The need to cool customers down to keep them comfortable might seem odd to winter resort operators. After all, warmth, not cooling off, has historically been the chief comfort challenge for skiers and riders. In the last two decades or so, the proliferation of enclosed trams, heated gondolas, and bubble chairs to shield lift riders from the cold and wind, not to mention the addition of on-mountain restaurants and shelters as warming refuges, have gone a long way to increasing customers’ comfort level.

But summer brings with it an opposite quest for cooling, and for sun protection. And with non-winter business grabbing a larger share of the overall activity at many resorts, the flip side of the comfort issue is literally becoming exposed: with no shelter from the hot sun, summer resort visitors are at risk of overheating. Put another way, shade is an important component of summer business that can be—and often is—over-looked.

Savvy summer ops managers have been through all that, and have discovered several ways to create shaded areas, and even water-cooled ones, to keep customers cool and comfy.

Shade can be provided by at least three types of structures: permanent, convertible (i.e., adaptable from winter use), and temporary. These are supplemented, of course, by what can be considered incidental shade: that provided by buildings, trees, and other features that are simply part of any area’s infrastructure and environment.


ACCOMMODATING SUMMER
For most resorts, the decision on what sort of shade structures make the most sense can be heavily influenced by the interface between winter and summer operations. Zones that might serve well as shade havens in the summer may have to be cleared or reconfigured in the winter for an entirely different function. In that case, convertible or temporary structures are most practical.

Those winter resorts that are already well-established in summer ops have done a lot of the spadework in this area. Camelback ski area in Pennsylvania becomes reinvented in summer as Camelbeach Water Park. One fairly straightforward solution Camelbeach offers for respite from the heat is to air-condition a portion of the base lodge. Outdoors, Camelbeach also installs 20-foot-diameter “funbrellas,” according to general manager Charles Blier, that provide ample shade and can easily be removed to make space for winter operations.

A third solution at Camelbeach not only provides sun relief for customers, but also produces a revenue stream for the resort: cabanas. Waterpark visitors can rent cabanas of various sizes by the day, and can even reserve them on-line. Having a cabana allows guests to “make it a part of their base camp,” according to Blier. And it encourages guests to spend the day at the Beach, which has a way of increasing the revenue per guest.

Camelbeach introduced the cabanas in 2008, and they have proven to be successful enough that the resort is increasing its cabana fleet to nearly 50 this summer. “We’ve been selling out,” says Blier. “That’s why we’re getting more.” As with the funbrellas, the cabanas can be removed and stored away to make room for winter ops.


CREATING AN ENVIRONMENT
Park City Mountain Resort in Utah, given its elevation above the hot, semi-arid summer climate of nearby Salt Lake City, by its very nature represents a retreat from the heat for city dwellers. But while daytime summer temperatures are typically 10 to 20 degrees cooler than in Salt Lake, midday temps in the 80s and even 90s are still common, and the high-altitude sun can be intense. Putting up summer shade structures, says Park City guest services director Tom Pettigrew, is not just a matter of providing guests shelter from the sun’s heat; in a larger sense, it is about creating mini-environments that make a summer visit that much more appealing. “You have to create a whole feel around it,” he says.

That might mean positioning shade structures in such a way as to maximize mountain views or access to food-and-beverage outlets. According to Pettigrew, Park City relies on two older, rectangular structures, where guests can enjoy milkshakes, fries and burgers, as well as three, temporary “sail” structures produced by Utah-based Wicked Shade (wickedshade.com). These canvas structures are relatively easy to install and remove, although Pettigrew says that stability in wind must be considered. Still, Wicked Shade claims the structures can withstand gusts up to 90 miles an hour. And they do the trick at Park City: Pettigrew says the sail structures have been so successful that the resort is contemplating adding more to its fleet.

The comfort of a shady environment might benefit guests, but for resorts, the benefits can go right to the bottom line. If guests congregate in comfortable, shady zones, those zones can then become nodes for revenue generation. Food and beverage, souvenirs, sunblock, clothing, etc.— all represent ways to generate revenue by, to borrow Pettigrew’s words, creating “a whole feel.” In short, a shaded environment should be seen as an opportunity to maximize the guest experience while drawing some revenue from it.

The second piece of the revenue picture is guest retention. This, too, is a relatively new concept for winter resorts, whose winter visitors tend to come for the day (or longer). But summer guests might stay for an hour or so if there’s not enough to hold their interest. Shade can do that. As Mark Weston, senior design project manager for Whitewater West, says, “If you keep guests comfortable, they’ll stay longer. And if they stay longer, your per-cap revenue is larger.” Time is money.


OTHER COOL(ING) IDEAS
At least two other methods of keeping customers cool are starting to attract resort managers. One, which has become quite popular at European resorts but is just establishing a beachhead in the U.S., is the Umbrella Bar. Consisting of a fabric umbrella-like roof and glass walls, Umbrella Bars come in various sizes—a 30-foot-diameter circle or a 30-by-30-foot square are common sizes—and in fixed and moveable configurations.

Umbrella Bars have some useful features. The walls are made of glass panels, and alternating panels can be opened for air circulation. Opened or not, the glass walls maximize mountain scenery. The bars are also typically large enough to incorporate food-and-beverage service, as well as musical entertainment. And they are mobile, if not exactly portable. A 25-by-25-foot mobile unit, according to Tom McHugh of Umbrella Bars USA (umbrellabarsusa.com), weighs about 4,000 pounds, but can be moved from place to place on wheels.

A big plus for Umbrella Bars is that they can be fully enclosed by the glass walls, and can thus double for winter duty. And they are classic examples of comfort zones being integrated with revenue zones. Killington Resort in Vermont, for example, installed Umbrella Bars as a quick fix for winter ops after a base lodge was severely damaged in the fall of 2011 by Tropical Storm Irene. The bars have since become valuable F&B assets, both summer and winter.

A second cooling solution that is gaining traction is fanned misting, a method that bears similarities to snowmaking technology. Water is forced through a nozzle and vaporized, providing a cool (but not wet) fog. Camelbeach uses misting as a means to cool down customers who are waiting in line for park rides. Pettigrew says that Park City is looking into misting as well. “Fan-based misters are next on our list of things to add,” he says.

The choice of shade structure (or cooling method) will ultimately be determined by a variety of factors. But any structure that directly or indirectly produces a revenue stream makes the most sense. And a solution that can perform summer/winter duty (e.g., an Umbrella Bar) also makes budgetary sense, though it may not always be practical.

Finally, there are architectural considerations. Do the size, shape, and color of an installation blend in with a resort’s general layout and other structures to present an inviting environment? Once you’ve settled on the size structure you want, most companies that produce shade structures and cooling systems are reasonably flexible in customizing designs for a specific client.

As summer operations increase at mountain resorts around the world, operators need to become more attuned to the unique needs of summer guests. Staying cool in the hot summer sun is one of those unique needs. And as winter resorts become more experienced with summer ops, they are learning that a cool customer is a happy customer, and a happy customer is, most likely, a spending customer.

Shade and other essential summer subjects will be on the agenda at the SAM Summer Ops Camp, Sept. 15-17 at Attitash, N.H. For details, go to www.saminfo.com/summer-ops-camp.