I turn on my computer, dial in to the Internet, search for Sugar Bowl ski area and find—it’s open! Snow conditions are listed, as are the hours. Seems there’s a snowboard tournament today, along with five bands. I guess I won’t be alone on the slopes.
Information such as this is being provided by many ski areas on their Web sites. Most areas, however, are sticking to the easy green runs of merely posting information, hesitant to venture on to the black diamonds of taking reservations and handling money online.
Only a handful of ski areas accept reservations online, according to a survey conducted in an Internet seminar at the NSAA Eastern and Western Regional conferences this past January. Only 30 out of nearly 200 session attendees completed surveys, and though one could argue the statistical significance, the results offer a glimpse at how the ski industry is adapting to this new media.
Only four of the 30 respondents said their resorts took reservations online, while 10 said they accepted partial reservations online but required a reservation agent to call the skier for additional information such as a credit card number. Most of the other respondents said they couldn’t figure out how to manage their room inventory on the Internet.
I predict that this will change as skiers come to expect such services from Web sites. Even now, national airlines, hotels and other tourist/destination locations already accept reservations, take credit cards and manage complicated and volatile inventories on the Web.
Another problem for ski area operators is the lack of tracking and measurement mechanisms on Web sites, as well as the lack of controls in order-taking in general. Though most survey participants said they had no way to track online sales, of the ski areas that did have a tracking system in place, the results were impressive. One respondent said that 26 to 50 percent of the Web visitors made reservations online, while 10 said they book less than 10 percent of visitors. Another seven admitted they didn’t have any way to measure the effectiveness of their Web site. In fact, one respondent said 30,000 people visited the area’s site in December, but management had no way to measure what actions those people took.
Ski areas must integrate tracking mechanisms into their Web pages so that they can measure results, as well as test messages, prices and promotions. It is essential that telephone reservation agents ask customers at least one simple question to determine if the Internet played a part in the reservation process. This mini-survey will help determine the relative effectiveness of each form of advertising used by the area.
Ski areas also seem to avoid another potential profit-making area: selling branded merchandise over the Internet. Their hesitancy probably stems from the belief that people are afraid to give their credit card information online.
While a Dataquest study shows that 75 percent of the people who surf the Net are afraid to place credit card orders online, more and more people are willing to do so. Another point to consider is that while Americans show reluctance to place orders on the Web, international users— who perhaps haven’t read the hype about hackers—eagerly place online orders. In the meantime, an alternative for resorts is to post order forms for customers to print out and return via fax or regular mail.
Ski areas should be able to realize a quick return on their Internet investments—the survey showed that Web sites were not expensive to build or maintain. Respondents were remarkably evenly split on the costs of creating a Web site: 11 spent less than $1,000; 12 spent between $1,000 and $5,000 while 12 spent over $5,000.
Maintaining a Web site was reported to be fairly inexpensive as well. Not including manpower costs, 21 respondents said it cost less than $1,000 a month to maintain the site, while only three spent more than $2,000 per month.
Granted, a transaction site that takes reservations can cost considerably more than an information site. However, part of that cost would be offset by lower manpower and commissions for reservation agents. Also, the ski area gains the added benefit of building a database of customers who can be contacted for repeat business.
Pam Murphy, marketing director at Mammoth Mountain, Calif., sells club memberships and corresponds with members online. “Everything is so affordable,” she said. “We want to have as much done through Internet as possible.” Once the key problems are overcome, it is easy to see how a Web site can pay for itself quickly and generate profits for ski area operators.
