“After last year, I thought there might be a kind of jet lag going into this season,” said Jim Costello, vice president for marketing at Sugarloaf USA, Maine. “That hasn’t been the case at all.”
By the August 15 cutoff for early-season discounts, season pass sales were up 20 percent over last winter. Sugarloaf’s college passes, which had a later deadline (October 15), were also tracking ahead of last winter as were preseason group sales and room reservations. And retail and phone volume were tracking significantly ahead. “There are no soft spots right now,” Costello said.
Sugarloaf was not alone. According to Costello, every American Skiing Company (ASC) resort had exceeded its pre-season budgets for season pass sales. “From talking to the other marketing VP’s in the system, phone volume has been very favorable,” Costello said. “And the ratio of sales to inquiries is also up.”
ASC’s Colorado operation confirmed Costello’s assessment. Rod Hanna, vice president for marketing at Steamboat, said, “We’re up at central reservations over last year at this time by double digits. And our airline bookings are also up double digits.”
Hanna attributed the increases to lower prices (Steamboat dropped its early-bird season-pass price from $1,200 to $795), and three new pass options—the 5/5; 10/10 and 20/20. Each offers either five, 10 or 20 regular season days of skiing paired with five, 10 or 20 “value” season days. “We gave people who are not interested in a season pass some options at a very attractive price,” Hanna said.
Steamboat also added a new direct daily flight from Chicago into the local airport, as well as additional weekend flights from New York, Newark and Los Angeles, which helped boost the early season airline bookings. “We look very good at this point,” Hanna said. “It’s encouraging because we definitely needed to have this kind of increase based on a not-so-stellar year last winter.”
The only soft spot thus far is the “Millennium” period over Christmas and New Year’s—a weakness Hanna said appears to be statewide. “There is definitely concern around the state that bookings are lagging for that period,” Hanna said. He attributed consumers’ perceptions of widespread price gouging and fears of Y2K computer failures for keeping skiers away.
At other resorts, Millennium bookings are so strong they are having a carryover effect on the rest of the season. “We’re way ahead for Christmas and New Year’s and right into the rest of the winter,” said Barry Godwin, director of marketing at Shanty Creek, Mich. “Season pass sales are up about 5 percent and lodging is probably 20 to 30 percent ahead for the whole winter. I think people are hopeful this is finally going to be the big snow year.”
Predictions of another La Niña weather pattern bringing early and abundant snow also translated into a flurry of pre-season optimism in the Northwest. Although Mt. Bachelor, Ore., does not launch its season pass offers or even its advertising until October, returning visitors were calling and booking earlier and in larger numbers than in previous years. Christmas week and the first two weeks of January are very strong, and large home and group bookings throughout the season were tracking ahead of last winter, according to Kathy DeGree, vice president for marketing.
Booth Creek’s new “Threedom” pass—good at Waterville Valley, Loon and Cranmore, N.H.—is also selling well over all three areas’ Websites despite little other promotion. “We’re sold out for Christmas and New Year’s, but other than that we’re mostly just getting inquiry calls for the rest of the season,” said Stacy Lopes, public relations coordinator at Waterville Valley. “Historically we don’t start getting a lot of mid-winter reservations until after the Columbus Day weekend.”
Over at Okemo, Vt., season pass sales through the early season cutoff date of August 15 were up 10.4 percent in units and 21 percent in revenue over the same period last year. Senior citizen pass sales were up three percent in units despite a price hike. Early season lodging reservations for all of the holiday weeks were strong with the exception of February, which will have just one holiday week this year with all of the New England states on school vacation the same week.
“The only soft spot so far is the period before Christmas and prior to Thanksgiving,” said Okemo Marketing Director Pam Cruickshank. “We’re roughly 7 to 10 percent behind for those periods. I think consumer confidence in the early season is really lacking.”
At Mammoth, Calif., which did not launch its early bird passes or club cards until October 15, early season indicators were harder to come by. Joani Saari, public relations manager, said that early lodging reservations looked very strong, particularly in March and April. “Bookings that far out are a really good sign,” she said.
Others see even more good signs for the upcoming ski season—a strong economy, some new and exciting products and programs at many ski areas, and a growing emphasis on family values in the marketplace.
Now all we need is snow.
