This section will update you on the important changes regarding Titus ski trip this Christmas. Please read carefully.

The confirmed dates for this year’s Titus trip are 25 December – 02 January. It is possible to come earlier and stay later.

Reservation process starts today, 27th September.

There are several exciting changes that I’d like to share with you here:

• After many years of idle talks, a new Holiday Inn Express hotel in Malone finally opened its doors on 24th April this year! While I haven’t seen it in person, I did see the photos and talked to people that work there. You’ll be pleasantly surprised. Hotel has about 80 rooms, an indoor swimming pool and Jacuzzi – exactly what we need! There’s a restaurant on the premises. Hotel is located half way between Super 8 motel and Walmart, on the right side on the Main Street. I reserved all rooms for the Christmas week for our group, which should make our stay there more comfortable (no more tension with the burly truck drivers). Approximately half of the rooms have 2 queen beds, the rest have 1 king bed. We are allowed to bring an inflatable mattress in the king room, same as we did for years at Super 8. Special room rate for our group is $89.00 plus tax. There are also several small suites with kitchenette ($99.00). As we have families with three and more children, I ask that we give those families a “first pass” for those suites. We will have 3 Hospitality Suites set aside for our convenience - on the 2nd, 3rd and 4th floor. Their cost ($50.00) will be shared by all, as usual. Breakfast is included.

Update: as of 27 September, all rooms in Holiday in are now sold out. We are starting to book Super 8 motel.

• Presence of the Holiday Inn provided the opportunity to re-negotiate our rate with Super 8 motel. The new, lower, rate for our group is $79.00 + tax. New 32” flat screens TV are added to all rooms, lobby is redone, 4 choices of cereals and bananas added to the breakfast menu.

• Our group is holding all rooms in Holiday Inn, all rooms in Econolodge and almost all rooms at Super 8! This will ensure that noone will be left behind with no quality accommodation.

• Reservations process has undergone significant changes this year. I hope you’ll think of them as positive changes:

• Reservations will be made online, instead by email. I succumbed to the better judgement of my more technically inclined friends, and made a transition. What does this mean to you? Most notably, no more excel spreadsheets and online payment with credit card or Paypal account. I imagine we’ll still email and talk on the phone, but the hotel and ski pass reservations will be made online on the new web portal. Check the FAQ section if looking for help with transition.

Note: Although you make a hotel reservation with me, during the online booking process, you will still pay for your room to the hotel directly. When making the reservation, you’ll be asked to select hotel preference & room type & 2nd choice; this will put your name on my rooming list and secure your room. At some point I’ll ask you to contact the hotel directly and guarantee the room for late arrival with your credit card – same as before.

• Payment in CAD only. This is more by necessity than by design. The open source platform on which this is built does not support multiple-currency concurrent shopping carts. Since most of the Titus payments are in CAD anyway, I decided to ditch USD in an effort to make this easier for both you and I.
• You will receive an email confirmation with detailed breakdown of your reservation. It is important that your profile contains an email address that you access on the regular basis.
• First consideration will be given to families that stay for the whole week, instead of few days. While I’ll make every effort to accommodate everyone, it is only fair to the families that want to stay longer.
• Patience required. Expect glitches and work with me to iron out the wrinkles in the online workflow. I appreciate any feedback!

• Confirmations will be distributed via automated email, immediately upon payment completion. This is the only confirmation you`ll need or get. If you are able to select the specific hotel and room type when making the booking, and it`s confirmed in the Avantura email order confirmation - then you are guaranteed the room in that hotel. Room type will be honoured wherever possible. Hotel has the ultimate discretion to assign the rooms, based on their availability at the moment of check-in, but I`ll do anything possible to make them honour our requests.

• Order status can be checked online, should you misplace the email or accidentally delete it. After you log to Skijanje website, check `My Account` link on the left sidebar. The "Order" tab will display all your orders, adn "view" icon will allow you to see all order details.

• Payments will also be made online, instead by maling/dropping off the cheque. You can pay with your credit card or Paypal account. There is still an option to pay by cheque, but there is a caveat that your reservation is not confirmed until the cheque is received. If you make the reservation online on 1 October and pay by cheque on 1st December, for example, neither your room nor New Year's ticket will be guaranteed. People that paid with credit card would have "snapped" the rooms and tickets before your cheque arrived. If you pay by credit card, your confirmation is instant. Obviously, I want to encourage everyone to pay online with credit card or Paypal as it creates less work for me.

Important: when you land on PayPal page, select an option to pay with credit card. PayPal members - you must login to PayPal first and then pay with credit card. If you don't, you'll loop back to the same page as PayPal discovered (by your email and/or Name) that you are a PayPal member.

Payment in CAD only. This is more by necessity than by design. The open source platform on which this is built does not support multiple-currency concurrent shopping carts. Since most of the Titus payments are in CAD anyway, I decided to ditch USD in an effort to make this easier for both you and me.

• Final reconciliation after the trip will be made online as well. Ski passes can be refunded after the trip - same as every year.

• New Year’s Party will be held in the beautiful Adirondack Room at the Holiday Inn Express.  I told you already –this is the year of changes! Good changes. I’m currently negotiating the New Year gig with our Ottawa friends (Balkan Harmonia Band). Some of you enjoyed their music at Gore Mountain party, or at the infamous Distillery event by Zona 416 earlier this year. It will be few more weeks before I finalize the NYP arrangements, but one thing  is certain - there will be a party! Simply put, I don’t know the cost per person as it depends on the outcome of the negotiations.

  With the band, I expect that cost per person (12+) will be around $60.00 or $30.00 for kids under 12. Without the band, the prices will be in the $35.00 range per person 12+ and $20.00 for kids under 12. 

  The space for the party will be limited to 200 seats. I expect that many friends from Toronto and Ottawa will join us just for the party, although they may not be skiing. However, I feel that you, the skiers, should have a first chance to reserve the spot. We will sort out the payment later. If you're not sure, wait until the prices are confirmed. If there are still spots available, you can confirm at the later date.

• Ski Passes pickup/add-on and refund procedure is unchanged. If you are new to our group, please read the attached for more detailed information::

• Communication & staying informed: SkiTitus Google group is still the primary vehicle to distribute email alerts about any Titus ski trip related news. If you're new to our group, read the instruction on how to join SkiTitus Google group"

If you're ready to proceed, click on "Create new account" to create your profile. All future ski trips (Titus, Gore, Quebec) will be made on this website, and you need to create your account only once. When completing your profile, please use your real, full name, address and an email that you check regularily. After you successfully created the New Account, proceed to the link "Sign Up for Titus 2010" link in the Trip Registration section.

Please direct any questions to me via email