Why does Jean-Jacques offer his dog sledding trips in Avoriaz on Manawa?

Vincent Pinto is Manawa's Sales Director. Previously Regional Manager France for the booking website, he helped launch the venture in 2015. A keen skateboarder, splitboarder and snorkeller, he has tried out many of the sports offered on the site.

Discover l'Aventure en Traîneau, professional dog sledding in Avoriaz

Jean-Jacques Bechet founded l'Aventure en Traîneau in 1991. A passionate musher, he offers the chance to discover carriage driving in Avoriaz, on the Portes du Soleil in Haute Savoie. Here's a look back at his collaboration with Manawa.

Sled dog driving is a winter activity in which a driver, or musher, leads a team of sled dogs through snow-covered landscapes. The musher guides the dogs using voice commands and a sledge. This is a different way of enjoying the mountains, combining adventure, interaction with the dogs and discovery of the splendours of winter.

Vincent : Hello Jean-Jacques! To start with, tell me about the activity you offer, discovering dog-sleigh driving in Avoriaz. How does it work? What's the typical half-day programme?

Jean-Jacques Bechet: The carriage driving I offer my clients is quite sporty and slightly technical. My circuit is downhill with hairpin bends, so the participants have to give the dogs a hand up the slope. Some manage to stay on the sled without putting their foot down, while others have to walk a bit more. Each experience is unique, but what's certain is that it's real teamwork between the dogs and the customers, who take an active part in the activity. As for the typical half-day, when the customers arrive, they'll be in contact with the dogs, they'll be able to stroke them, take photos, get to know them... Then we show them how to put the harnesses on the dogs, so that they can do it themselves.

Afterwards, we explain everything to them about driving a dog team and the safety measures to be taken. The harnessing of the dogs will depend on the number of customers, but also on the weather and snow conditions. It can vary between two and four dogs per sled. Departures are staggered, in single file. We, as guides, don't take a sled so that we can go up with those who are apprehensive, to reassure them. After that, it's off downhill! If the group is comfortable, we can cut through the forest in powder snow, otherwise we simply follow the packed road. The activity ends with a return to the base.

Vincent: I don't know if you remember, but I came to try out the activity with my wife, and it was the first time I'd been sled dogging. You've completely changed my view of the activity!

Jean-Jacques: Yes, I remember, I hope it was great for you!

Vincent: Yes, it was great. To be totally transparent, I was a bit apprehensive at first, because it was my first time, but in the end the experience was incredible, and the scenery was magnificent. Environmentally speaking, is there a reason why you decided to settle in the resort of Avoriaz? How did you get there?

Jean-Jacques: At first, I was in the Vallée d'Abondance, in La Chapelle-d'Abondance. Then Avoriaz called to me, because there were things to create up there. So I started working in Avoriaz in 1996 and, as there are a lot more people there and the snow is much safer, both in quantity and duration, I decided to stay.

Vincent: You say that the snow is safer and that there's more of it, which is probably linked to the altitude of the resort. At what altitude does the activity take place?

Jean-Jacques: We start a little below 1,800 metres and go down about 200 or 300 metres. The snow falls very well in Avoriaz, which is why we have plenty of it. And compared to the competition elsewhere, we start our winter season earlier and finish later.

Vincent: You've been doing this for over 30 years. How did you get interested in driving? Before you got into sled dogs, did you do anything else?

Jean-Jacques: I started out as a baker. I started sledging for myself, because it was a passion. More and more people started asking me to sledge with them, so I decided to set up my own business. My main aim was to take in abandoned dogs, work with them and improve their living conditions. Today, I have around 50 dogs, but not all of them are involved in the business. The older ones stay quietly at home.

Why is l'Aventure de Traîneau a partner of Manawa?

Vincent: Do you remember how you discovered Manawa?

Jean-Jacques: I remember that you called me to say that you were looking for activities and that you wanted to offer mine on the Internet.

Vincent: That's right. I contacted you after the summer of 2018, and we started the partnership in November 2018. I was looking for activities for Manawa, and I was really interested in your sled dog outings in the Avoriaz resort, which I know quite well. What convinced you to try Manawa when I contacted you?

Jean-Jacques: Curiosity, above all, because I wasn't at all familiar with websites that offer online booking of activities. I thought it wouldn't hurt to give it a try and see what it could do for me. It was more of a trial run at first, and it worked out really well - we've been working together for 5 years now!

Vincent : Indeed! Once you'd said yes, do you remember if putting the activities on Manawa online seemed complicated?

Jean-Jacques: No, it wasn't complicated at all. The content was ready, your teams had prepared everything in advance, all I had to do was send them some photos.

Vincent: Great, it's great to hear that! Let's talk a bit about the results now... In concrete terms, what do you gain from working with Manawa?

Jean-Jacques: It saves me a lot of time managing bookings. I also get a lot of direct requests on the phone, so the good thing about Manawa is that there are fewer exchanges before the activity, so we're more efficient.

Vincent: Can you tell us a bit more about the type of customers you get from Manawa?

Jean-Jacques: I get quite sporty customers, but I get a bit of everything! There are couples and families, and some come on their own.... What they have in common is that they're all looking for a bit of adventure. But 95% are beginners, discovering the activity for the first time.

Vincent: What about nationalities?

Jean-Jacques: Between 25 and 30% of my customers come from abroad. This is thanks to the increased visibility on the Internet, of course, but there are also naturally a lot of foreign tourists in the Portes du Soleil ski area and in Haute Savoie.

Vincent: Let's get back to your relationship with the Manawa teams. How do you get on with them, and do you have any particular feedback to share with us?

Jean-Jacques: Everything's going well - I've got no worries! As far as customer service is concerned, in particular, it's very efficient for managing requests, whether it's answering travellers' questions about how the activity is going, or if they ask us to postpone a booking, or if we ever need to cancel on our own because of the weather. It saves me a lot of time.

Vincent: Great, that's what we're here for! How do you see your partnership with Manawa developing? For example, are you thinking of creating new 'summer' products to showcase on the site next year?

Jean-Jacques: I need to look at creating new experiences for autumn and spring, probably dog karting, but that's not in place yet. My idea is to work better all year round so that the winter seasons are a little less intense. This is in line with the resort's objectives, which are to develop four-season tourism and attract people outside the school holidays.

Vincent: Do you feel that Manawa helps you to get more people outside the most popular periods, which are the February school holidays and the end-of-year holidays?

Jean-Jacques: Yes, that helps. Demand has changed too. Before, I had no demand in April, for example. Since we've been publicising our activity through various means of communication and on the Internet, the month is filling up nicely. It's not as intense, given that it's the end of the season, but it's good because everyone's happy.

Vincent: I can also imagine that for customers, coming outside the high season means they can take advantage of cheaper accommodation, for example.

Jean-Jacques: Yes, absolutely. So even if they have a smaller budget, they can devote part of it to discovering an activity, to enjoy themselves.

Vincent: As you said before, we've been working together for 5 years now. Would you recommend Manawa to other professionals in the business?

Jean-Jacques: Yes, of course, I'd tell them to try putting their activities online on Manawa because they don't lose anything and it can be really interesting in terms of the gains in visibility and volume of business that it can bring them.

Vincent: Great, thank you very much for your feedback and your time Jean-Jacques! Finally, could you share with us a story, an anecdote or your best dog sledding experience?

Jean-Jacques: My most memorable experience with sled dogs was when I did the Chamonix-Zermatt route. We did 120 km of sledging over a week, in pretty tough conditions. It was an unforgettable adventure.

Like Jean Jacques, you too can join the first booking site dedicated to outdoor and adventure activities by proposing your activities on Manawa.com: Join us!