SAM Magazine—New York, N.Y., Nov. 13, 2023—The Mountain Collective team held its annual NYC winter kick-off event at the Carroll Place gastropub in the Village on Nov. 2. The gathering followed an in-person Mountain Collective team board meeting, which was attended by executives of participating resorts, including Snowbird president Dave Fields, Jackson Hole president Mary Kate Buckley, and Nick Lambert, CMO of Boyne Resorts, as well as about 20 media attendees and 70 passholders.

At the event, Mountain Collective CEO Todd Burnette reported that the team spent the last year ramping up its investment in target marketing. As a result, it’s seen increases in pass sales in several areas of the U.S. and Canada including Idaho, Utah, Montana, Wyoming, New York, Boston, northern California, and Edmonton.

“The marketing world has changed for every business, and we have done our best to stay current,” said Burnette. “We launched a new, creative look and feel, a new website in March, and have worked closely with our agencies to make sure we were on the cutting edge of digital marketing trends such as re-targeting, look-alike audience modeling, creative testing, things like that.”

To complement the destination aspect of some of its resort partners, Mountain Collective also introduced several new, key partnerships with airlines, including Alaska Air and Air Canada, to target the western U.S. and eastern Canada, said Burnette. The partnerships have been successful, he added, and may be expanded in the future.  

“The Mountain Collective business is very healthy right now,” said Burnette. “Our customers consistently tell us they love the (pass) because of the caliber of resorts plus its value and simplicity.” 

The 2023-24 Mountain Collective offers two days of access at 24 different resorts—including 12 in the United States—for $650. The pass has no blackout dates and offers unlimited 50-percent-off days at all resorts in addition to the two days offered at each through the pass.

“The Mountain Collective is on a good trajectory,” added Fields. He noted that the clustering of resorts by geography seems to resonate with customers interested in hitting multiple destinations on one trip.

Burnette said the Mountain Collective typically includes “around 22 to 25” resort partners, though the specifics have changed over the years. Prior to the 2022-23 season, three resorts exited the program, while five new destinations were added: Sun Valley, Idaho; Snowbasin, Utah; Sugarbowl, Calif.; and Le Massif and Marmot Basin in Canada. That line-up remained the same for 2023-24 and is anticipated to do so in 2024-25, said Burnette.

Next season, however, the Collective is aiming to add resorts in the Northeast as well. Burnette says the team is “currently in discussions with a few” and any additions will be announced in March, prior to the spring pass sale.

Mountain Collective resorts may also be part of the IKON pass, if it fits their business strategy. Fields says it makes sense: “We like the combination of both passes, because they are often purchased together, and because the Mountain Collective pass can pay for itself in a ski trip or two.”

Find more information at mountaincollective.com. —Iseult Devlin

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