The growth of summer tourism provides winter resorts with a chance to augment their current revenue streams and strengthen their staffs as well as the bottom line. But summer operations also require the same level of attention and expertise, and therein lies a challenge. How to navigate this environment? Resorts from across North America met at SAM’s 6th Annual Summer Ops Camp Sept. 9-11 at Camelback, Pa., to find out. Here are some takeaways and themes that emerged.

1) The Data Trends Don't Lie, Summer Growth Outpaces Winter.

Trevor Crist, CEO of Inntopia, presented data from his company and DestiMetrics that showed the steady pace of growth in summer revenues at winter resort communities in both East and West. Of particular interest to operators is the incredible growth in revenues since the 2008 economic crash. Winter revenues since have rebounded 4.5 percent compared to pre-crash 2007 levels, summer revenues, 45 percent. Summer is growing, and there are no signs it will slow down anytime soon.

2) How To Apply The Same Level Of Care To Summer Business As Winter?

This theme applied to decisions and actions taken on issues such as customer service, marketing, staffing, and risk management. The consensus seemed to be that many resorts display a more relaxed mindset in the summer, which can be a problem: risk exposure in summer can be greater than in winter, as summer activities lack the protection afforded by ski statutes.

The reasons for this more relaxed attitude are many: summer still doesn’t pull in the number of visitors or revenue as winter; staff burnout (especially for those used to getting the summer off); and resorts typically offer several different attractions instead of the one big one, as in winter.

At the same time, summer activities often draw an audience that is new to the resort. They don’t know their way around. And while the facilities are familiar to staff, the summer activities that utilize them bring a whole new set of skill requirements, expertise, and attitude. They require heightened attention to detail, even if the location is familiar. All these factors require greater awareness on the part of management and employees, not less.

3) Summer Branding- It's Not What You Are Used To.

The nature of summer operations dictates changes in how resorts communicate with and market to guests, and even in how resorts brand themselves. As a result, many resorts are grappling with different consumer behaviors, market trends, and demographics when shifting to the multi-season model.

Camelback itself, with its mature Camelbeach outdoor waterpark, more recent Mountain Adventures park (aerial treetop course, zip lines, mountain coaster, Segway tours), and brand-new Camelback Lodge and Aquatopia indoor waterpark, provided a great case study.

The resort has been refining the guest experience at Camelbeach for years, and shared its experiences with attendees. That stretched from the extensive landscaping of the entire base area and how the resort protects the summer infrastructure during winter operations to the evolution of its picnic areas and cabanas, which give families and groups a range of meeting spots and hangouts.

Marketing VP Brian Czarnecki described how Camelback markets each of its summer attractions differently, even as it cross-promotes them extensively. All three have their own websites, and are not simply a tab on the Camelback website (though they have that, too). Camelbeach and Aquatopia receive a lot of push marketing aimed at attracting guests by positioning these attractions as the biggest, greatest of their kind. For the Mountain Adventures park, though, Czarnecki relies on Google ad words to pull Google searchers from other adventure parks, piggy-backing on the advertising other parks are doing. The overall brand for Camelback’s diverse activities is “the mountain moves you,” which succinctly sums up the resort’s appeal.

4) Prioritizing, Implementing, And Finding Your Summer Capital

Resorts are quickly learning to adopt financial modeling as a means of grappling with the difficulty of gaining access to capital. SE Group’s Claire Humber and Greg Goddard of Gunstock, N.H., presented a case study in planning. SE Group analyzed Gunstock’s summer market, identified activities it could expand or institute, and then helped schedule implementation over several years. Gunstock was able to roll out new businesses in a way that minimizes the need for capital: High-income, quick-ROI activities came first, and fund much of the later additions. Careful sequencing of projects made the difference between “go” and “no go” for the entire plan.

5) Creating The Ultimate Summer Guest Experience Was On Everyone's Mind

One camper asked, “How do we approach site design from the standpoint of maximizing the guest experience, whether through creative waypoint design, value added additions from the small ticket items, large attractions, landscaping, or facility beautification projects?” To answer that question, Joe Hession of Snow Operating applied the concepts of process mapping and process cycle efficiency to summer ops. His presentation demonstrated the need to examine the experience at every step of the way.

6) Summer Staffing Can Create Headaches

Even with decades of summer ops experience, Camelback continues to refine its hiring/training/retention of employees. Where and how do you train your staff for these new activities? How do you cover the shoulder seasons? How do you prevent staff burnout? When do you take a seasonal employee and turn him or her into a full-timer? GM Charles Blier explained some of the company’s solutions to these issues, but conceded that it’s a challenging time to be a manager.

7) Nothing Beats Personal Experience

To truly understand the customer experience, campers were given multiple opportunities to live it. This included nighttime zip line, mountain coaster, and tubing adventures; an evening with Aquatopia’s FlowRider, wave pool, and water slides; and offsite tours to Mountain Creek Bike Park, Blue Mountain’s Summer Aerial Park and highly successful F&B operation, and the TreeVentures Adventure Park at Fernwood Resort.

Next year’s Summer Ops Camp goes west and will build on these themes, as will several articles in SAM over the coming year. The momentum for summer business will continue to grow, and with it, so will the financial benefits of getting involved in an intelligent, prudent way.