Ski Beat - Brighton

Dudley R.

The team at Ski Beat are very helpful. I have booked our ski group with them for several years now. Having been on holiday with them in January this year normally we would have booked by now for next season. I had forgotten with too many other things happening. Fortunately one of their team in Brighton emailed me to act as a reminder. They are all incredibly helpful. A few telephone conversations and our group is again booked for what we know is a great ski holiday location. Many thanks Ski Beat

Jessie G.

What incredible holiday. From beginning to end it was organised beautifully. I could not fault this company. We will definitely be coming back next year.

Connor D.

My experiences with Ski Beat were absolutely incredible. We have been away three times with them to La Plagne/Les Arcs and every trip, from start to finish, was perfect. The list of superlatives I could use to describe the staff, the chalets, the hosts, the skiing, the knowledge, the professionalism and the friendliness is literally endless but just know you won't regret booking with them for your dream ski holiday! Any queries we had were always sorted quickly, so I really can't recommend them enough!

Liz M.

I have just returned from a holiday with Ski Beat in Val Thorens and they were a fantastic company. I have skiied many times before, but this is the first time I went with Ski Beat. They were organised, kept us up to date, the transfers were seamless and the chalet host, resort manager and others (Maya, Elsbeth, Louis) were fantastic. Oh and the food.....amazing!

David B.

Disappointed to have had to miss 3 ski trips now due to Covid and thoroughly appreciate the challenges that SkiBeat and all other organisations are going through, however that is no excuse for a lack of professionalism and zero communication.
We were advised if we booked and re-booked we would receive a full refund which we did 3 times, but this last time we had to request a full refund, rather than move our booking again.
We have now been waking over 6 weeks for our refund (circa £10k) and they have not communicated directly with us at all. I have received a communication today from Igluski who have been advised that Skibeat will refund roughly 1/3 of our holiday and they will offer us the remaining amount in Vouchers.
I'm afraid this is not satisfactory as we wouldn't have kept our booking in the first place had this been the situation having been told a refund would be provided if the trip was cancelled.
We were initially going away with them in March 2020 and have now been out of pocket for all this time.
I hope this review prompts the right decision from Skibeat and hopefully a communication so this matter can be resolved and they live up to the terms and conditions that they offered.

David

Teresa P.

2 stars seems a bit low but 3 stars seems too high. The holiday itself wasn’t too bad.
Pros: the staff were friendly, food was nice, communication was fine and flights/transfers etc were good.
Cons: The chalet and location didn’t match up to what was advertised. We stayed in Chalet Ibex in Val Thorens. This chalet is Very Very Basic. The room had a 2’6” bed and a wardrobe with no handles. That’s it. No bedside table, no way to control the heating (which didn’t work for most of the week). The shared shower has nowhere to put your toiletries whilst showering and neither the shower, toilet or any other communal spaces were cleaned throughout the week which isn’t pleasant when sharing with other people. The “complimentary toiletries on arrival” consisted of 1x small bar of soap and 1x small bar of shampoo. The chalet was never locked - everytime we came back the staff had left the front door open. There are no locks on the room doors and no safes for your belongings. Luckily it’s such a trek to the chalet I doubt anyone would bother going to steal anything, but nothing would have stopped them. The chalet is just about as high up and far away from the slopes as possible. Yes you can see the slopes and if you go offpiste from one run you can get back (but not from) the chalet. It’s about a 20minute trek with all your gear back up the hill and then a 7 storey climb up spiral stairs (lift covers 3 floors) to the chalet. The pool/spa area is halfway up to the chalet and you have to go outside and come back in to get to it.
I was stuck with a group of 8 young guys on a “lads holiday”. Each night they would do their best to empty the three boxes of wine which staff happily replenished each day for them after they drunk themselves to oblivion each night before urinating in the shared shower, and vomiting in the sink and WC (which were never cleaned the whole week). My room was on the same floor as the living room, which had no door, so there was only the poorly fitting door to my room as a noise barrier between me and them. Needless to say sleep was basically impossible. The chalet host joined in with them most nights and left just as they were getting out of hand so he didn’t have to deal with them. How we didn’t have complaints about the noise every night I have no idea! They were there for their holiday, which is fine, I just didn’t appreciate that no one from SkiBeat thought to mention to me that I was the only female in the whole chalet and it was disgusting having to use the bathroom knowing it hadn’t been cleaned after their antics. The food was nice but the tea towels, wash cloths and the bottom of the dishwasher were so filthy I don’t know how we didn’t get food poisoning (and I’m not even a clean freak myself). The host was a lovely guy - very friendly but apparently didn’t see the need to wash or change his clothes. By the end of the week the dirt was clearly visible on his jeans and T shirt covered in dirt and stains. Again, he was the one preparing our food.

Overall, the week was fine, but it was an expensive holiday, so not even a case of you get what you pay for. You don’t. You get the bare basics - much like a hostel. A hostel that’s a long long trek from the slopes and anything else. If you don’t mind sharing a dirty chalet with random people whose noise you can’t get away from but with food and hot water each day, then you will be fine on this holiday.

If you want the luxury’s advertised, best look somewhere else.

Rachel P.

After booking a ski holiday with Ski Beat in March 2020, we are still yet to receive our refund 7 months later. This company has not looked after its customers during covid, and I would not recommend booking through them as no guarantees are in place. Extremely poor communication and a lot of very unhappy customers!

daryl C.

I don’t write reviews as a rule but I cant let this go. Could be ‘War and Peace’ but I think the other reviewers say it all. We booked a holiday through SNO (www sno.co.uk) who in turn used Ski Beat (www skibeat.co.uk). Ski Beat just refunded our cancelled holiday from last April! We booked through Sno and that caused an issue that I was very unaware of. Always shouted about the virtues of ‘Section 75’, always ensure £100 or more paid by Credit Card – but I hadn’t appreciated that by using SNO, who in turn used Ski Beat, that only the deposit could be clawed back (and that could be rejected). The problem firmly resided with Ski Beat and their unscrupulous Directors. The staff must have been in a difficult position but they needed to ensure they are clear with their communication and follow up what they gladly promise on the phone (to get rid of you); SNO have no protection in these circumstances and so I now need to ensure I book with and pay the same company I am dealing with (though SNO were ok it just adds an unnecessary risk); The Department of Transport (who oversee the Atol scheme) need to make sure that you can’t slip into the grey area where a company is – allegedly – not trading insolvent and so the Atol scheme does not kick in but also won’t refund your money (CAA are useless as no one wants to say anything without their lawyers present, DOT – who oversee the Atol scheme replied with a 2 page response saying absolutely nothing – yes we pay these people’s wages!).

This is a very difficult time for everyone and one doesn’t need to be submitting court orders to get your money back for things – ours was more than small claims court level as we were booking for several families, so that made us think about the costs and implications even more.

It should not be like this, happy to be ‘flexible’ but given the number of good companies that will not/have not survived this dreadful pandemic, I can’t help but think the likes of Ski Beat should not be allowed to trade certainly the Directors (listed as Tony & Anthony Collins on Companies House) should be never be allowed to hold a Directorship again. I suggest they need to re-read what Directors duties and responsibilities are, and the authorities need to enforce it!

Or maybe I am wrong and we will all get a slice of the previous years when they made a profit? Lol!

Anyone still waiting - I think it is a case of ‘he who shouts loudest sadly’. Good luck!