Bob Lee, president of Colorado Ski Holidays, has spent the past couple of years voicing his opinions about the poor quality of ski area condominium accommodations. Ski areas managements have generally accepted, and even shared, Lee’s concerns: the availability of shoddy accommodations undermine the integrity of a resort’s condo rental program and ultimately the resort itself. This remains true even when the questionable lodgings are not offered through the central reservations system. After several years of upgrading the overall picture is improving, but eradicating the worst accommodations might still take some years.
“The basic problem is the quality of condominiums is uneven,” says Lee. “And a small percentage of accommodations, especially at resorts that grew quickly in the 60s, 70s and even 80s, are nowhere close to the standard of the other accommodations offered or even what would be deemed acceptable. These condos and rental units have never received upgrades in decor and furnishings. Typical are shag carpets and outdated appliances such as televisions without remotes, tired and faded bedspreads and sagging mattresses. But these units are sold and rented at the same price as higher quality units that have been fully upgraded.”
Mr. Lee accepts that most central reservations put these unacceptable accommodations at the bottom of their list. But at the peak times of Christmas, Presidents Day and spring Break, most resorts are fully booked so there is enough demand to rent even the worst units.
Al Noble, executive director of sales and ticketing at Park City, Utah says, “We rent 90 percent of the accommodations in the town and we rate everything we rent. But even if we tell renters that the only thing available is our lowest grade, they are disappointed to be paying $500 per night.”
No one wants to point fingers but apart from Park City, Bob Lee mentions Aspen, Snowmass, Crested Butte and Winter Park as having problems. He adds “Folks at Vail are pretty worried about some of the stuff they have in their town. And the only thing we will be booking in south Lake Tahoe this season will be Harvey’s and Embassy Suites.”
However, he stresses that the situation is slowly improving with areas such as Aspen which is now introducing pricing by category and he expresses confidence that Vail Resorts are committed to improving the situation. Either way, Colorado Ski Holidays have started booking only premier accommodations and informing resorts that they are not interested in taking a risk on economy units.
Ultimately the initiative must come from the ski areas themselves.
The problem comes down to supply and demand. If a condo owner knows that their unit will be rented in peak season there is little inducement to upgrade which is often an expensive proposition.
And if the ski areas remove units from their rental program the same unit can be rented directly by the owner or by a property management company that works outside the central reservations system. But even if some property management companies are reluctant to pressure owners, who can easily switch to another company, property managers remain the primary button which ski areas can push for improvement.
Monica Bandeaus, public relations for Heavenly Valley, Calif., says that all properties in their system are inspected by the manager of the travel office who regularly does site visits, including drop-ins. Key things looked for are cleanliness and the availability of 24-hour service and check-in.
Heavenly contracts with a total of 41 different property companies including motels, but will not deal directly with individual owners. The management companies set the price of rentals.
“Last year we dropped one property company because the units were not up to standard and they were unwilling to fix them,” says Bandeaus. “The few complaints we get are always passed on immediately to the company. We try and act as go-between and move people immediately if there is a problem and then step in to sort out refund issues.”
“Ultimately a lot of maintaining a quality program is based on building good long term relationships with the management companies,” Bandeaus said.
Boyne Mountain and Boyne Highland in Michigan have two condo developments (with a third opening this season) and a few townhouses totaling 650 non-hotel beds at their two midwest resorts. But problems still occur, says Jeff Vinson, director of rooms and reservations.
“We do tours and inspections and check the maintenance and furnishing of all accommodations,” he says. “We also have a condo owners association and our own liaison officer sits on the board.”
But after some ongoing problems the company issued a moratorium last year requiring all unit owners or managers to cooperate in the inspections and make necessary improvements.
“We inspected again last spring and dropped quite a few units. As a result we saw almost no complaints during this past summer golf season,” says Vinson.
The resort’s central reservations deals with both management companies and private owners but uses its own staff on call 24 hours a day to deal with any problems. The resort also determines what the rental price of units in its system will be, based on size of unit.
Like many resorts, Park City has only identified the bottom-end condo issue in the past couple of years. Their approach remains one of steady persuasion.
“We have tried increasingly to be partners with management companies. We held meetings during the summer and pointed out that owners need to get rid of the shag carpets. We share complaint letters and encourage owners and managers to act but, to be honest, we wish there was more we could do. The best we can claim is steady improvement,” says Al Noble.
One area that has shown results through a concerted effort is Keystone in Colorado which now has 1050 units in its system.
“We have three categories of units: Gold, Silver and Bronze. Gold units are brand new, while silver are basically the same but showing a few signs of wear. Bronze is simply a “holding” grade where unsatisfactory condos are put on probation while making needed improvements.” says Luke Slotto executive director of sales and ticketing at Keystone.
“Three years ago we identified about 150 units to which we gave the lowest rating. Since then 30 to 40 of the units have been dropped, 90 did the required upgrades and were recategorized and 30 are currently in a phased program of improvement.
“We review every property every year and tell owners not only what must be done immediately but also what will be required the following year. Each year our minimum requirements go up to reflect increasing customer expectations. Every unit must now have a VCR and there must be a second television. There is a growing list of required kitchen items.”
Keystone also passes on to owners the cost benefits of bulk purchases on items such as VCRs, beds and carpeting.
“Not only can we greatly reduce the price of improvements but we also ensure this is the hardest ‘renter-proof’ furnishing we can find,” says Slotto.
Although Keystone has achieved good results it is still unable to control units outside its accommodation system. And certain fundamentals still keep shoddy accommodations available. Although rapid property development at many resorts pushes up overall quality and makes more units available, lessening demand for the worst units and growing owner occupancy of units restrict the supply of rental beds. And while there are few short term reasons for management companies to drop offending condos, ski areas have few means to make them.
With no available stick, perhaps ski areas should investigate possible carrots. For example few areas seem to have sufficiently investigated the availability of local or state tax breaks for improving rental and investment properties— another outlet to create the best customer experience possible.
