When should a group ski trip be booked?

Set the dates two to four months ahead if you can. Accommodation in the popular weeks goes early, and a settled date is what lets you book everything else.

How do I compare a long weekend against a full week?

Include both in the same poll as separate date blocks. The availability grid shows which format more of the group can actually commit to.

Is EveryoneAvailable free?

Yes. EveryoneAvailable is currently free to use. There are no paid plans, no upgrade prompts, and no ads.

Should we poll half-term or off-peak weeks?

Poll both as clearly separate options rather than assuming the group defaults to half-term. Off-peak weeks are usually cheaper and often attract more interest than expected once people see them listed.

Ski trips

Find the week your group can ski

Ski trips have a short season, expensive accommodation and a group that books late. The date is the bottleneck, and every week you spend deciding costs you options.

Find a Date See how it works

Create a free availability poll and share it with your group.

Poll the season, not the month

Put the whole viable window in one poll — typically January through March — and let people mark the weeks they could go. Half-term and holiday weeks will show as blocked for the parents in the group, which is exactly the information you need early.

Weeks and weekends are different questions

If the group is split between a long weekend and a full week, offer both: mark the weekend blocks as separate options from the week-long ones. The grid will tell you which format has the group behind it.

Be explicit about travel days when you set up the blocks — a 'week' that includes a flying day at each end is a genuinely different trip from a full seven days on snow, and respondents will answer more accurately if the options spell out exactly which days are included.

Book against the deposit clock

Chalet deposits, lift passes and flights all move fast in season. Close the poll early, pick the block with the strongest turnout, and confirm the maybes in the same message.

Half-term weeks vs. off-peak weeks

Half-term weeks always attract the most interest from parents but also carry the highest chalet prices and the busiest slopes. If the group can genuinely stomach an off-peak week, poll it as a clearly separate option from half-term rather than assuming everyone defaults to the school calendar — it is common to find a strong off-peak result once non-parents realise it is on the table and cheaper.

Snow conditions and booking early versus booking late

Booking a week far in advance secures accommodation and lift passes at lower prices, but locks you into a date before you know how the snow will actually be that year. Booking late gives you a much better read on conditions but leaves you competing for chalets that popular weeks have already sold out. If the group has this trade-off in mind, poll two or three candidate weeks spread across the season rather than one, so there is a fallback if the first choice's conditions or availability turn out poorly.

It also helps to agree in advance how the group will react if snow reports for the chosen week turn out to be poor — whether that means switching resort, accepting the risk, or simply going anyway for the time together — so the decision does not have to be relitigated at short notice once the date is already booked.

Worked example

Example: a 10-person ski week in February, choosing between half-term and off-peak

A group of ten, four with school-age children, is deciding between a half-term week and a cheaper off-peak week in February for a shared chalet.

1The group agrees the resort and chalet size before polling any dates.
2The organiser polls three candidate weeks: half-term plus two off-peak weeks either side.
3Parents mark half-term as their only firm yes; several non-parents mark all three weeks available.
4The grid shows half-term with eight of ten and one off-peak week with only six of ten.
5The organiser checks chalet pricing for both weeks and shares it alongside the poll results.
6The group votes to go with half-term despite the higher price, given the stronger turnout.

The group booked the half-term week with eight of ten confirmed and two declining due to cost, decided ten days after the poll opened and six weeks ahead of the chalet's deposit deadline.

Frequently asked questions

When should a group ski trip be booked?: Set the dates two to four months ahead if you can. Accommodation in the popular weeks goes early, and a settled date is what lets you book everything else.
How do I compare a long weekend against a full week?: Include both in the same poll as separate date blocks. The availability grid shows which format more of the group can actually commit to.
Is EveryoneAvailable free?: Yes. EveryoneAvailable is currently free to use. There are no paid plans, no upgrade prompts, and no ads.
Should we poll half-term or off-peak weeks?: Poll both as clearly separate options rather than assuming the group defaults to half-term. Off-peak weeks are usually cheaper and often attract more interest than expected once people see them listed.

plan a group tripTrip dates in general.create a free availability pollSet up the poll.guide: planning a group vacationBudgets, dates and drop-outs.

Find the day everyone can make it