Meet SKICOOL – Val Thorens, France
SKICOOL team in Val Thorens, Les Trois Vallées, France. Team building
A gifted skier, a charismatic leader and a big Led Zeppelin fan all at once: among others, Annie Breyton is the founder and director of SKICOOL – Val Thorens. Today she tells Skipodium a little more about herself and her school.
3 adjectives that best describe SKICOOL:
Friendly, professional and innovative.
When was your school born?
SKICOOL was born in the winter season 1981/82; we are the 2nd ski school in our resort right after ESF. As a young lady, I founded the school with 2 colleagues from the French National racing team. We were initially based in a local ski shop, and, as business took off, we opened our own office.
In which resorts do you operate?
We operate in Val Thorens in the 3 Vallées, France. Val Thorens has been awarded 3 times (respectively in 2013, 2014, and 2016) as World Best Ski Resort.
How many instructors does SKICOOL count?
As of today, our team includes 20 instructors: they are all experienced, and well-trained at teaching and customer-facing. Our instructors have been carefully selected through years in order to cover all types of ski and snowboard riding requests. I am very proud of our diverse mix of talents and abilities! In a period where diversity wasn’t as mainstream as it is today, we employed equal number of women and men, as well as a young and older instructors!
What languages can you accomodate?
We are a very international group! As today we cover all languages required by our clients: English, French, Russian, Spanish, German, Italian and… Sign language! We have specifically looked for instructors who can also teach less fortunate people because skiing should be for all!
What are your strengths?
It’s difficult to name one in particular: it’s about the whole atmosphere that our small yet united team creates to facilitate learning. We carefully listen to our clients’ needs and try hard to accomodate all of their requests. We always take time to understand our customers’ needs and whishes and often we customize our lessons for them. More than once, in fact, one single customer request turned into a recurrent offer of SKICOOL. Flexibility and customization are key!
What differentiates SKICOOL from others?
We are the only school in Val Thorens offering Monoski and Wingjump lessons.
We have a great quality/price ratio. Our conviviality is free of charge 🙂
What are your 3 best selling products?
Your first season using Skipodium: What did you like?
The whole dynamic just worked out very well: the booking process was easy and quick to pick up; the information that Skipodium was providing to the clients precise and accurate: the meeting points were well defined, the characteristics of the lessons in line with our offer and the logistics very straight forward for all parties.
What needs to be improved?
I would like Skipodium to build a solid bridge between our management software and theirs.
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