A rising tide lifts all boats. But it won’t necessarily lift them all equally. Likewise, good snow last year was the key factor in a record-breaking season for the U.S. But some ski areas did better than others. And, by removing the biggest hindrance to ticket sales, i.e., bad snow, last season provided a fairly level playing field from which to ask what the more successful resorts have in common.
Mountain High, Calif., Brighton, Utah, and Shawnee Peak, Maine, were three of last year’s success stories. At first glance, they could have been drawn randomly, with some similarities and as many differences.
Each is a small- to medium-sized area in a different region, with Mountain High the largest, selling 577,000 tickets last season, up about 50 percent over the year before. Brighton sold 375,000 tickets, up “significantly” and Shawnee sold about 135,000, a gain of 22 percent. Each has very different ownership. Mountain High has been owned for the past four years by Oaktree Capital, an investment/real estate company of which the resort is a fairly small part of the portfolio. Brighton is owned by the Boyne conglomerate. Shawnee has a hands-on owner/president, Chet Homer, who purchased the area seven years ago after building a solid business career that included a stint as number two at Toms of Maine, the yuppie toothpaste company.
None of the resorts owns any accommodations and there are few, if any, slopeside beds available. Each resort relies upon a large local urban day market, (although Brighton has aspirations to bring in a growing share of Salt Lake City’s destination business).
Much of Mountain High’s dizzying growth in ticket sales can be attributed to snowboarding, which makes up 80 percent of sales. Brighton is widely recognized as one of snowboarding’s focal points. Shawnee Peak, however, is admittedly half-hearted in pushing to become the scene for Boston boarders, offering some terrain features, but realistically ceding the riding market to the vastly larger resources of Sunday River. They, instead, rely on skier visits.
At each of the three areas, capital expenditures over the past few years have been roughly in line with the industry with a few new lifts and upgrades, but no major lift-building programs. General infrastructure and snowmaking capacities have been raised to standards required for any successful resort, as well. Shawnee Peak has recently invested in a new base lodge, though Homer is usually adamant about avoiding debt. Mountain High is working to replace base facilities described by assistant general manager Brad Wilson as “hugely inadequate,” while Brighton continues to be hampered by parking limitations that cost the resort as many as 125,000 additional ticket sales every season.
Each area has developed, implemented and stuck to a focused marketing program reflecting their local environments. As Brighton marketing director Dan Malstrom says, “You can’t deny your niche.”
When Chet Homer took over Shawnee Peak, the area was losing market share in the metro Boston region. He instantly yanked the expensive TV advertising running in the local Portland market and targeted resources at advertising in Boston and New Hampshire radio markets and several joint promotions with the Boston Globe.
Equally important for Shawnee has been the focus on reaching out to groups and corporate businesses. Throughout the week, the ski area sells about 3,500 group tickets and most of those skiers and boarders are getting lessons.
“They book multi-week packages and pay in advance,” says Homer. “We knew we would have a record season this year based on our group business alone and we had the money in the bank before the lifts even opened. And, we bend over backwards to treat our group leaders like saints.”
For example, representatives of the area go into local schools before the season and fit everyone for boots and skis, even helmets. Then, when the group arrives at the ski area, all with lift tickets, their equipment is sorted and waiting.
The resort’s corporate race program has also grown dramatically. “By going out and knocking on doors we have between 45 and 50 teams coming up every week for nine weeks of the season. Between group leaders and race team leaders we have a solid core of ambassadors going out and spreading the word about us.”
Brighton’s success started with building a brand identity to distinguish itself from the strong local competition. “People see us as a snowboard mountain,” says Malstrom, “but in fact we focus on local families that want an affordable experience, which kids can share. That is the brand image we are trying to build. ‘Family’ now means one or two adults plus kids and the truth is, almost all the kids snowboard. Because we want to keep growing in the next 10 to 20 years, we have to have the snowboarders.”
The ski area garnered an enormous amount of publicity with its “Home to Zero Olympic Events” ads, but this was a tiny part of an active image advertising program and participation in numerous local grass-roots activities. “Initially, we got our name out through snowboard magazines and videos and the more we establish our brand, the more it distributes itself and we can save the ad dollars,” says Malstrom.
Brighton is expecting a major bounce from the new Microsoft Xbox gaming platform. The resort is one of only three resorts featured in the snowboarding game Ampted (and anyone who doubts the power of video games needs to get out more—games such as Tony Hawk Pro Skateboarder 3 have sold over seven million copies to a demographic matching up perfectly to the action sports demographic).
“It begins with the family, but any kid in the country who has ever opened a snowboarding magazine wants to come here and will push their family into coming,” says Malstrom.
In fact, Brighton’s destination resort market share is starting to increase due to brand development and also thanks to an aggressive program to reach hotel concierges. Destination visitors now account for about 70,000 tickets per year.
And the award-winning municipal Utah Transit Authority helps mitigate Brighton’s parking problems. “Local families or visitors can be here with just a 75-minute, low-cost, low-hassle journey or leave their car in one of many lots and hop a bus,” says Malstrom. “We know visitors from southern California aren’t used to using buses, but if we can get them to do it, that will add to our destination business. Once Solitude increases accommodations and we have our Interconnect ticket in place, we expect to see our destination numbers increase rapidly.”
And for Southern California skiers and riders who stay at home, Mountain High has become a popular choice. General Manager Karl Kapuscinski and Brad Wilson have been successful in reaching the local market of 20 million people within a two-hour drive. “What differentiates us from Bear and Snow Summit is we are only a 15-minute drive off highway I-15, one of the main regional arteries,” says Wilson. “We immediately started hammering home the message of an easier and shorter drive.”
The area has also made a point of being first to open and last to close in the region, which Wilson says sends a strong message about snow conditions.
Mountain High is also one of the most progressive ski areas in the country in its use of corporate partners. Ralphs, the largest supermarket chain in the country with 380 locations, sells novice lift tickets at their check-outs at a $10 discount to holders of a Ralph’s Club Card. Over 100,000 were sold last season, around 17.5 percent of all sales. That means far shorter lines at ticket windows on weekends. Ralphs also sends out six million circulars a week and does radio and major print advertising, all of which highlight the $39 inclusive learn-to-ride package. Ralphs generated 20,000 out of the 100,000 packages sold last season. In addition, Chevrolet spends $1 million a year promoting Mountain High in the area. Every SUV buyer gets a family pass.
Wilson points out that the local focus on skateboarding and surfing makes Southern California a genuine snowboard market. “We identified the youth market as where we needed to focus,” says Wilson. “We shifted from the 18-to-34 demographic to the 12-to-24 market with such things as staying open till 10 p.m. The image is younger, which is O.K. because of our current lack of family facilities. Also, we benefit from the higher frequency of younger customers.”
Mountain High uses learn-to-ski/ride programs to drive up retention. One package offers three days of lessons plus rental plus one free graduation ticket for $99. Last season, 73 percent of package buyers went on to their second lesson and 50 percent went on to the third day. The area is now considering six-day beginner packages.
Mountain High also understands the importance of retailers and is working hard to get shop employees to talk up the ski area with customers. “Retailers are key influencers in a market where day business is divided between only three ski areas,” says Wilson. “So any retailer that posts our snow report gets free tickets for employees. We comped about 13,000 shop employee visits last season.”
As well as hoping to announce a major new base area development, currently being negotiated with the Forest Service, Mountain High is also set to introduce a sophisticated Mountain Access Club next season. For $19, customers can buy a passcard that links directly to their credit card (with a $10 discount per ticket) and works as a season pass to rush them through a separate lift line.
“For the past three seasons we have been doing 80 percent of Snow Summit’s numbers,” says Wilson. “Now we are in the number-one spot locally, but we know it will be tough to hold. We have upped the ante and our neighbors are getting more active. Competition is good.”
While these resorts differ vastly in terms of marketing approaches, what they do have in common is an understanding of who their customers are and catering to them. And once these markets are defined, providing good service and good facilities is all in a day’s work.
“I think the principles of running a successful business are consistent whatever that business is,” says Shawnee Peak’s Chet Homer. “Good people, great service, sound finances. But you also always need a ton of luck.”
