Between the weather and the economy, it has been a tough summer.

“We’re down 2.7 percent this summer and are pretty proud of that compared to what we’ve heard is happening at a lot of resorts,” says Stacey Doll, PR director at Mt. Washington Hotel, N.H.

“It’s similar to what happened after 9/11,” says Troy Fischer, assistant operations manager at Mt. Hood Skibowl, which offers summer visitors more than 20 activities. “People are not flying, they’re not taking long trips. They’re doing shorter, local trips.”

Destination resorts can vouch for that. “Sixty-five, 70 percent of our business in the summer is meetings and conventions,” says Jack Sibbach, sales and marketing director at Sun Valley, Ida. “That has dried up, particularly the financial sector. We call it the AIG effect.”

Still, it’s not all gloom. In Michigan, which has the nation’s highest unemployment rate, Boyne reports double-digit increases in golf packages. Golf at Shanty Creek, Mich., is up three percent in rounds and prebookings. And even water parks in the unusually wet and cool northeast have had their moments.

“We’ve definitely had an unseasonable amount of precipitation,” says Ricky Durst, the recently departed PR manager at Camelbeach, Pa. “But the other side is that it has created a lot of cabin fever. As soon as we get a nice day, people are anxious to get outside and enjoy it. Our numbers are very strong.”


What’s New Pussycat?
New attractions have helped many ski resorts maintain summer business levels despite economic and weather woes. One big example: Whistler’s Peak2Peak gondola has been “huge,” reports Christina Moore, PR manager. “About 75 percent of our guests are coming up particularly to see and ride the gondola. It’s opened up new products on Blackcomb—hiking, restaurants. Our summer business has been trending well.”

At Bretton Woods, N.H., the new canopy tour, the nation’s longest and highest zipline tour, is “amazingly busy,” Doll says. “It’s definitely not a walk-in. You need reservations. People are booking as much as a month in advance.” The resort is running nine full tours of eight participants each on Saturday and Sunday and most weekdays. Cost of the 3-1/2 hour tour is $110, $99 for hotel guests. In addition to the 10 ziplines, ranging from 100 to 830 feet in length and up to 250 feet high, the tour includes discussions of local flora and fauna.

The resort also offers a dual racing zip, two golf courses and a variety of other outdoor activities. Doll says the rainy weather has impacted some of those activities, particularly golf. Still, the resort is just off last summer’s levels.

“In this economic climate, you tend to see people staying closer to home,” Doll says. “We’re benefiting from that.” Similarly, staycations and a new summer ski and snowboard ramp and rails are also helping Camelback beat bad weather and a bad economy.

And that could continue over to winter operations. “We saw a significant spike in season pass sales this summer,” Durst says. “We see that as a consistent trend from the winter ski season. More folks are looking to stay local, and are a little more discerning with their discretionary spending.”

Camelbeach’s new ski and ride feature has added a lot of excitement to the water park, Durst says. “It’s very cool to see twin tips and snowboards mingling with flip flops. We’ve gotten tremendous feedback from kids about how authentic it feels and how excited they are to work out their skills over the summer.” The resort has hosted one rail jam and is planning several more. The feature will also help Camelback extend its summer season beyond Labor Day when the water park closes.

“It’s a conscious decision on our part to push the level of excitement and try to appeal to those freestyle enthusiasts who are constantly looking for the next new thing,” Durst says.


Weather Or Not
It’s hard to say what has had more impact on resorts’ summer business: The unseasonable weather—either too cold and too wet, or too hot and too dry, depending on where you are—or the economic recession, which is bad just about everywhere.

At Mt. Hood Skibowl, the impact has been a little more clearcut: The economy has hurt company outings and meetings. But the hot and dry weather has boosted day visits. “Our day usage is very solid,” Fischer says. “The weather’s been so dry and hot, people have been coming up here just because it’s a little cooler. They can get a breeze on the chairlift and make their own breeze on the Alpine Slide. We’ve also tried to incorporate water where we can. We have sprinklers around and spray people as they come down the zipline. We’ve even been advertising, ‘Come up where it’s cooler.’”

Rainy and cool weather has hurt business at Snowshoe, W.V., which hosts a major event every weekend in the summer to go along with a big dose of outdoor activities. “We’ve had a day of rain pretty much every weekend event we’ve had,” says Laura Parquette, communications manager.

All the events are rainproof, but even so, “the excitement is lost,” she says. Add in a shorter booking window, and if there is rain in the forecast, there’s no “motivating factor” for people to come.

At the same time, Parquette admits the resort is benefiting from the staycation trend. Ditto for Park City, Utah, just a short drive from Salt Lake City. “We’ve been busy,” says Krista Perry, communications manager. “I think people are vacationing closer to home.” It doesn’t hurt that Park City has a wide variety of summer attractions, from Alpine Slides and ziplines to amusement rides and mountain biking.

Barbara Thomke, marketing manager at Smuggler’s Notch, Vt., which runs a huge family summer activity program, thinks the weak economy is having more of an impact on the resort’s lower numbers than the rainy, cool weather. “Our length of stay is usually around 5 to 7 days,” Thomke says. “This year it’s 3 to 6 days. We think it’s mostly due to the economy. Another indicator is that guests are booking very last minute. They’re making a very quick decision whether to come.”

As for the weather effect, Thomke says it does not seem to bother guests. “Not a lot of guests have been complaining about the weather like they do in the winter. They seem better able to cope with rain in the summer than bad weather in the winter,” she notes.


Putting Around
Finally, a word about golf and Michigan, ground zero for much of the country’s economic woes. While both Boyne and Shanty Creek report healthy increases, they credit different approaches. Shanty Creek has heavily marketed golf with lots of value adds; Boyne, with strippeddown packages.

“We introduced a new economy package,” says Erin Ernst, PR manager for Boyne’s eight Michigan courses. “We also stripped away some of the extras, like breakfast, which can be added back in. People are looking for lodging and golf.”

Shanty Creek, on the other hand, fresh off a $10 million renovation and boasting three hotels and four courses, is offering “a lot of value-added packages that don’t cost us a lot of money but give consumers a lot of perceived value,” says Lindsey Southwell, marketing manager. Things like kids eat and stay free, even golf free at certain courses, along with extra food and beverage vouchers. “We’re ecstatic we’re up,” Southwell says. “It hasn’t been a rock star summer for anyone.”