Heidi reveals 26/27 ski season news and travel trends

As the end of summer nears, slope-savvy Brits are locking in their ski trips earlier than ever. 

New booking data from award-winning UK ski holiday operator Heidi reveals record year-to-date growth, with early trends showing where - and when - UK skiers are choosing to go for winter 26/27:

• Overall bookings are up 63% year-on-year, Heidi’s strongest season-start yet

• More Brits are locking in peak-week ski trips earlier than ever

• Earlier Easter shifts demand forward - bookings up 139%

• Italy bookings have more than doubled year-on-year

• Classic Alpine resorts and ‘hidden gems’ both booming

• Heidi adds 6 Canadian resorts for the 26/27 season

Marcus Blunt, Co-Founder of Heidi, comments: "We built Heidi for people who want ski holiday freedom without the faff. This year, we’re seeing more customers than ever booking their peak-week trips early. They know the most in-demand dates and accommodation get snapped up first, but our flexible payment plans mean you can lock in the exact ski holiday you want now and spread the cost - which avoids ‘availability anxiety’ or climbing prices later on.”

Strongest season-start yet, with short breaks still popular

Heidi’s customisable any-duration, fly-any-day approach is clearly continuing to strike a chord with UK skiers, with overall ski holiday bookings for the 26/27 season up 63% on last year - and demand for flexible short ski breaks (2-5 nights) up by 59%.

Book now, ski later: more Brits are locking in peak-week trips earlier than ever

Comparing this year's bookings against last year's at the same point in the booking cycle, significantly more skiers have already locked in their peak-week trips with Heidi this year.

Peak season bookings (early January to mid-February) are up 110%, February half term is up 51%, and New Year up 57%.

Easter arrives earlier again, and late-season demand is climbing fast

With Easter Sunday falling even earlier on 28th March 2027 (compared to 5th April this year), Heidi’s Easter bookings are up a whopping 139% year-on-year. Late season bookings as a whole (late February–late March) are also up strongly (+72%) as an earlier Easter leaves more of the season’s best-value, good-snow weeks open for booking before the traditional spring wind-down.

Big-name Alpine resorts and ‘hidden gems’ are both booming

Classic Alpine resorts seeing big year-on-year growth include Val Thorens (+118%), Tignes (+83%), and family-favourite, Flaine (+93%).

Meanwhile, last year’s break-out hidden gem, Montgenèvre, keeps climbing - up a further 134% this season, with two new gondolas replacing the resort's 40-year-old Chalvet chairlift for winter 26/27. Located on the French-Italian border, this charming alpine village has easy access to the vast Milky Way Circuit, which spans the Italian resorts of Sestriere, San Sicario, and Sauze d'Oulx .

Les Menuires is up 195% year-on-year too, with a new 4-star hotel, Fahrenheit Seven, opening in the resort in December.

Italy bookings have more than doubled

On a country level, bookings to Italy have more than doubled year-on-year (+107.5%), with 26/27 growth spread broadly across Piedmont and the Dolomites, and Sauze d'Oulx proving especially popular.

Six Canadian resorts added for the 26/27 season

Heidi is heading west this season, expanding its huge choice of 350+ resorts by putting six top Canadian resorts on sale for 26/27 – Banff, Lake Louise, Whistler, Fernie, Kicking Horse and Tremblant.

Heidi is the UK’s second largest ski holiday operator, taking 66,300 passengers to the mountains over the 2025/2026 season. It was founded in 2018 (initially as Ski Zoom) by brothers Marcus and Alexander Blunt to address a lack of flexibility in the legacy ski holiday market - and enable more people to easily access and enjoy the mountains.

Its proprietary travel tech uniquely blends the customisation of a DIY holiday and the convenience and security of an ATOL-protected package - with flights, accommodation, transfers and optional extras (lift passes, equipment hire and lessons) all in one place, backed by 24/7 human customer support. Heidi has a 4.7/5 ‘Excellent’ Trustpilot rating from 5,000+ reviews and is a 2025 Which? Recommended Provider for ski holidays.

Heidi’s revenue has grown fast, from £8.8m in 2022 to £79.1m in 2026. It ranked 28th in the 2025 FEBE 100 list of fastest-growing founder-led companies in the UK, and 63rd in the 2024 Sunday Times 100 list of the UK’s fastest-growing private companies.

Customers can build their dream ski trip in minutes from thousands of options across 350+ resorts. Everything is organised by Heidi, so you can relax and find your freedom in the mountains. Since spring 2026, that same flexibility and freedom extends to self-guided walking holidays through summer and early autumn.

Source data: All figures are correct as of August 2026, sourced from Heidi’s internal booking data - unless otherwise credited. All season-to-date figures compare bookings made between May and August 2026 (for 26/27-season winter travel) against the equivalent period a year earlier (for 25/26-season winter travel). The peak-week ‘booking earlier’ figures use a different method: they compare bookings at the same point in the booking cycle – the same number of weeks before departure – against last year’s curve.