SkiWeekends Parent Co' Acquires Flexiski
FlexiSki, the tailor-made short ski break experts, previously part of the Hotelplan UK travel group, has this week become the sister brand of fellow tour operator, SkiWeekends. From here, flexiski and Skiweekends will be operated by the parent company Ski Elements Ltd.
Flexiski and SkiWeekends are both well-known for delivering short ski breaks in Europe. Moving forward under one parent company will allow the team at Ski Elements Ltd to use their ‘short ski break’ expertise to develop the unique strengths of both brands, which offer different service experiences. While flexiski focuses on 4- and 5-star hotels and premium chalets, combining superior accommodation with a bespoke service across the Alps, SkiWeekends provides great value short stays in hotels from 2- to 5-star and operates comfortable chalets in the French resorts of Morzine, Avoriaz and Courchevel.
Dan Fox, Managing Director of Ski Elements Ltd said: “We are thrilled to add flexiski alongside our SkiWeekends programme for this winter and delighted to have recruited staff with previous flexiski experience to our team, helping us ensure we continue to deliver the same experience that both flexiski and SkiWeekends customers are used to. By acquiring flexiski at such a late stage in 2021 we will be focusing on delivering a smaller, but great quality product for this coming winter and looking for strong regrowth in the future, with addition of a wider variety of experiential mountain breaks.
“We understand that the flexiski customers loved the chalets and the service on offer and are missing them this winter, the great news is that we fully intend to bring back more luxury catered flexiski chalets for the 2022-23 winter season. For this winter season, in order to allow existing flexiski customers to enjoy catered chalet short breaks, we will introduce our 11 SkiWeekends catered chalets product to them.
“Like all holiday companies, SkiWeekends consolidated its overall program for winter 21/22, pre-pandemic it offered 48 resorts in 8 countries and it will now progressively rebuild in a manner which matches the ever increasing demand for short break ski holidays.”
Flexiski was part of the Hotelplan UK family, which also operates Inghams, Esprit Ski, Santa’s Lapland, Explore and Inntravel for over 2 years.
Joe Ponte, CEO of Hotelplan UK said: “We’re delighted that flexiski’s bright future will be delivered by the operators of SkiWeekends. With greater resource and focus, flexiski will be able to continue to thrive as the tailor-made short ski break experts that flexiski customers want.
“At Hotelplan UK we’ve streamlined our programme to allow us to focus on the hero ski brands, accommodation and resorts our customers love. This winter, we’re already planning to deliver our Inghams and Esprit Ski holiday experiences better than ever before.”
Inghams, the ski holiday experts with over 85 years of experience have already added new premium hotels and apartments to their ski programme for the coming season—and they continue to strengthen their ever-popular 7-night ski holidays across their portfolio of hotels, chalets and apartments. Sister ski brand, Esprit continue to develop their ski holiday offering for families, with the launch of their new childcare programme taking place this winter.
Both SkiWeekends and flexiski have over 30 years of heritage and are known for their expert knowledge in helping customers find the right holiday to suit them. Pre-pandemic they were already offering the largest choice of short break ski holidays from the UK to the Alps—and this week’s merger will see them rebuilding their market leading positions together.
Further information will be released regarding flexiski packages and availability in the coming weeks
