Snowbombing Case Study

An Overview of Skiworld Special Events and Snowbombing
At Skiworld Special Events (SE), we offer varying levels of support for events in ski resorts throughout Europe, ranging from a full operator service, to ground handling and logistics support. One of our events, Snowbombing, is a renowned music festival that takes place each year in Mayrhofen, Austria, attracting around 3000 clients a year. Skiworld SE is in its 4th year of partnering the organisers of Snowbombing, who run the annual festival.

The Booking Process
Each year we provide invaluable support in the form of taking bookings, liaising with clients, providing an information hotline, commissioning accommodation, managing the logistics of transportation and ground handling the event in resort. As the event co-ordinator for Snowbombing 2006, which took place in April, I was involved in each stage of this process.

During the summer months we had regular meetings with the organisers of Snowbombing and from this point on we were in constant communication with in-resort liaisons including the tourist office, accommodation agency, and transport provider. In September we began to take bookings and were always on the other end of a dedicated phone line to answer client queries. I was the main point of contact for Snowbombing but the whole office were fully briefed on the event and, at busy periods, all staff would be on hand to provide information and take bookings.

As part of the booking process we kept a comprehensive database of clients, which was instantly accessible to the Snowbombing organisers. We managed and allocated client accommodation and transportation, whether that was flights, coach travel or transfers from the airport. We negotiated and offered various levels of ski/snowboard equipment hire, lessons, lift passes and an evening meal option. We also offered advice on appropriate winter sports insurance policies, including our policy that has been tailormade for clients partaking in snow-sports. We took payments from clients, and as an ABTA and ATOL bonded tour operator both the clients and the Snowbombing organisers could assure that their finances were in safe hands.

Additionally, we were responsible for the management and communication of information to the hundreds of artists and press that were invited to the event. These specialised clients had their own dedicated liaison officer who was trained to deal with their specific requirements.

Pre-Resort Preparation
In the months running up to the event the transfer lists and comprehensive final information documents were prepared and posted on the internet. At this point we had 5 staff dedicated to the event, so as to ensure that all clients had the information they required. Each member of staff had a specialist field such as transport officer, artist liaison, accommodation officer, extra sales (lessons, equipment etc) and event co-ordinator. These roles were allocated from the start so that each member of staff had detailed knowledge of a particular area and regular meetings meant that all staff were kept up to date with incoming information.

Once bookings were closed we prepared welcome packs for each group. These packs included resort and event information and vouchers according to the extras that the individuals had ordered – each voucher contained the name of the client, and the service they required, for example lift pass, equipment hire, lessons or evening meals.

In Resort Ground Handling
We took 5 full time members of staff out to the resort from the UK, who all had good knowledge of the resort (had this not been the case we would have pre-arranged an earlier educational visit to familiarise staff with the resort), and employed 12-15 staff in resort as transfer reps. These reps were all interviewed and had excellent interpersonal skills and local knowledge. Some of these reps were posted in airports and others were in resort when the coaches arrived, ensuring that clients were taken to the correct accommodations.

Arrivals
There were 2 arrival days for clients and each group leader would come to our office on arrival to receive their welcome packs and event wristbands. The airport reps were in constant communication with the in-resort office to inform us of delays and let us know when coaches had departed, thereby facilitating arrivals. We had a coach holding area so that one coach would arrive every 15 minutes to ensure that we had time to greet each group before the next coach arrived. Artists and press arrived at various times each day during the event and we were always on hand to greet them. We were also on hand at all times to support the Snowbombing staff with branding, music events, and the passing on of new information to clients.

During the event
For the 24hours following arrivals the office was manned constantly to ensure that all initial problems could be dealt with immediately. We also took steps to pre-empt problems, for example, we accompanied clients to meet their instructors on the first day to guarantee that all clients going on lessons met their instructor in the correct area, were the appropriate level of skiing or snowboarding for their group and had bought the correct lift passes.

We setup a fully equipped office in resort with 4 computers, all with internet access and a local area network. We were equipped to take both cash and credit cards in resort to facilitate efficient resort sales.

Our office hours in the morning and afternoon enabled client’s specific times at which they could come to us for information or present problems. The most common issues were accommodation concerns, in-resort sales, and lost vouchers. We also had a 24 hour emergency phone line. We were faced with a number of serious issues such as, missing persons, drug abuse, which were immediately and effectively dealt with and solved. 

Post-event
After the event we collected all monies for lift passes, equipment hire, lessons, meals and transport and provided the Snowbombing organisers with a detailed breakdown of all elements. We also provided a detailed post-event study which pointed to possible improvements for subsequent years.