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INDUSTRY EVENTS MOUNTAIN TRAVEL SYMPOSIUM — APRIL 2-8, 2006 During the annual weeklong Mountain Travel Symposium, held in Squaw Valley, California, 1,040 mountain travel professionals representing 135 North American ski clubs, 100 tour operating companies and sales representatives from lodging properties and transportation outlets met for an exchange of ideas, business negotiations and social gatherings. Featured at the 31st annual symposium were a bevy of interactive workshops aimed at increasing mountain travel. The sessions varied from website design and online strategy to marketing mandates—with many sessions featuring individuals familiar to ski-resort managers.Break Convention, Then Break Records Dr. Robert Kreigel, best selling author and change advocate, challenged the traditional way resorts think about and market their businesses. In his keynote session, he urged his audiences to anticipate and then keep ahead of the changes, challenges and competition in the current travel marketplace. “Selling is about connecting,” he said. “You have to do things that get you into the action.” A pioneer in the field of sports psychology, Dr. Kreigel explained that one key to success, in business as in sports, is being in “the zone.” If the passion level is kept high in your organization, then the confidence level rises and so too does your victory log. “You need to grab ideas, give them energy and get pumped,” he said. “Being in the zone is the letting go of fear and trusting your passion, and getting close to your instincts.” Among the smaller group sessions with particular relevance to resort managers: Branding: Development and Delivery Julie Maurer, vice president of sales and marketing for Booth Creek resorts, addressed how mountain resort businesses can develop and deliver their product and position themselves for maximum success. And that means brand differentiation. “We all have hotels, grooming, terrain parks and similar pricing,” she said. “What makes a guest choose one modern winter resort over another?” Targeting guests with an emotional relationship to your resort is key: Give them a product where they are made to feel special, possibly even better about themselves—where they feel prestige and a sense of being part of a select group. To make a lasting impression, she said, define your brand position in a true, simple and distinct relationship. “What’s your resort message?” she asked her listeners. “Is your resort about chairlifts or romance? Is it about trails or adventure?” Finally, a company’s integrity towards its branding can determine the guest’s experience as much as the product itself—because branding affects your employees, too. “There has to be leadership towards helping the employee understand a resort’s positioning in the marketplace,” Maurer said. “Brand integrity creates harmony in a company. It helps people better understand what the company represents, which in turn motivates and unites employees.” The Virtue and Value of Mountain Culture In arguably the most entertaining session of all the workshops, Perkins Miller, senior vice president of business group, Intrawest Colorado, encouraged industry players to promote mountain culture. Showing video clips from “Fast Times at Ridgemont High,” the surf film “Riding Giants” and the mainstream ski movie “Out Cold,” Miller asked, “How can resort businesses inspire travelers to their culture?” What can the ski industry learn from a surf business that has inspired hoards of non-surfing beach enthusiasts into buying into its fashion and culture? Miller mocked the misleading winter sports caricatures in clips from “Out Cold” and implored the snowsport industry to cultivate and embrace more of a sense of mystery and adventure to counteract the comical stereotype. “The ski industry needs to take the same fuel from the surf culture to touch people who have never skied or snowboarded before,” he said. “We need to market what it means to be a skier or snowboarder. If surfing can sell its culture beyond the beach, then mountain resorts need to sell health, romance and their sports beyond the mountains.” Miller declared the ski industry should acquire a surf’s-up mentality. “We need to come up with branding that teases and promotes interest,” he concluded. Marketing to The Core Veteran ski industry leader David Perry, senior vice president of marketing for the Aspen Ski Company, challenged attendees to remember what made their companies successful in the first place. “We need to identify, incorporate and listen to our core participants who embody what our activities and culture are all about,” said Perry. “They are the ones who have the most powerful emotional connection to living and playing in the mountains.” To Perry, these “core” groups are not just leaders, but the ones who embrace those new trends and attitudes that can take business to the Promised Land. Using Aspen as an example of a once one-dimensional stereotype ski town of the rich and famous, Perry cited how Aspen eventually reinvented itself and once more attracts a spirited and youthful clientele. “We needed a makeover in order to balance out the market. We were in need of an attitude adjustment, so we shook up the old stereotypes,” he admitted. “We opened black diamond terrain with a new lift. We hosted the X-Games and presented free concerts downtown. We transformed the beginner Buttermilk area into a snowboarder’s mountain. We listened to the core and embraced new trends and their ideas.” Were there ever any conflicts between the old and new? “Of course,” he said. “But nothing that wasn’t able to eventually co-exist in harmony.” Needs and Expectations of the Community Ski Lake Tahoe executive director Carl Ribaubo spoke of the changing fabric of the ski resort community. Years ago, resort dynamics were simpler. Off-season meant off-season. Employees could afford to buy a starter home and live in the same town that they worked. Today, there is year-round economic activity. There are workforce housing issues as well as the environmental impacts of traffic and the need for more services. “Resort companies and organizations need to tap into the community’s needs as much as those of the consumer,” said Ribaudo. “Recognizing community needs goes beyond skier days, market share and real estate impacts. Are a resort’s goals good not just for the economy, but for the environment and the community?” Ribaudo cited Heavenly’s recent redevelopment in downtown South Lake Tahoe as an example of ski resort/community cooperation and betterment. Heavenly’s gondola serves multiple purposes—it was built not only for the visitor’s ski experience, but also to reduce vehicle miles traveled at the lake. “It’s become a centerpiece for the community and a symbolic source of pride to all,” he noted. The Future of Online Mountain Travel Online travel has fueled a $235 billion industry in the United States. Vacationers are becoming more and more technically savvy. Their research, planning and purchasing is wrapped up in a data flow only found online. “The skeptics, the ones who felt that online travel wasn’t personal enough, are now out of business,” said Philip Wolf, founder of PhoCusWrightInc. Where is online activity headed? Wolf shared his view with attendees. “What fueled the online travel revolution in the past decade? It wasn’t deep pockets or luck.” He cited bold strategies and smart people and organizations taking advantage of the technology of the Internet. For example, Wolf noted that mountain travel operators have an exclusive ability to persuade potential guests by providing more detailed information online, such as maps and inside tips, even renting equipment—what he calls “arcane and nuanced” information. “An active and informative website is the key to rising above competitive services such as Travelocity, Expedia and Orbitz,” he advised. “The travel industry is the world’s largest industry for a reason. Man’s appetite for exploration is insatiable,” said Wolf. “The next trip beckons no matter what is happening in the world. Online travel needs to push forth more and more robust and new applications to sell consumers what they want. Success deals most of all with solving problems for the customer.” Text and photos by Robert Frohlich
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