In the unlikely event that you’ve not got too many plans yet, we’ve got a lovely last-minute something for one or two of our Five Year Members at The Clubhouse over Christmas.

Contrary to (general economic) expectations, bookings for the 2009 season at The Clubhouse are the best we’ve ever seen them at this stage. We had expected them to be poor (as people waited to see how things panned out with the economy etc) but it seems many of our members and their friends are not prepared to miss their ski holiday. We still have good availability throughout Jan, Feb and Mar but we expect these rooms to fill to our usual 95% + occupancy levels in due course. If we get cancellations or last-minute availability we will offer these to you as they pop up and at very special rates.

In the meantime, we have our first last-minute thing for you. For the first time in five years we have rooms available for the Christmas week. The snow conditions are perfect here at the moment and I am typing this email in The Clubhouse lounge after a great day on the Grands Montets. If you can get away and if you have looked at flights (easy Jet from everywhere or Swiss from City to Geneva), then you can stay for a week for free from Sun 21 to Sun 28 Dec. Incredibly, we still have three rooms available (two due to a cancellation) and we would rather you used them than they remained empty. Pick from:

• A double/twin upstairs (normally 2,850€ for the week half board). This will be one of the nicest rooms in the house and there are two available. • Bunker 2 (normally 1425€ for the week half board). This is small room with a bunk bed in it but still quite cool and cosy.

This is the deal: B&B for these rooms is free and you just pay for any food and drinks. If you’re interested please call The Clubhouse on +33 4 50 90 96 56 as soon as you’re sure you can do this. We could look at splitting the week into Sun 21 to Wed 24 and Wed 24 to Sun 28 but it’s easier for us if we do this by the week. Clearly this will have to be first-come, first-served and apologies in advance for any disappointment.

Sandie and The Clubhouse Team