A friend of mine has a brilliant chalet in Sainte Foy in the Alps, close to Les Arcs and Tignes. I’ve been a couple of times and the riding is excellent but he’s looking for cost effective ways to promote it to bikers in the summer.

I’ve thought of the obvious like a banner on here, ads in some mags, coupled with a good website but that’s as far as my marketing genuis goes and i’m guessing they will be quite expensive?

Any ideas

thanks

coaxing a journo to go there and write an article?

How about starting a thread on STW about it? 🙂

wwaswas, nice idea, any ideas on coaxing strategies?

Mackem, i’m better than i thought!

wwaswas, nice idea, any ideas on coaxing strategies?

You could contact someone direct – http://benjimedia.wordpress.com/

maybe coincide with some local to the chalet mtb event they could enter?

videos of a couple of riders having fun on the trails 🙂

great, keep em coming

leaflets/links to lbs….we get a lot of customers who ride abroad.
facebook/twitter
invite journos
do deal with bike shops if they bring x amount of folk along
send invites for freebies to suppliers in the uk
take a stand at one of the many outdoor shows geared to punters
a stand at mega/world cups etc…

Freebies usually work…. Free lift pass for organisers of groups of a certain number or more.

Free bikewash / storage / maintenance (within reason!).

Cheap transfers? Buy themselves a cheap minibus to collect folk from the airport?

Hi Swisstony, maybe a daft question but do you live out in Switzerland? If so, where abouts?

Seriously the most compelling thing I ever saw on one of these sites was recipes for cake on the website for the White Room.

The website doesn’t count for much, actual reviews by independent people are everything.

thanks, all great stuff, i just wish i could take a summer out to guide for him, now there’s an idea!

phototim, close, im in Sheffield

Overwhelmingly it’s about word of mouth.

See the reviews and recommendations on this very forum and others every day for chalets, skills instructors, cars, job advice and whatever else.

Do the basics right – especially the website (simple but up to date and with plenty of pics / video tour of the accom and area).

But IMO the product is the best marketing opp your mate has.

If your mate’s chalet is set up well, the people are friendly and helpful, and they go the extra mile, people will repeat book, they will post on here and generally champion it.

Does he ask for feedback from guests, or send out an anonymous post-stay survey, for example? There may be big clues there about how to refine the product so that the repeats and referrals start flowing.

Those are my thoughts.

When we book our first Alps trip this summer it won’t be because of banners or flyers. It will be what this community recommend…

IIRC web adverts on here aren’t that expensive

but I could be wrong