Thredbo — Attraction in Perisher Valley

Negligence literarily almost killed me

Being a highly ranked Google Reviewer, I like to be generous with my reviews and I don't usually like to complain about minor things, as humans, none of us are perfect. So please see my other reviews before judging me as some kind of Karen who likes to complain about everything

Having said that, Thredbo is a beautiful villiage, and the staff are extremely friendly. The staff are the only reason why this review is as high as it is, and the only reason I’d ever consider returning. Most staff that is. Negligence almost killed me, but I’ll elaborate on that later. Most of the staff are absolutely wonderful people, and don’t deserve to be tarnished with this brush. However, that’s pretty much where the praise ends

Thredbo is extremely overpriced. I'm not even sure that it’s legal for any company to price gouge as much as Thredbo does. And unfortunately, you don’t really get much in return for your money.

Thredbo benefits from the fact that NSW has very few places where one can visit to see snow without skiing/snow boarding, and price gouges because of that monopoly. Other places that have to try to atteact skiiers when non-skiiers/snowboarders can visit other places in their country to see snow don’t really price gouge. Despite the fact that many non-skiiers/snowboarders visit Thredbo, allowing them to price gauge in the first place, they don’t really do much to accommodate us. Considering that Australia’s lack of places to enjoy snow without participating in snow sports is why they can price-gouge in the first place, you think they’d do more to accommodate us. Instead, we’re confined to the one mountain where most of the space is used by various ski trails.

I can understand that the ski industry was one of the hardest hit by Covid, as most Covid restrictions happened in winter, and I am truly happy to see them recover, however, the level of price gouging is ridiculous. Think of any other place which is known for price gouging- sports stadia, Uluru, other neiche resorts? I’ve been to those places, and Thredbo beats them hands down. The bulk of this low review is based solely on price gouging. I also understand that Thredbo is a seasonal destination with a small window to make a profit, but there are other places, and they don’t price gouge the way that Thredbo does. Nor is Thredbo remote enough to justify it. I seriously can’t understand how any of this is legal. With all the price gouging, I hope that the staff are at least paid well. Most of them definitely deserve it. The worst part, it’s not just one or two areas that have price gouging. That would be mostly forgivable. It’s everything, food, beverages, accommodation, everything. And the bulk of the reason why the review is as low as it is.

And I mentioned earlier that most of the staff are excellent. Well, there was an incident where a staff member put me in literal mortal danger. I won’t dwell on this too much because I have contact the resort about it, and I believe that they are genuine about trying to rectify it. I also believe that the staff member put me in danger because of poor training, rather than anything within her control. Even though I suffered a minor injury which was worse than I originally thought it was, I’ll happily wear that knowing that my near death potentially saved at least one life.

However, a handful of staff members completely ignored my distressed cries for help, leaving me in danger. I had to he rescued by random passers by. Those staff members who left me in danger were not reflective of the bulk of the staff, who, as I reiterate, were immaculate

But without even considering the incident that almost cost me my life, based on the price gouging alone, it’s no wonder everyone goes skiing overseas. The bulk of the low review is based on the price gouging alone. If you had to choose between Thredbo and overseas, chose overseas. Less price gouging. And considering that Australia’s skiing conditions are mediocre at best, the price gauging is especially...

Flat out lied to us to get our money. Contacted Thredbo prior to booking as we’re not all skiing the rest wanted the experience of drinking hot chocolate with snow outside our cabin, making snow angels and a snowman. When we contacted Thredbo we told them the dates we wanted and asked would there be snow outside the cabin? (Otherwise we would stay in town and drive to Perisher) also is it pram accessible? Bella who booked our holiday guaranteed snow outside our cabin, also stating “that is the best time to come for snow” telling us we would be able to access cabin #25 with the baby “there’s only a couple of steps” We’ve been here a week now it’s warm with nil snow outside our cabin, there’s 20-30 steps to get to our cabin, meaning we had to leave our pram in the car, parked around the corner, and the beds like a rock! Nearest snow is at the end of the runs, it’s all dirty and icy as it’s part of the run, it’s completely unsafe to build a snow man or play with the kids there. When raising our concerns with Thredbo their response was “ Oh wow she should never have told you that, we got rid of her a while ago”. Thredbo offered no resolution, not caring at all, basically told us that oh well to bad she was fired a while ago so that’s your problem. When we arrived we were given no info on where to pick up prepaid lift passes, there is also no info in the guest book, as check in is at 4pm (which is ridiculously late considering they still want you out by 10) by the time we figured out where to get the passes from it had closed. The next day we queued for 20 minutes to get passes, the guy serving us was hopeless we watched the rest of the line leave by the time we got the passes, as a result our daughter was late for her lesson. Next the ski lessons, when we booked these we were told they were each day from 9:30-12:30 however this is not the case, the lesson times vary each day. But that’s not the worst part, at one point we saw the ski instructor leave our child crying as she’d fallen over while they were stopped halfway down Friday flats, her dad ski’d over to help her up, when the ski instructor saw this he started yelling at him! On another occasion we witnessed another male ski instructor yelling at, and belittling a group of kids. Katie the instructor my child had the next day was great, however I would not have my child with a male instructor again, and think the staff need some serious re educating if they’re planning on calling themselves teachers. Finally when venturing into the village almost ever second shop was closed, the atmosphere was a ghost town, when you did walk into an open store staff were too busy chatting to each other or on the phone, making the whole experience un-inviting and awkward. You’d think since the prices are way over the top compared to what you’d usually pay anywhere else, the customer service would be a little better. I was really looking forward to a delicious hot chocolate, however when we did find somewhere that was open we were charged $8 for a dirty coffee machine hot chocolate which was the worst I’ve ever had, the chocolate tasted stale. As there was nothing else for the rest of the family to do we thought we would try the leisure centre as it has an heated indoor pool and a slide, my daughter loved the slide, and as we have a small child we also needed to use the bigger pool, unfortunately yet again another let down, the pool was freezing. The only positive experience we had on this holiday was the reasonably priced fantastic food and awesome, friendly customer service from the staff and the Burger Bar. However every other aspect of the holiday was a complete disappointment, we were promised a snow holiday with a lush cabin in the snow, a bustling village and plenty to do with the kids. Im writing this review from a hot sun soaked cabin, situated in a deserted village, with overpriced everything, and rude staff! We will not be coming back. Would not recommend this...

Big safety issues regarding the chair lift and operating of the chair lift. Requesting a formal incident report.

My son had an incident this morning (6th July Thursday) at the Cruiser Chairlift at Therdbo.

He was adjusting the skii poles when he slipped off the chair lift at the start of the ride, however the chairlift kept dragging him along until it reaches the first Tower, where he couldn't hold on anymore, so he dropped off to the ground, which is more than 4 -5 metres high as I've told ( the chair lift was lifted around the First Tower)

I drove back to Therdbo from Jindabyne when I heard the incident from his sibling. I met snowsports manager and WHS manager at the medical clinic, where my son was sent to for checkups. (Being said that, I want to express my appreciation to the Snow patrol staff, who took the swift action to send my son to medical centre.)

When I arrived, a doctor did the examination for him, luckily, he had only a wrist fracture, considering fell off from this height.

I have raised concerns to the WHS manager regarding the operating of the he chair lift, and the safety of the chairlift: why the chairlift didn't stop earlier when he fell off, instead it dragged him all the way to the first Tower. Also why would the chair lift still opetate when the safety handle isn't clicked in properly.

The WHS manager just said that they will investigate into the incident, but I wasn't given any more details regarding the incident.

At the end, I've been requested to pay $596 examination fee for check ups and treatment at the medical centre, (which I think should be covered by the centre, including the ongoing medical cost for treating his fractured wrist. )

Afterwards, I've been escorted to the parking and farewell with the centre staff. Then I realised that I didn't get any report of the incident or anything in written regarding the incident, not even a contact email from either of the managers. I felt great uncomfortable of been left blinded about the progress of the incident. So I've sent email to the customer service around lunchtime (that's the only contact of the centre I can find) but I haven't got any response yet (not even an reply saying they're looking into the issue).

Overall, I'm disappointed with the safety measures in Thredbo and not satisfied with the way how the centre handles the incident.

If there is any safety mechanism in place, the lift sould stopped when the safety handle is not clicked in properly; If the chair lift can be stopped earlier, my son would not had the fracture at all. The incident happened at the very beginning of the ride, but the chair lift didn't stop on time.

I urge the centre to seriously look into the security issues related to the chair lift, and review the process of how to dealt with incident. I can not imagine how my son felt when he was hanging off the lift and been dragged up to the first Tower.

I hope this kind of incident will not happen to other kids in the future.

Looking forward for an apology and formal incident report from the...