Pricing and fees

What you pay

Every instructor publishes their own hourly rate on their profile, in the currency of the country they teach in. You pick the date, the time and how long you want, and the total is that rate multiplied by the hours. There is no booking fee, no service charge and no card surcharge.

Rates vary a lot by country: Switzerland and the United States are the most expensive places in the world for a lesson, and Andorra, Argentina and Chile among the best value. Each country page gives the realistic range for that country.

How the money splits

Of everything you pay, the instructor keeps 90% and Alpine Pal keeps 10%. That commission is the only thing we charge anyone: instructors pay nothing to list a profile, nothing monthly, and nothing per booking beyond it.

When you are charged, and when the instructor is paid

You pay when you request the booking. The instructor then has a window — twelve hours by default — to accept or decline.

Your money is held for that whole time and does not reach the instructor. If they accept, the booking is confirmed and the amount stays held until the lesson has taken place; only then is their share credited to them. If they decline, or let the window pass, you are refunded in full and automatically.

Payments run through Stripe. Card details go into a Stripe form and never touch our servers.

Refunds

Refunds go back to the card you paid with. How long they take to appear is up to your bank, not us. If something went wrong with a lesson, write to info@alpinepal.com — we mediate, and we can refund where the complaint is well founded.

• Booking not accepted or expired: full refund, automatically.
• Cancelled by the instructor: full refund.
• Cancelled by you: refunded under the conditions that applied when you booked.
• Resort closed, no snow, or unsafe weather: refunded.
• You do not turn up: the lesson counts as delivered.

If you teach

You set your rate and you can change it whenever you like; a change never affects a booking already made. You keep 90% of every lesson.

Listing is free. There is no subscription, no fee for appearing higher, and no charge for messaging someone who never books.

You are responsible for issuing any invoices your customers are due and for declaring your income. We are a marketplace, not your accountant.