether the economic crisis was going to bite, but it seems some people aren’t prepared to sacrifice their skiing”. 

Another quiet night in Hotel ChamoisThe Director of the Morzine Tourist Office agrees.   Maud Chavanne, says winter tourism is down this year, but only by one or two percent. 

“What is surprising, is that the British market is quite good,” she says.  “The small tour operators have noticed that British customers are more price-sensitive.  They are trying to bargain.  That is something we haven’t noticed before. They are also spending less in the restaurants and bars.”.

But they’re still coming.

“I think it helps that we are a little bit cheaper that the Trois Vallees, Chamonix, Verbier or Val d’Isere.”

Crisis?  Certainly not in Morzine.  It's cost me a fraction of what I'd normally expect to pay for a week's skiing and the snow is amazing at the moment.

I can't say I'm exactly looking forward to the journey back on the bus, but what the hell, it's been great and with more snow set to fall this week I can't think of anywhere I'd rather be.

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