Ski holidays and ski apartments booked through operators can be low cost but are by nature very inflexible, with ski accommodation bookings normally running from Sat to Sat. Uncertainty about snow, global warming, combined with an abundance of budget and last minute travel options and increasing willingness of ski apartment providers to accommodate the flexibility required by today's skier, have triggered a big rise in self-arranged (DIY) winter sports holidays. Through intelligent use of the Internet, snow conditions can be monitored, itineraries planned in detail to give the most snow time, and last-minute deals can be bagged with a minimum of fuss.



Have you ever asked yourself why is it so cumbersome to find flexible ski accommodation on the internet or find your own ski apartment or ski chalet if you don't want to go for a package ski holiday? Other areas of travel have started offering vastly increased flexibility, but the ski travel industry still lags behind, prompting a big growth in DIY breaks using low-cost flights. Last year, 356,000 people went skiing from the UK using budget carriers, up 54 per cent in five years. In addition to the above 192,000 people chose to drive to ski destinations mainly in France, all looking for flexible ski accommodation, often for ski apartments.

There are over 250.000 self-catering accommodation units in the French Alps alone, many of which are ski apartments and owned by private investors and individuals. The total amount of self-catering ski apartment and chalets in the Alps as a whole is estimated to be well over 500.000 units, not including hotels, guest houses and B&B. By nature each owner or agent is looking to let as many weeks during a winter season as possible and there is lot of competition to let ski accommodation during mid and low season.

Ski-bay is the only web-based ski accommodation bidding application, presenting an exciting new way for ski accommodation providers to get maximum relevant enquiries and ski accommodation seekers to find the best accommodation option with minimum effort. Ski-bay's approach is moving away from the classical model of ski accommodation advertising, where ski accommodation seekers have to search multiple websites.

Ski-bay's technology allows ski accommodation seekers and providers to interact efficiently. Seekers submit detailed ski accommodation requirements and providers can view relevant requirements and submit bits to provide the ski accommodation. Ski-bay primary focus is on the self-catering ski accommodation market, dominated by ski apartments. But than again if you don't need flexibility and if you can arrange your ski holiday well in advance than keep using those low cost ski tour operators as they are certainly cheap and cheerful.