Accommodation options and booking guidelines

Places we have stayed and our opinion of them

Really depends on your personal taste. It can range from hundreds of $$ a night for luxury accommodation on the snow to $20 - $60 at the station depending upon the number of people in the room and the time of year. Some people prefer a lot of cheaper trips, others prefer just one luxury experience (and everything in-between).  As a group of snow addicts we normally go for the cheaper options and do a lot of trips.

Example of researching other venues to stay at

As a good example of available alternatives when we run out of rooms at AAV, I did a quick price comparison of places that can take 6 or more people (usually the more sharing the cheaper per head), available via booking.com for the weekend of July 15 2022 which I put in a google sheet - https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1phNUrFKqjbBq6DIYxgsL6Kdq8ZtzS5BWI-FEO3-U_xE/edit#gid=0

Booking Accomodation yourself with a small group. 

SSS organisers are keen to encourage you to make your own arrangements with members of the group, and want to support this as much as possible. 

However, just a reminder that we all have day jobs and volunteer our time.  We are not paid tour operators!

Your Options include 

1. The room host books the room and presents the booking reference to the other interested room members. Each person transfers their portion to the room booker.  This sometimes starts out with two or three being the 'core' group, then inviting others along to fill beds/ share costs.
2. You may find a kind SSS organiser to hold $$ in trust as people pay. This would involve asking everyone to send payment to the org (within 1 week) and the org pays for the room. So the room is booked by you, paid for by the org.  

Be aware of the risks

1. If you are a room organiser who is paying up-front and then filling beds, be aware people might have a change of heart between saying they are interested and when they actually have to pay. You may need to find others to fill the gap. 
2. Everyone has stuff going on in life, plans change or clash, it's not personal.  It's good to go into the experience with an open mind and a willingness to adapt.
3. Be aware that any booking process usually needs to happen pretty fast, snow rooms don't stay available very long (except the really expensive ones)
4. If a SSS organiser is holding $$ in trust waiting to pay for a room, the full amount required needs to be gathered inside a week. If not, the org will return the money. This process is in place because the chances of a room still being available at the same price a week later are slim to none.  

Gather the troops

1. Look at the spreadsheet and other services (booking.com, wotif.com, etc) to get an idea of prices and what you might be willing to spend for a weekend compared to the quality or the distance away from the snow. 
2. To communicate your proposed booking to the SSS community, form a slack room called something like "Bobs snow weekend 15th July 2022".  In there, gather sufficient commitments for the venue and per-weekend price you have decided on.  Notify other members about your room in #socialchatter
3. Discuss the Accomodation, the price, the layout, number of double and single beds, who will be in what rooms. Early risers bunking together is a good idea. People travelling up to the resort in the same car bunking together is a good idea.
4. Discuss travel, make sure everyone who wants to go can get there from Sydney and home again (work out car pooling). If you are staying extra days make sure people travelling with you know. Be sure to include discussions on resort preference and transport up the hill.

On the trip considerations

1. Make sure all attendees have all trip details so that they can check their booking, arrive with ease.
2. The responsibility of maintaining, cleaning and abiding by the rules of the accomodation venue are on the attendees, not SSS Organisers.
3. As a driver, if you think you may not be able to go and people were depending on you for transport, provide as much notice as possible about this risk to give others time to work out options.

Be realistic in your expectations

1. As the room organiser, expect that people, for whatever reason, may cancel last minute. Try to stay in touch and check that everyone is on track. Rearrange as required.
2. As a room attendee, if you can't go, abide by whatever conditions your room booker has set. Check with your room booker and if they are ok with it, follow the usual SSS method of on-selling your bed to someone else. But please give the room booker the courtesy of a heads up first, as they might already have demand.

Most Important Rule - Everyone must HAVE FUN