How Do We Do It

Low Cost Holidays in Tignes

Two questions our customers often ask us is

1) ‘how do you keep your prices so low?’

2) ‘Is there something we should know?’

This question crops up a number of times so here are a few lines about how we do it.

We manage to keep prices low in a number of ways. Broadly speaking we try to minimise our costs and then we pass these savings on to you.

• We have a large number of beds in resort and, as with any other business, we are able to make savings through our buying power by negotiating very good deals with our suppliers and property owners.
• We have low overheads as we are an internet-based business with only a modest permanent office in the UK and a small team of UK-based year-round staff.
• By selling the majority of our holidays directly to our customers we avoid paying commissions to travel agents or re-sellers.
• We do not have a large-scale traditional advertising budget. We instead rely on word-of-mouth recommendations and the power of the internet and social media to allow our customers to contact us
• Finally we are a family owned and run business. We don’t have shareholders or banks pressurising us into producing large profits. We like to ski as much as you do and we enjoy helping our customers to get the best value holiday possible.

Some ways we DO NOT save money are:

• Food and Service. All our produce comes from quality professional catering suppliers and our chefs are all highly qualified. We pride ourselves on the quality of our catering and only employ mature and experienced staff to run our chalets rather than the young and unqualified ‘chalet girls/boys’ who are often to be found cooking and cleaning for many larger tour operators in so-called ‘premium’ chalets
• Organisation. All our bookings are followed by a computerised booking system and all your emails are logged and available to us at any time either in resort or from our office
• Company Legals and Compliance. We are a UK Limited company and have more than 20 years of successful trading in Tignes. We carry professional insurance on all our buildings and maintain statutory records and very sizeable quantities of paperwork!
• Safety. Chalet Chardons hotel is registered (type ‘RN O H 4’ for those who like French Law) and we are obliged to undergo a full safety and fire inspection every three years to be allowed to operate. Our Fire Rating is the highest available for a hotel of less than 100 beds and we have authorisation to have groups of children staying. We must have yearly inspections of fire alarms, extinguishers, gas and electric systems, heating systems, emergency lighting and all other safety installations.
• Customer Service. You can be sure to receive a warm and personal welcome from the staff in resort. We only operate in Tignes and Val d’Isère, and we’re relatively small so your booking means a lot to us this means we’ll work extra hard to make sure you’re happy with your stay. An experienced rep and a French speaker are always on hand if needed and you can be sure you won’t need to troop to some dingy bar for the ‘rep’s office hour’ if you have a problem with something as we have an in-resort office.

We hope these points have answered any questions you may have. Contact us if you have anything else to ask us.