Directski.com Any Reviews!

kayaksurfbum

Anyone book a trip with Direct ski?

Im booking a trip for 10 people, anyone tell me if they are good or not?

Curran

Never used them before - site looks good - and prices are reasonable - should get a bit of a discount for 10 too!!

paddyb

ive booked with them for a trip in January. hard to beat their prices

mcgratheoin

Booked with them for 6 going to the 3 Valleys so hope this doesn't open a can of horror stories.
From what I've seen, they don't tend to try to fleece you (too much)- the accommodation costs are the same as going to those apartments independently. Ski lift tickets are the same price as well, but the ski rental is a bit more expensive than if you do it on your own. No idea how their lessons stack up for beginners, and their insurance is v expensive - get it cheaper somewhere else (they won't issue tickets unless you have insurance)

Any queries have been dealt with fairly promptly so far, we'll see in February though.

jimdev

I have organised two large group trips with DirectSki (80 ppl and 18 ppl each time). I have generally had a very positive experience with DirectSki and would recommend them quite highly.

The only other operator I have booked a group with was Crystal (26 ppl) which was a nightmare - I found the people in their call centre completely incompetent, I got screwed on name change fees over a month before travelling (always read the small print :rolleyes: ) and the rep was a pervert and nearly had a fight with one of the guys in our group.

By comparison DirectSki reps have varied anywhere between mediocre and great and their site is easy to use and any operator I have ever dealt with over the phone knew what they were doing.

As for their prices, I have never booked insurance through them and have always gone for getcover.com (19 euro a head instead of 55). You are not obliged to actually book any of your rental through them, this lets you shop around when you get to resort (Twinner tend to be very cheap in almost all big resorts in France, local shops often give the best deals and after that Intersport offer good quality skis but might be a teeny bit more expensive, ski-set are a rip off). For simplicity, with a larger group, I would always go through the operator, as that way, it is up to the rep to sort stuff out in resort.

Their other prices are great - accom and lift pass. I suspect where they make most of their money is in the flight+transfer price, even though you would hard pressed to undercut them by much and isn't worth the effort of trying for more than 6 people.

jimdev

Oh, and the other operator I would advise, but specifically for large young or student groups is Wasteland, although they are based out of UK and specialise in bus transfers from UK to the Alps, they offer a ridiculously good social scene when you get to resort.

tywy

jimdev wrote: »

The only other operator I have booked a group with was Crystal (26 ppl) which was a nightmare - I found the people in their call centre completely incompetent, I got screwed on name change fees over a month before travelling (always read the small print :rolleyes: ) and the rep was a pervert and nearly had a fight with one of the guys in our group.

That wasn't in Livigno a couple of years ago by any chance was it?

SideshowBob

I've used them as part of groups of 6 and 12+ and they're pretty good. We weren't too bothered with the whole add-ons thing the reps try to get you into and the reps didn't bother us about it so that was definitely cool.

I wouldn't get lessons, insurance, or ski gear with them cos you can get that cheaper yourself. depending on where you go, you might be able to get a group discount on the ski pass as well, check that out before paying for it through direct ski. Although 10 might not be a big enough group. This year we (20+ including friends-of-friends travelling to the same place at the same time) are getting 10% of our ski pass.

Definitely, it's hard to beat them on price for the basics of flight, transfer, and accommodation and all the office people I've dealt with have been good. Having said that, this year we got cheap Ryanair flights to Grenoble so are only using Directski for accommodation.

robinph

Found them pretty good at accommodating our strange booking last year when we were messing them around with adding extra people, and then adding someone else again a bit later. But they didn't have any trouble with some of us taking the flights and transfer and others making their own way, not that there is any reason for them to have a problem with those things but you can sometimes come across someone in the call centers that isn't able to work outside of their script so they were at least competent in that regard.

jimdev

tywy wrote: »

That wasn't in Livigno a couple of years ago by any chance was it?

I went to Livigno with Crystal two years in a row. The first year (2005), there were 15 of us, I had an absolute gentleman of a rep by the name of Dan. Undoubtedly the best rep I've ever had, he was just so much craic.

The next year, 2006, they had clearly sent the guy we had to Livigno cus that way he would be on his own. He didn't get along with any of the other reps in town, half of our crowd were staying with Directski and we couldn't go on their bar crawl because of the amount of offence our Rep was taking to it, I personally think that the rep is there to help me with my holiday and can go to hell if he gets in the way of it. Another night, when one of the guys who helped organise the group arranged for free shots in one of the bars for everyone on the trip, he nearly got decked by the rep, basically for doing his job for him. I don't think he is typical of Crustal Reps but he was disgracefully bad.

tywy

Was this Terry?

jimdev

I'm not sure it might have been.

To be honest he was very friendly. Just possibly a bit too friendly and maybe took offence too easily as well.

Why did you go to Livigno a couple of years ago with Crystal? How did you find it?

tywy

I was in the Great Outdoors trying on boots the other day. The person who was fitting my boots along with another guy looking for boots were both in Livigno, had Terry for their rep and thought he was pervy!

Good holiday though, I tend to expect as little from the rep as possible, I just want them to direct me to the bus in the airport and let me off at my apartment. Usually rent skis, buy lift passes etc myself.

mcgratheoin

tywy wrote: »

I tend to expect as little from the rep as possible, I just want them to direct me to the bus in the airport and let me off at my apartment. Usually rent skis, buy lift passes etc myself.

Ditto, I'm probably not the ideal person to ski with for most people as I'm not a huge late night party animal - In bed by 12 every night - I can go clubbing at home and I'm there to ski. I don't stop for lunch (sandwiches on a lift) or coffee (maybe if it's really cold and I'm tired) so the last thing I want is a rep constantly knocking on my door telling me about theme nights/pub crawls/group activities etc..

Now if my rep can get me onto the lifts before they open or skipping queues, then they'll be my best friend ever!

I'm going to Meribel Mottaret this year and I just want to be picked up at the airport, brought to my apartment and handed a lift pass - I have my own gear so I'll be on the slopes first thing the next morning!

gzoladz

mcgratheoin, agreed 100%.