Skiology gives us the thumbs up for eco chalet cleaning

As we enter December with temperatures plummeting in London Delphis Eco catch up with Dom who's makes a living out of snowy conditions. 

Dom first came to Delphis Eco desperate to find a eco cleaning solution for the ski chalets he manages in Morzine to see him through the season. Dom popped into our London office to see if we could help and left with an experts collection packed into his car, headed for the alps. 

We caught up with him a few weeks later to ask how he was getting on and to tell us more about Skiology and life in the mountains. 

Skiology was founded by two brothers Dom and Luke and through sheer determination and hard graft built the six chalet company that is Skiology. 

Delphis Eco: Hey Dom, we loved reading your story on the website, tell us more about how you got to where you are now. 

Dom: In one word we got here organically. We grew from 1 chalet to 2 because we did not think that a chalet would be ready for Christmas and we did not want to ruin anyones Christmas so we rented a back up. 2 to 3 because the girl who ran the second chalet wanted to work with us again however not in the same resort as her ex boyfriend. 3 to 4 so that she could progress into management. 4 to 5 so that my wife and I move to Morzine to be closer to her parents. 5 to 6 because the neighbours asked us if we could run their chalet! And in the future 6 to 7 because a parent at school asked us. 

DE: Wow, that's pretty cool to have a business running on referrals. You must do be doing a great job! What advice would you give to your 20 year-old selves?

Take care of your knees... Make a 5 and a 10 year plan it does not matter if don’t stick to it however it will give you direction. Eat loads of Snickers bars and junk food while your metabolism does not make you pay for it! Oh and don’t follow other skiers tracks off piste, they don’t know where they are going any better than you do!

DE: Ha, that's a good point about off-pisting... it's so dangerous! My sister's always zooming off - I hate it.. I love the fact you and your brother were struggling so much that you had to wash your hair with washing-up liquid, that's sad and funny at the same time. How did you feel when Delphis Eco offered you free washing-up liquid, imagine that back then?

D: Ha ha. I do know what you mean :) We were surprised too! It shows great faith in your product and I understand why you did, we are hooked! 

DE: So what does sustainability mean to your business?

D: Operating in a way that allows us to continue into the next Ice Age. From our manual "If ever there is a question of why do we do things a certain way at Skiology, then sustainability is most often the answer. It is why we love repeat guests, why we don’t discount our holidays, why we use local produce, why we have organic wine, how we chose the brands that we work with, why we offset our carbon emissions, why we foster environmentally friendly cleaning techniques.”

DE: That's great, that sounds very much like the Delphis ethos...! And how has your attitude to the business changed since having children?

D: I guess it is the same for all your parents, your have someone elses needs to fulfil now. For us it is great, skiing is a family sport and you really get to know the needs of a family when you are one. For example we now offer to do a shop for parents comings with infants, we have copies of snowy and French bedtime stories in the chalets such as TinTin, Disney movies (normally with snowy scenes), sledges etc. 

DE: That's true, I guess it's just about adapting to the business all the time. Speaking of adapting how have you found using Delphis Eco cleaning products as compared to what you were using before?

For sure, well I did not wear a face mask cleaning our oven which was a good start. If I accidentally get product on my skin it does not seem to dry it our like other products. A multi-surface cleaner that also does glass is revolutionary to me. We are genuinely all really impressed we used to have so much cleaning clutter however now we just have the Delphis Eco big 3, multi-surface, bathroom and toilet. 

DE: Amazing! That's great to hear. We really try to make cleaning as simple as possible, it doesn't need to be this huge process with 1000 different things. We know what works and we make it easy. All you need for a bathroom is the big 3. Living abroad, what do you miss about the UK?

D: Marmite, pubs, Good Earth chinese and oak trees.

DE: Oh my god, Marmite. I could never not have marmite. You should get that shipped out, or stock up. If you could hold a dinner party with anyone dead or alive, who would cook for it?

D: The chef: my brother, of course. But if he couldn't make it, Felicity Cloake, the Guardian journalist, she is so thorough with her research that it would be like having dinner with all the contemporary chefs. 

To find out more about Skiology head to http://www.skiology.co.uk

To get your hands on ecological cleaning products this christmas try our starter box 

Image credit: Skiology Flickr