FAIR DEAL

Fair Deal or Conditional Discount Explained

Ski holidays in the past have been sold with subsidies coming from the sales of Ski Passes and Equipment Hire, which formed an important part of a Tour Operators revenues, but was completely hidden from the eyes of the client. This effectively meant that those clients who booked Ski Passes and Equipment Hire were subsidising the costs of the holidays of those clients who elected to do their own thing. Ski Power don’t feel this is fair and sought to introduce a policy that allowed clients to benefit in full from the purchases they were making, but equally we did not want to restrict clients choice and so did not want a policy that prevented a client from purchasing their ski passes or equipment hire anywhere in the market that they chose to. Our primary drive in this was fairness to all of our clients

At the start of the 2010/11 ski season, Ski Power took the unprecedented step of reducing the price of all their holidays by a £30 per person, representing the commission that Ski Power expect to receive as a result of the client purchasing a Ski Pass and Equipment Hire (£15 for each). It was (and remains) a genuine discount. This had two principal impacts

1. It allowed all of our clients to benefit from the subsidy to their holiday that purchasing Lift Passes and Equipment Hire presents. In other words we pass on the commission that we earn to all clients in full and in advance of you actually making any purchase. We do this up front and at the time of booking and you therefore don’t have to pay a higher holiday cost and then reclaim it by an artificial Equipment Hire or Ski Pass discount. You keep the money in your bank account.
2. It allowed clients to make an open choice between actually purchasing these items through us and keeping the benefit of the Conditional Discount, or going out into the market and making alternative arrangements.

Our two principal objectives were therefore met. Now here is the IMPORTANT BIT. What does this actually mean to our clients?

Let's take two examples. Firstly the client that purchases their Lift Pass and Equipment Hire through us. This client retains the Conditional Discount and therefore benefits in full from the commissions we receive as a discount to their holiday.

Secondly the client that does not purchase the items through us. This client would need to repay the Conditional Discount that we have already applied to the cost of their holiday. Effectively, by this clients choices, Ski Power are no longer receiving the commissions so we no longer pass on the benefit of those commissions to the client.

We think this is an open and truly fair way of pricing our holidays. No longer are the people who purchase their Ski Passes and Equipment Hire through their Tour Operator forced to subsidise the holidays of those who don’t. It puts an end to the unfairness of the traditional model and so clients who decide to book their Ski Hire and Ski Pass through other suppliers no longer benefit from the subsidies that Ski Power do not receive.

Some of your Frequently asked Questions about Fair Deal answered.

Why can’t the discount be applied at the time of booking equipment/lift passes instead of upfront? The discount is not a discount against the cost of the Equipment Hire or Ski Pass, it is a discount against the cost of the holiday. We have discounted the cost of your holiday by the amount of commission we will receive when you book your Ski Pass and Equipment Hire through our website. The fact that we apply the discount upfront means that you keep this money in your bank account, rather than us charging you more for the holiday and then you having to reclaim it. What if I want to book equipment, but not with your supplier? You are of course free to choose where you purchase your equipment from, however if you elect to purchase from anywhere other than through the Ski Power web site the Conditional Discount would need to be repaid. This is because we will not receive the commission (that we have already passed on to you by discounting your holiday) for booking your Equipment Hire. It feels like a penalty rather than a discount? Our policy is designed to be fair to everybody. All of our clients are given a £30 discount per person on the condition that they book their Ski Passes and Equipment Hire through us. If you decide to make alternative arrangements we are not penalising you we are just recovering the discount that you have already received. Why? Because we are not receiving the commissions on these items that funded the discount in the first place. My Son/Daughter/wife is not going to be skiing, so why should they have to repay £15? At the point where we sold you the holiday we provided a £30 discount on all of the beds on the condition that every member of the party books their ski pass and equipment hire through Ski Power. If a member/members of your family is/are not skiing, the Conditional Discount would need to be repaid. This is because Ski Power will not be receiving the commission on the Ski Pass and Equipment Hire for this/these member(s), and we cannot, therefore, subsidise the cost of their holiday. Why should I be penalised if I have my own equipment? We are not penalising you. Firstly, you should note that if you are on one of our flights you will be required to book ski carriage with us, so you would not have to repay the Conditional Discount. We are only asking you to repay a discount that you were provided on the assumption that you would book Equipment Hire through us.. We are being open and upfront with the subsidies that exist in ski holidays and trying to be absolutely fair to all of our clients. If you have your own equipment we will not receive the commission for your Equipment Hire and therefore your holiday is more expensive for us to provide. Our Conditional Discount means that you pay the correct price for your holiday.