[Doing A Ski Season] A Day in the Life of… A Resort Rep

As part of our Seasonnaire’s Guide here at InTheSnow, we are going to be taking you through a day in the life of various resort roles over the next few months to help you get best prepared for the winter. This week, we’re here to represent the representatives and let you know what goes on in a day in the life of a rep!

Working as a resort representative is one of the most popular ways to go about doing a ski season. As the first point of call for your guests in resort, this can be quite a tough job, however like many other season jobs, once you get the hang of it it can be very rewarding. I’m going to take you through one of the most important days in a resort representative’s week – transfer day!

05:00 – Wake Up Call!

Transfer days are notoriously tough every now and then. The time of your first transfer will depend on a combination of things, including your resort, transfer airport, company and the amount of representatives your company has. If there’s more than one of you, the transfer times will generally be divided evenly week on week so that everyone has to do their fair share of early mornings! If you’re up at 5am, you certainly won’t have been out on the town the night before – a clear head is essential on transfer day.

05:30 – Head to the Airport

Time to meet your coach! This is the point at which you hope and pray that the bus driver is on schedule, especially if the weather is cold and snowy. They usually will be, in which case you will be tasked with making sure everyone gets on the coach safe and sound and that no bags or people are left behind! Once the coach is heading off, you need to give a little safety information and travel time, but at this hour of the morning you won’t have to worry about giving a fully fledged speech – no-one wants to hear a voice chirping on at 5.30am!

07:30 – Arrive at Airport

You make it to the airport in good time (yay!). Just before you arrive, you’ll call your airport manager who will give you the check in desk numbers that your guests will be using. You’ll quickly use the on-bus microphone to give your guests information as to the status of their flights, where to check in, airport facilities and so on so that everyone is prepared before you arrive. You’ll help guests off the bus, offer a hand with the luggage and wait with them at check in to make everything goes smoothly. Every now and then there may be an issue with the passenger manifests, luggage or injured guests, so you will have to be fresh and ready to deal with any issues as they arise, with the help of your airport manager of course.

08:30 – Break

It’s time for a break! You grab a coffee and a croissant and catch up with all your fellow reps from neighbouring resorts. You will all have your training at the same time, so will get to know each other well and these breaks in airport shifts are a good time to check in and see how life is going in other resorts.

09:00 – Welcome New Guests

You generally don’t have long at the airport between one set of guests leaving and another set arriving! They may or may not be headed to your resort, but at the airport, all reps are expected to pitch in and help out. If you don’t have guests arriving (guests tend to come in waves and on different flights, so there can be periods of standing welcoming guests for hours on end.

11:00 – Meet your New Guests

It’s finally time for your guests to arrive! You’ll have to make sure you’ve found your coach within good time and made sure it is clean and tidy, in the correct position outside the airport. You’ll be well prepared with welcome packs for each room of guests and a manifest to make sure you have exactly who you should have on board! This is the area where it can get pretty hectic, especially if you have a few different stops in resort as often drivers want luggage for different resorts in different places under the bus. When you have 40 guests arriving all at once with a LOT of luggage, things can get quite busy so it pays to be able to keep a cool head and manage well.

11:45 – Set off back to Resort

Once you’ve checked (and double checked) that all your guests are on the bus, you can head off back to resort! On this journey, you won’t have much time to relax, as you’ll be pretty busy, especially if you’re in a resort with a slightly shorter transfer time. You can use this bus journey to make sure guests get the essential information they need about the resort and the options they have in terms of purchasing lift passes, ski hire and tuition through you. As a rep, you can sell all of these things to your guests, which saves them both time and effort as often they can get it all sorted from the comfort of the bus!

13.00 – Arrive Back in Resort

When you leave the airport, you will call the chalets or hotels that you have guests coming to, to ensure that they are prepared for their arrival. You’ll do this again as you are entering resort, so that there are staff ready and waiting to meet your guests off the bus. You’ll travel on the bus until the last stop to make sure everything runs smoothly as possible and keep an eye out to make sure all the luggage gets unloaded and nothing is left on the bus.

14:00 – Start collating welcome packs for the next week’s arrivals

After your final stop, you may either have to return to the airport to do another transfer if you’re in a busy resort on a particularly busy day, but generally there is only one transfer per day. This means that you have the afternoon to start preparing the welcome packs for the next week’s arrivals! I know this may seem over prepared but this is an example of getting a routine in place that can really help you get the most skiing in throughout the week. You will most likely never have an opportunity to ski on a transfer day, so you might as well spend this time doing preparation that would otherwise be done on a day you have the option to ski. Forward thinking and a good routine is a blessing when you’re a rep, especially if you want to get the most skiing time in.

16:00 – There’s a problem with some luggage

A guest calls you to let you know that they have picked up the wrong ski bag by mistake. You’re always on call, even on a transfer day, so it’s up to you to get this sorted. You ask for the name of the guest on the luggage tag and find out where they are staying, before heading to collect the ski bag. You take it to its rightful owners’ hotel or chalet and let them know what has happened. You get the other ski bag back and it’s happy days!

17:00 – Rep Welcome Meeting(s)

Welcome meetings are a BIG part of your role as a rep and will make your life a lot easier if you can get them nailed earlier rather than later. There is one trap you need to avoid falling into. Things change very quickly in ski resorts; runs open and close, weather is extremely variable and your guests may have different interests each week. Don’t simply memorise one welcome speech and reel this off week after week. It can be very embarrassing if you go on and on about a great ski area or your favourite run, only for the guests to get to this area the next day and realise that it is closed..!

Sometimes these can go on for quite a long while, depending on the scenario. Sometimes, there may be an unforeseen circumstance such as a delayed flight that requires you to take over a welcome meeting for a different rep. This is why being a rep requires a lot of flexibility and initiative. You have to always be ready for anything and willing to take on any additional tasks asked of you.

Personally, I used to work in a company hotel, which meant that I usually only had the one welcome meeting each week. When you apply for a role, they tend to place you best where they see fit. I was more confident in front of larger crowds than other reps, which meant that I was more comfortable with one welcome meeting of up to 70 guests. Others were much more comfortable in more personal, casual environments, so were better suited to doing four or five welcome meetings for groups of 10 or fewer guests.

Once welcome meetings are over, it’s often a matter of personal preference what you do next. Some reps choose to stay with their guests to talk over any additional questions they might have. Some guests are really not keen on having the rep around, in which case you can be forgiven for taking your leave more swiftly.

I would always give my welcome meeting right before dinner, and then between courses I would check in with each table to ask whether they had any additional questions or needed anything explained to them.

Top tip – make sure you have a good amount of piste maps in your arsenal and in the chalet/hotel. Guests can go through piste maps like hot cakes, and it really helps to have something physical so that you can show the guests exactly what you are talking about.

21:00 – Clock off!

Once you’ve finished your rounds at the welcome meetings and inputted all your sales onto the company site, you are free to go! Transfer days can be quite stressful for all employees in resort, so quite often transfer day evening will be a big night for going out as everyone wants to let off a little steam. So go out, enjoy yourself and have a great night, but remember to set your alarm for the next day as you will be back at work at 7:30am!

To read more from our seasonnaire’s guide on how to make the most of your season, click here.