Online Social Network for Holidaymakers and Ski Instructors Launches Today

Online, November 29, 2009 (Newswire.com) - LONDON 30 NOVEMBER 2009 - Ski4Cheap, an online social networking site enabling holidaymakers to interact with ski & snowboard instructors, officially launched its service today. Ski4Cheap links qualified instructors and mountain guides directly with holidaymakers, bypassing the traditional intermediary of a ski school. This provides ski lessons at lower prices for the consumer and at higher profit for the instructor.

The site enables holidaymakers to search for suitable ski instructors by resort and availability, and research and compare their experience, qualifications, language skills, personal story and price before booking lessons. The site is based on peer-to-peer feedback and review similar to well known online auction and retail sites. The community targets instructors and guides in all the key winter sports locations in Europe, North America and New Zealand. By removing the ski school as the middle man Ski4Cheap enables cheaper ski lessons to be available to the public and higher profit for ski and snowboard instructors.

Ski4Cheap was founded by ski enthusiasts Guy Conway and David Batey in Feb 2009 following a determination to make lessons more accessible and affordable, and to enable instructors to get more of the profit. Both Guy and David are inspired by the influence technology and computing have had in transforming industry and wanted this to be a central strategy in the development and growth of Ski4Cheap.

Guy Conway, Co Founder of Ski4Cheap said: "We're all excited about the influence Ski4Cheap will have this winter. We're seeing rapid growth in our community and already have members in many resorts. We know people will do anything not to lose their ski holiday so with budgets tight at the moment it's rewarding that we can offer a service that allows people to trim the costs of what can be an expensive trip."

Ski4Cheap are launching their site in the run up to the 2010 season. The new site, built on the requirement to allow direct online booking without the need for a ski school, has been shaped by their early-adaptor member community and includes the following features:

• Instructor and Guide Search: Ski & snowboard students can search for instructors and guides by resort, country or availability. Search results display member details including photo, price, ratings and expertise.
• Rating & Feedback: All instructors and guides will be rated on a 5* system for every completed lesson facilitating website transparency.
• Payment Protection: All payments are paid securely through PayPal. Once paid the price is fixed and only processed to the instructor following successful completion of the lesson.
• User Calendar: Each member has their own calendar to enable them to track bookings and provide up to date schedule information.
• Account Message Inbox: Users are able to contact each other through a series of pre defined forms that support the lesson booking process and remove the resort office requirement.

About Ski4Cheap
Formed in 2009, Ski4Cheap is a peer-to-peer interactive social networking site that link together ski & snowboard instructors, mountain guides and holidaymakers. By providing a forum for direct connection between these groups Ski4Cheap offers a unique opportunity to remove the ski & snowboard school to significantly reduce the price of a ski lesson whilst increasing the potential earnings for instructors. Ski4Cheap is not affiliated with any ski schools or resorts and is part of the Dycept Group. The company website www.ski4cheap.com has been in development since Feb 2009, led by Oxford Computer Science Masters Graduate David Batey, and is now fully live with over 100 users. For more information on the Ski4Cheap story visit www.ski4cheap.com.

For More Information
Guy Conway
Co-Founder
+44 (0)7734 930515
[email protected]