Posts Tagged ‘Family Fun Ski Trip’
Megan Gates is an active blogger who provides written work to the blogosphere pertaining to New York City Rentals, Hamptons Real Estate Listings, home improvement and the latest architecture, design, fashion and travel. Follow her on twitter @MEGatesDesign.
Ski trips are notoriously expensive, especially so for larger groups and for families, as the prices for travel, hotel stay, food and drinks, gear rental, ski lessons, souvenirs, and ski lift tickets all become multiplied. However, well seasoned travelling families know to never pay full price for skiing getaways. There are certainly ways to get around this, and this article will review the best ways to do so.
Tip #1: Book as early as possible. This is because many places offer early bird discounts. This involves a fair bit of planning on your part, but the benefits are well worth it. For example, booking by November 15 at Big Sky, Montana’s T-4 family friendly resort means you save 40% on your stay, and an extra 20% on lift tickets. In addition, kids stay there and ski for free!
Tip #2: In the world of vacationing, pretty much across the board for any trip, you are bound to save bundles of money if you only book for the off peak season. For skiing vacations, be sure to avoid those times of the year that are most busy (and also with the highest chance of snow, so be sure to pick a hotel that has the ability to make their own snow) like Christmas and New Years, and go for before Christmas or after Valentine’s Day.
Tip #3: Avoid the weekends. If you are able to, go midweek versus over the weekend. Ski resorts bump their lodging prices up over the weekend as much as 30%, so that is about how much you can save by choosing to stay during the work week. This will mean that you need to take more time off work, so this can be a deciding factor, but it is often worth the savings. However, there are other advantages to this approach – mid-week will be less busy for the resort, meaning smaller lines at the lifts, and more skiing for you and your family.
Tip #4: Pick kid-friendly resorts. These are the kind that allow children to stay for free, and often ski for free as well. Many ski resorts also offer free rentals with an adult rental. Some resorts also offer an amazing “kids fly free” deal as well. Steamboat Springs in Montana invented this kind of offer, and many savvy kid-friendly resorts have since followed suit.
Tip #5: Pay attention to online skiing deal sites. Just do an internet search for ski deals and there are a lot of different sites that will come up showing you the latest deals.
Tip #6. Do as the locals, and buy your lift tickets from local supermarkets and ski gear dealers. The savings for a family of four can be significant.