End of Season Checklist: Everything to Do Before You Leave
The things most people forget until they're already home
The end of a ski season arrives faster than it should. One week you're in full flow; three weeks later the lifts are closing, your friends are scattering to different countries, and someone's asking for their key back. The things that fall through the cracks in that last month tend to be the ones that cost you money or a reference later.
Here's what to do, roughly in the order you should do it.
Eight to four weeks before your end date
Confirm your end-of-employment date in writing. Get this from your manager or HR contact, in an email or message you can refer back to. The exact date matters for your final pay calculation, holiday pay accrual, and accommodation notice periods. Verbal agreements get misremembered.
If you want to extend your season, start now. Moving to another resort in the same hemisphere for the tail end of the season, or lining up a southern hemisphere placement for winter (New Zealand, Australia, Argentina, Chile), requires applications months in advance. The good jobs fill early. If this is on your mind, don't wait until week one of your notice period.
If you're returning to university or a job at home, confirm your start dates. Build in a buffer between your last day at the resort and your first commitment back home. Travel delays, deposit returns, and general chaos mean you don't want zero slack in the schedule.
Two weeks before
Give accommodation notice as per your contract. Most monthly tenancy arrangements in resort require two to four weeks' notice. Check the exact term in your contract before you say anything — you don't want to be liable for an extra month's rent because you gave informal notice a day late.
Sell or ship equipment you don't want to fly home. Good second-hand ski and snowboard gear holds value well at end of season, especially if you're selling locally. Resort Facebook groups, staff WhatsApp networks, and local ski shops (some buy second-hand gear outright) are the fastest channels. Shipping skis home is expensive; selling and re-buying next season is often better economics.
Return employer-provided equipment before it becomes a debt. Radios, uniform pieces, master keys, lockers — go through your contract and make a list of everything that was issued to you. Return it before your last day, and get some form of confirmation that it was received. Kit that's still officially in your name when you leave can be deducted from your final wages.
The final week
Chase any outstanding wages, overtime, and holiday pay before your last day. Contact payroll directly — don't assume it'll be sorted automatically. Accrued holiday pay in particular often requires a specific request or form to be paid out on termination. Once you've left the country, resolving payroll disputes becomes significantly harder.
Get your payslips in order. You'll need them for tax refund claims in your host country — see our tax guide. Download any digital payslips now, before you lose access to the employer's payroll system.
Get a reference letter from your employer. This is much easier to arrange while you're still there and the relationship is fresh. Ask your direct manager, not HR, and be specific about what you'd like it to cover — your role, dates of employment, any notable responsibilities. A vague reference is almost useless; a specific one is gold for your next season application.
Return accommodation keys and collect your deposit. Do a formal walkthrough with the landlord or accommodation manager and get the deposit return agreed in writing before you leave. Disputes over deposits are infinitely harder to resolve once you're in a different country.
Cancel or update local subscriptions. Local SIM card, gym membership, any streaming service you signed up for locally — go through your bank statements from the past month and cancel anything that will otherwise keep charging. Update your address on anything that might send correspondence, including the local tax authority — refund paperwork can arrive months after you've gone.
Decide what to do with your local bank account. If there's any chance you'll return to the same country next season, keep it open — it's easier to reactivate a dormant account than to open a new one. Definitely keep it open until your final salary payment has cleared and any tax refund has arrived.
The social side — don't skip this
Exchange contact details with the people who matter. Resort communities feel permanent while you're in them; they scatter very fast once lifts close. March and April are the months when people disappear to different countries without much ceremony. If you want to stay in touch with someone, make that effort explicitly now.
Take photos of the resort on a good day. Sounds obvious, but in the last week you're often stressed and distracted. Set aside an hour on a clear morning before it's over.
Most resorts have an end-of-season staff party. Go, even if you're tired. These events tend to compress a lot of the season's best memories into one night, and the connections that come out of them sometimes lead to the next job.
When you're home
File for your tax refund. Most seasonaires who worked a five-month season were overtaxed at source. The refund won't come automatically — you have to file for it in your host country. See our tax guide for the country-by-country breakdown. This is worth doing. It's often several hundred euros.
Update your CV immediately. Do it within the first week of being home, while the specifics are fresh. Don't just list "chalet host" or "lift operator" — include concrete details: how many guests, what qualifications you gained, specific situations where you took initiative or solved problems. A season is real professional experience; present it that way.
If you want to return next season, put the job search date in your calendar now. The best resort positions for the following season are posted in June and July and filled by October. If you wait until November to start looking, you'll be choosing from what's left. The time to act is during summer, when it feels too early.
The transition
The end of a season is jarring for most people. You go from a tight-knit community with shared purpose and daily structure to being back in your home town without any of that. Post-season blues are a real and well-documented phenomenon in the seasonaire community. Give yourself a few weeks to decompress rather than immediately trying to replicate the intensity.
And if you haven't decided where to go next, explore the resort database — comparing seasons before you apply is a better use of that quiet period than scrolling job boards before you've figured out where you actually want to be.
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