Fewer but bigger tents, more booking agents and a more diversified product will greet attendees at this fall’s consumer ski shows. As merger mania continues to sweep the industry, more ski areas than ever will be crowded under single umbrellas. In Boston, all nine American Skiing Company resorts will be under the big ASC tent. Almost no one goes solo anymore. Even Jackson Hole, Wyo., one of the few big independent ski resorts left, often teams up with Big Sky, Mont. and Sun Valley, Idaho to exhibit; sometimes it pals up with Taos, N.M.
“We feel we get a bigger presence that way,” said Bill Lewkowitz, Jackson Hole sales director.
Size does have its rewards. “One of the neat things about being part of ASC is that a lot of promoters come to us first for positioning in the show,” said Chuck Donnelly, director of sales at Sunday River, Maine and coordinator of sales for ASC East.
Donnelly said Sunday River will be exhibiting at about 50 shows in the U.S. and Europe, either as part of all nine ASC resorts or the six ASC East resorts. Taking money and closing deals is part of ASC’s show strategy this fall.
“Each show will have a different show package unique to that show,” Donnelly said. “That way we can track the business a little better from that show’s 800 number and fill early season specials.”
Packages will also be limited in number to create urgency and encourage on-site reservations. At Boston, for instance, Donnelly said about 1,000 packages will be offered with a special discount if purchased right at the show. As another incentive to get skiers to buy the show package, Donnelly said part of each package price will be donated to charity. “We’ll have telesales agents ready to take people’s money and book right there.”
Most of the other major resorts will also be offering what Lewkowitz at Jackson Hole calls a “call to action”—special travel, lift, lodging packages from the show’s host city. Some will book at the show, but most of the reservations are made after the show.
“We’ve tried setting up online booking stations at certain shows, but the response has been very small,” said Steve Swenson, director of travel industry sales for Vail Resort Management Co., which will be under the same umbrella with sister resorts Keystone, Breckenridge and Beaver Creek. “People are very interested in price, and checking on availability of different weekends, but for the most part the consumer is not quite ready to make the reservation yet. Vacation decisions need to be made in discussions in the family and group.”
“We’ve tried to take reservations at the consumer shows in the past, but people are just not prepared to make a reservation then,” added Debbie Moore, marketing director at Waterville Valley, N.H., which will be under the Booth Creek tent with neighboring Loon and Cranmore. “Nowadays it’s so easy to make a reservation. You can call the area’s 800 number or jump on the Internet. I think if you can get people to know about your different programs, and where to find your 800 number and how to find you on the Internet, that’s the key at the consumer shows.”
Waterville this year will again be bringing its Vert ramp to some of the larger shows. It’s a skateboard ramp but appeals to snowboarders and young people attending the shows. Appealing to youth with a more diversified product is the key objective for many resorts this year. Seven Springs, Pa., will be bringing snow tubes, parabolic skis, short skis and snowboards with step-in bindings to its ski shows. “All of those sports are bringing a lot of people to the resort that don’t ski,” said Bob Duppstadt, public relations manager.
Other resorts, including the ASC areas, will be attending more mall shows this year in an effort to appeal to a wider audience. “There’s a higher percentage of nonskiers at the mall shows where our focus will be on our learn-to-ski programs,” Donnelly said. The company will also feature a virtual reality computer video of Olympic champion Jonny Mosely at the mall shows to give attendees the feeling of jumping off cliffs and busting through moguls.
Mission Ridge, Wash., will be making a pitch for the younger crowd at the Seattle ski show by sending a younger staff. “We’ll be sending more 20-somethings to the show,” said Alison Girard, marketing director.
For the first time, Mission Ridge will be under the umbrella with its new Harbor Resort Co. sister properties, Steven’s Pass and Freestone Inn. They will also be partnering with a Seattle coffee shop. In addition to selling coffee (“Seattle people love coffee,” Girard said), Mission Ridge will be selling lift passes and anything else it can think of.
“It’s very expensive to attend the shows,” she said. “I think a lot of areas are trying to find ways to bring some revenue in from the shows because of that.”
At Mt. La Crosse, Wisc., owner Ted Motschman said some of the shows—particularly the spring shows—have gotten so expensive and attendees less interested in actually making reservations that he “may stay home in the future and save a couple thousand bucks.”
Motschman has already stopped going to one spring show, where many groups and clubs used to make their reservations for the next season, and this fall is committed to only one consumer show—Chicago.
“I don’t think the fall shows have the electricity they used to have,” admitted Michael Cobb, vice president of marketing at Stratton, Vt. “They’re just another tool to communicate with people who enjoy winter.”
“All of our research shows that very few people say they have taken a trip to Jackson Hole because they went to a ski show,” added Lewkowitz.
Then why do ski areas go to the shows? “We don’t have a lot of money to be on TV and radio and print in all of our markets,” explained Tammy Anstedt, destination sales manager at Heavenly, Calif. “When we can talk to a consumer coming to a ski show, we know he’s qualified because he’s there, he’s a skier. So the shows are very important in reaching qualified consumers in markets where we might not be able to reach them otherwise.”
