Chamonix hikes prices between 2.8 - 3.45%. Obviously their little enterprise doesn’t know about the crisis.

or the increasing number of Russians and the rich Europeans that make up more and more of their clientele don’t care how much they pay? If they doubled their prices and had a one third reduction in number of skiers they’d make more money and turn Cham into a luxury-only (mainly Russian, and poss Swiss) resort. Not saying they should do that, but isn’t it a possibility? I seem to remember reading somewhere how different resorts had faired during the crisis e.g. 2009 vs 2007. Did Chamonix do as badly as others?

Yes I’d be interested to know how Chamonix has done post 2008.

I asked about the above inflation increase and was told their costs have increased 4% over the last 12 months hence the rise.

I’ve not seen their figures but it seems busier each time I’m there. More people around the town, more people on the mountain and so on. It’s becoming a mixed proposition, you can’t deny the attraction of the mountains but in summer at least the trails are getting too well travelled to be really interesting.

Competition in hotels and other services seems fairly intense, it seems you can get rooms for very good price even in summer (I think - not that I’m booking or paying)

So I just payed for my annual MBU pass this morning. Its gone up €45 from lat year for my general public one.  Here’s to hoping I qualify as an IML soon and get to use my carte professional one year…

Cham?
You gota love it and hate it really.  I would never have chosen to move here, but its a hell of place for access to outdoor goodness.  Yes the Vallee Blanche is a mogul field unless you can get up in the first few bins on the Midi.  But that itself is difficult.  And the same goes for Grands Montets, we’ve had tremendous powder days to rival my personal best’s in Austria and other parts of France, but again its so busy.  Maybe once they get the new lift built, whenever that will, it will ease the que’s, but still the lure of good skiing straight up the motorway from Geneva will keep the area busy.

And summer wise, the VTT ban sucks, and the purpose built tracks are awful, Lac Blanc is over crowded to hike, but still that view of the Mer de Glace is great!
And yes town is busy in the peak of summer and winter.  The carparks are full and people complain of pollution.  Tourism and wood burners are both nasty thing’s, but tourism keep’s the Haute Savoie going.  The rich will always come and go to the fancy resorts as a new one becomes trendy.

As a base it’s great, there are still trails I’m yet to hike or ride, I’ve only skiied the Cosmiques Couloir once, there are still huts to stay in. Yet alone dipping into the Valais or Aosta Valley, and then of course further afield.

Cham?
You gota love it and hate it, especially CMB!

The lift companies around Chamonix do good pro’ deals, so low I can’t even remember how much now.

It varies in other places, some do deals, some don’t and some don’t charge at all which is quite reasonable if you’re taking people. On the flip side, some places charge so much for clients that I won’t use them regardless of the deal they’ll do for me. So 9/10 for Chamonix on that score

OliC,
I think you’re spot on.
Basic economics tells you something can’t be too expensive AND too popular. I won’t make myself popular round here, but if I were CMB I’d think about raising prices (especially at peak times) much further still. I wouldn’t mind betting that you’d still get plenty of takers (from Russians with fists full of €500 notes to city types from London or GVA) at €100/d, and they’d appreciate the quieter slopes too. Maybe not Dec (ex-Xmas) to Feb half term, but after that I think there are plenty of people that would pay more for quieter slopes.

maybe raising prices but certainly using pricing as a control. For example, why don’t we have off-peak season passes? Blocking out the handful of high season weeks? Or, stop selling season passes at prevente prices to people who don’t actually live in the area, it comes to about the same.

I find the economics of flogging half price season passes to people with expensive second homes a bit odd. I presume they’re not mooring their yachts on the cheap in St Tropez.

Well you need to win their votes somehow don’t you
I like the off-peak season pass idea, but the trouble with that is that it’s already pretty much the way things work. When I was a seasonaire I and all my sensible friends avoided skiing Xmas, feb half term and GM on a Sunday. So effectively I already used it as an off-peak pass. Hotels are more expensive in the busy weeks, so why aren’t the lifts?
And to reiterate, I’m not keen on Cham pricing out everyone but the uber-rich, but as a business model it makes sense to me: it’s got the location, cache, and the town/shops for the expensive wives.

niall - 09 October 2012 06:52 AM

Well you need to win their votes somehow don’t you
I like the off-peak season pass idea, but the trouble with that is that it’s already pretty much the way things work. When I was a seasonaire I and all my sensible friends avoided skiing Xmas, feb half term and GM on a Sunday. So effectively I already used it as an off-peak pass.

It doesn’t work like for the second home owners, they’re using them in exactly the opposite way. Like you say, it wouldn’t be any real hardship for people really living in the area. It’s got to be worth at least 100€ reduction.

I don’t think most lift companies really know what works, they just try stuff and see how it goes. Looking at it another way, is there any sign that pricing makes much difference to demand for lift tickets? Or, as an economist would put, isn’t the demand for lift passes inelastic? As indeed is the supply of course.

ise - 09 October 2012 09:32 AM

I don’t think most lift companies really know what works, they just try stuff and see how it goes. Looking at it another way, is there any sign that pricing makes much difference to demand for lift tickets? Or, as an economist would put, isn’t the demand for lift passes inelastic? As indeed is the supply of course.

You would think the CMB which is part of the CdA would have some rocket scientists working on this stuff but the same old pricing models continue and they almost have a monopoly of big resorts in France so I guess it will continue this way. If I were a major shareholder I’d want to know how they arrive at their pricing model, it seems to be pretty much cost+ divided by the number of skier days.

There’s academic research around that says many companies are exceptionally poor at pricing, not surprising given how well cost control plays to the shareholder audience. It’s a particular issue in tech (esp software) companies and service industries.

Pricing for day tickets looks to work fairly well which is interesting as it’s the one area where the demand is a little more elastic maybe.

In Europe at least I bet the local council and mayor have input into ticket prices.

719.50 Euros for Les-Arcs / La PLagne for the season (Paradiski) on the early bird offer, open now; closes 30th Nov.