My First Propski (And how it compares to MIPIM) - Jonathan Shaw

Propski is an annual ski trip which aims to provide property professionals an inclusive, affordable opportunity to develop industry contacts in an informal setting in Chamonix, the French Alps – and I would say it hits the mark.

2020 was the 8th Propski and it welcomed circa 450 property professionals to the La Folie Douce Hotel in Chamonix. The event has been, and still remains, a very London centric event. However, with AG being a very Northern focused business, we wanted to dive in and make an impression on it! So, we sponsored a ‘Propski North’ event in Manchester to promote Propski to the Northern community and this proved a great success and led to far more Northern accents echoing around La Folie Douce.

Propski offers a half or full week option and I went for the half week (as the majority do). I found this to be the correct decision for me as by the end of the half week, I was feeling pretty burnt out. La Folie Douce is a beautiful recently refurbished hotel with fantastic, if slightly risqué, entertainment – you get used to seeing scantily clad performers descending from the ceiling in rolls of silk…….

What to expect!

I have never skied before, and I was by no means alone. As part of the standard package, you can add ski lessons at all levels of competence and hire ski equipment, boots, poles etc. Generally speaking, the itinerary of my week was along the lines of the following: - Saturday – Arrive, check in, get welcome pack, go to welcome party. This seems to be the main night out and people certainly party until the small hours, dancing on tables, drinking games and catching up with old friends! Sunday, Monday, Tuesday – Generally a repeat of the following; Breakfast (mixture of fresh and hungover people enjoying a continental buffet), ski or ski lessons, lunch, ski, attending an event – repeat.