Park City, Utah…I could never quite understand why skiers and golfers could check their equipment for free. My lightweight bike, windsurfer and surfer board has always been charged least a $75 fee each way. But forget about the good old days, fees for skis is here and probably to stay. Over the past year, the troubled airline industry has been looking for ways to increase revenues, leading them to start charging for every service they can think of; meals, snacks, curbside check-in, etc. You name it you pay for it. We knew it would come and now it has arrived.
With the cost of ski and snowboard equipment going up, causal skiers have for years debated whether to buy, lease or rent. The latest fees for baggage check-in may put many over the top. With the escalating fee for each bag checked it now makes more sense then ever to rent. If you can’t fit your ski boots in your suitcase with your ski and street apparel you will end up with at least 3 bags; one for clothes, another for skis/snowboard and a third for ski boot). With the new fee structure the first bag will cost between $15 and $25. The second checked bag will cost between $25 and $50. The third bag really hits the pocketbook, with a charge of $100 and in the case of Delta Airline $125. (See fee chart below).
Don’t worry about renting; it isn’t like it used to be. New in-room fitting services are the in thing now. No more trips to the usually overcrowded, dark and smelly rental shop. Instead of wasting time standing in line, companies like industry leading Ski Butlers (877-754-7754, www.SkiButlers.com)
Let’s look at the numbers. The cost of buying new high performance skis and boots at a ski shop is $1100 to $1500. Cost of checking boot and ski bags, $130 and if you have three bags the total skyrockets to $380 on Delta. Renting a high performance plus skis for 4 days, $236. That means if you ski only a few time per year you can rent for 5 to 7 years for the same price as buying and paying baggage fees. Plus you will have the latest equipment and style.
Ski Butlers is an innovative leader in the ski delivery business. Carey emphasizes the fact that this is a high quality service without a big price tag. Leaving your
ski equipment at home is cost effective in this new age of baggage fees.
Ski Butlers features high quality equipment from industry leaders Rossignol, Volkl, Roxy, Nordica, Dolomite, Marker, Fischer, and Elan. As a full service rental service, Ski Butlers also rents helmets, boot dryers, and 2-way radios. If you forget your sun screen, sun glasses or lip balm, no worries they have a nice selection of accessories including mittens, hats and hand warmers.
(Chris any ideas to reword this sentenance???) So as I said don’t worry about the baggage fees in-room fitting services like Ski Butlers can provide at a fraction of the cost, in a convenient way with the newest ski and snowboard equipment on the market. It is easy, give it a try.
Sample baggage fees from select Airlines:
Carrier
Delta
United
A/A
US Air
Southwest
*starting in November
Ski Butlers ski and snowboard rental prices:
High Performance Plus $49-$59
High Performance
Sport and Junior Packages
About Ski Butlers…Founded four and half years ago in Park City, Utah, Ski Butlers has become the leader in in-room fitting. Ski Butlers serves over 25 resorts in Colorado, California, Utah, Wyoming and British Columbia, Canada. These include the top 9 resorts as rated by readers and editors of SKI Magazine in their “Top 50 Resort Rankings” issue. Currently, Ski Butlers operates at the following locations: Heavenly, Kirkwood, and Sierra in California; Aspen, Snowmass, Highlands, Buttermilk, Breckenridge, Keystone, Copper, A-Basin, Telluride, Vail, Beaver Creek, and Arrowhead in Colorado; Park City, Deer Valley, The Canyons, and Big and Little Cottonwood Canyon resorts in Utah; Jackson Hole in Wyoming; and Whistler/Blackcomb in British Columbia.
http://www.skibutlers.com/
http://www.skibutlers.com/
http://www.skibutlers.com/
