There is nothing like a corporate ski trip to get to know your best clients, reward your top-performing staff or for a department weekend away. Ski trips live long in the memory and its vital that your guests look back on your event with fond and not bitter memories. That means booking a fully staffed and catered ski chalet for your next ski event!
The reason companies invite top clients, business partners or the top-performing staff members on a ski trip is to spend quality time together away from the office. A ski chalet is probably the most sociable of venue to schmoose any VIP’s guests.
A ski chalet will typically host between 10 to 20 guests in twin rooms so bear this in mind if you plan to ask your guests to share a room, most prefer to offer their guests a room exclusively for their own use. You could, however, book a chalet for a week and invite guests to stay 3 nights, or 4 nights with a quick bed linen change mid-week it’s possible to invite double the guests.
It’s always best to choose a resort your guests will have heard of, the acceptance rate is likely to be far higher if you invite your guests to an aspirational ski resort such as Verbier, Zermatt, Val d’Isere, or Courchevel for example.
How a catered ski chalet works
When you book a ski chalet, normally for a week, it becomes your exclusive home in the mountain. Typically, a catered chalet will have 3 to 6 staff, depending on its size. The chef prepares breakfast, afternoon tea with home-baked cakes, biscuits and soup. Before dinner canapes and drinks are served and then the main event is a delicious 3 or 4-course meal, with cheese and wine.
The chalet is cleaned daily, and beds made by staff. Some chalets, not located on or near a ski slope, offer a driver’s service to get you and your guests to and from the slopes. Drivers are normally available to offer a collection service in the evening if your guests want to sample the resort’s nightlife.
3 days skiing – only 1 day away from the office
With a bit of planning, it’s possible to get 3 days skiing, with just one day off work! Leave work on Thursday evening at the normal time, if you are in London, we recommend using City Airport for convenience. Fly to Zurich and with a short transfer, you could be in the chalet by mid-night. Ski all day Friday, Saturday and Sunday, leaving the resort as the lifts close, you can get home in time to arrive back fresh at work on Monday morning.
Mountain adventure for your non-skiing guests
Not all your guests will want to ski or snowboard, but that does not exclude them from joining in on the fun. There are many different activities available in the mountains that don’t involve skiing.
Skidoo and guided snowshoe excursions are available, and many chalets have excellent spas, if not in the chalet, the resorts have many options. Pedestrian lift passes ensure any non-skiers can still join you for lunches in the mountain restaurants.
Larger corporate events of up to 1000 people
For larger groups, a ski chalet won’t do, but it’s possible to book a whole resort. Club Med, for example, have excellent mountain-based hotels in some of Europe’s best-loved ski resorts. These can be booked exclusively, or part booked in many resorts. Meeting rooms and full conference facilities are also available. It’s necessary to book as much as a year in advance if you are planning a big event. It’s possible to over brand the hotel and resorts with your own logos too.
Angus Kinloch is the Managing Director at Ski Line. Ski Line specialist ski agency that provides luxury ski holidays to Europe’s and North America’s most popular ski resorts.
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