Hotelplan, the owner of winter sports operators Inghams, Esprit and Ski Total says the weak pound is not harming business but remains its biggest concern.
Paul Carter, chief executive of Hotelplan UK, said trading had started well for this winter. However, the operator is refusing to get carried away, despite some very early snow in the Alps at the weekend.
Addressing the media at the operator’s annual ski launch event in London yesterday, Carter said it has been able to shield customers from the impact of sterling’s slump following the Brexit referendum.
He said prices have risen but not by as much to offset the full 24% forex impact seen between now and November 2015 when the firm was forward buying currency at €1.42 ahead of last winter.
Every cent the euro improves against the pound adds an extra £5 to a holiday booking, said Carter. But he added:
“It’s all about how well you are hedged your business and we have forward bought for this winter.
“We are finding people will pay more for their holidays but as a result our prices will go up.
“Foreign exchange is the one thing we are looking at closely but there is no evidence it is putting people off.”
Carter said operators like Hotelplan are able to isolate customers from the full impact of foreign exchange fluctuations because they hedge, unlike online accommodation websites.
And he said the firm negotiated better rates with hotel partners in the Alps for this Christmas and New Year. It has also brought more affordable self-catering accommodation on board.
“Unlike Spanish hotels who when things go well push prices up, we have some really good relationships with hotels in the Alps and been able to negotiate some really good deals. As a result sales are ahead,” he said.
Ski operators will not be hampered by the dates that New Year and Christmas fall on this winter as they were last year which forced them to switch transfer days.
But after a number of successive years with late arrival of snow they will be hoping for better ski conditions during a crucial period.
Carter said despite the challenging conditions last year everyone who travelled with Hotelplan’s operators were able to ski without being bussed to alternative resorts.
He described last season as a “season of two halves” with late snow meaning the season was stretched beyond a late Easter and the operator laid in extra flights to get people to the slopes.
“The season really depends on the snow. It was not wonderful at the start of December, it was tough to get people away. For us the season ended up positive, we felt it was a good season.”
Despite reports last year in the national press of dire snow conditions Carter said snow depths were good in important French and Swiss resorts like Chamonix, Courcheval, Verbier and Alpes d’Huez.
“The more news there is on snow, the better next winter will look,” he said.
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