Following a change of ownership and the launch of a refreshed, industry-leading consumer website in September 2015, Chalet Finder set an aggressive business growth target for the 2015-16 winter ski season.

The new responsive website was designed to provide the ultimate user-friendly experience with improved navigation and functionality throughout, allowing customers to access comprehensive property information and view detailed images of the accommodation and resort across mobile devices as well as desktop computers.

Oliver Bailey, managing director of ChaletFinder.co.uk, said “The results following the launch of the new website were a huge success with 'a 40% surge in traffic due largely to investing not only in the site but on a comprehensive SEO strategy to ensure improved visibility.

“The early success continued and so far in the 2015-16 winter ski season ChaletFinder.co.uk has generated 18,500 enquiries. We are on target to double traffic to the site by the end of the season.

“The responsive nature of the site has also seen mobile usage increase by 28.5% and now accounts for a huge 45% of traffic, which shows how consumers are now searching for holidays.

“Another key feature in converting enquiries to bookings has been the proactive 'live chat' function, with 2,573 completing the enquiry driving the enquiry to booking conversion rate to 126%.”

As a commitment to the personal level of service offered to advertising partners, ChaletFinder.co.uk established a base in Morzine, France at the start of the season.

The Chalet Finder team also worked closely with PR agency The PR Boutique to secure coverage in The Metro, The Sun and The Telegraph Ski & Snowboard Magazine, which too drove site visits and awareness.

“The early season results are even more impressive as they were not without challenge,” Oliver Bailey explained, “where we would normally see an increase of traffic in December this surge was delayed to the New Year. Due to the poor early season snow conditions throughout Europe people were leaving it later to book, with an increase in people leaving it until the last minute with flights booked to a key airport but no accommodation booked until a few days before.”

“This season we've seen the number of short break enquiries rise, with people opting to take multiple short ski breaks over the season than one longer holiday. We have also seen an increase in Russian traffic up 22% YOY which supports the growth from this market.”

“Interestingly, the two most requested accommodation features asked for this year were for wifi and a hot tub!”  

With market and snow conditions remaining positive ChaletFinder is looking forward to a successful end to the ski season and starting to prepare for an equally strong summer season in the mountains.