There's no business like snow business

Go Niche:VERY OFTEN the first thing you'll do when you're booking an hotel in an unfamiliar city is look for an hotel chain you know and trust. It makes sense. The same applies to resort hotels.

For some strange reason, however, no one seems to think skiers might like the same opportunity. Until now, that is.

A new Alpine ski resort hotel chain has just been set up and is currently on the hunt for suitable mid-range (three and four-star) properties to be marketed under the perfectly-pitched brand name of Snotels.

Its target audience is the “alpine explorer”, the kind of independent traveller that, it reckons, is “brand loyal and demands a promise”.

By promoting your hotel under its brand, the idea is that the hotelier (snotelier, obviously) will be able to guarantee a particular level of quality, service and location to skiers.

Snotels can provide the hotels which sign up with them with either full management services or simply on- and offline marketing support, including central reservations. It aims to have 50 snotels in the chain by 2016.

Guests will be able to book not just accommodation across the new hotel chain online, but extras such as insurance and ski rental too.

For novices who have heretofore tried to book their ski holiday independently but found it hard to get a handle on their options – ski accommodation has a lexicon all of its own afterall, including such known-unknowns as pensions and chalets – Snotels will be a godsend.

What’s more, one of the guys behind the brainwave, Michael Metcalfe, isn’t just a hotel manager with international experience, he’s a qualified snowboard instructor too. Snotels, your time has come.

• snotels.com