SAM Coverage
Guest Services
-
Mountain Spy :: Employment Edition
In honor of hiring season, the Spy revisits 20 years of employment-related calls.
-
Mountain Spy :: The “You Asked What?” Edition
The Spy revisits some of the funkiest calls from the archives. Yes, we sometimes ask a question that might seem odd, weird, or completely…
-
Mountain Spy :: Summer Edition
The Spy reopens 20 years of case files to ask, “Have we gotten better at selling summer?” Twenty years of Mountain Spy have produced…
-
Mountain Spy :: First Tracks
The Spy revisits calls from never-evers to celebrate 20 years of undercover missions. It’s Mountain Spy’s 20th anniversary year, and we’re back in the…
-
Positive Friction
So-called frictionless service may not be all it’s cracked up to be. Over the past decade, business consultants have touted the necessity of “frictionless” customer…
-
Mountain Spy :: January 2026
The Spy reopens the case files to celebrate 20 years of undercover calls. This year is the 20th anniversary of Mountain Spy, and to…
-
Mountain Spy :: November 2025
The Spy asks: “I’m coming for your (beer) festival. Is Uber available for a ride home?” A lot of ski areas hold brewers’ festivals,…
-
Mountain Spy :: September 2025
The Spy asks: “I’ve never ridden a bicycle. Can I learn to mountain bike at your bike park?” Ski and snowboard schools regularly welcome…
-
Mountain Spy :: July 2025
The Spy asks: “I have an infant. Can I bring her on the chairlift?” Ski resorts often tout their family-friendliness and multigenerational appeal—and the…
-
Mountain Spy :: May 2025
The Spy asks: “I’ve heard the food is expensive. Is it worth it?” There’s the amount you pay for a meal at a restaurant…
-
Mountain Spy :: January 2025
“I’m going to teach my partner how to ski. Do you have any tips?” Hint: They did not. It’s no secret that the cost…
-
Mountain Spy :: November 2024
The Spy asks: “We want to come ski for Thanksgiving. If conditions aren’t good, is there anything else to do?”
-
Mountain Spy :: September 2024
We revisit a question from 2007—”Do you have any compensation for lost ski days or some kind of pass refund policy?”—and find that customer…
-
Mountain Spy :: July 2024
The Spy asks resort chatbots, “Do you have ticks? How do I avoid them?” The chatbots struggle to respond. For this mission, the Spy…
-
Is Lower Guest Satisfaction & Loyalty the New Normal?
An exploration of the recent sharp declines in national Net Promoter Scores. National Ski Areas Association (NSAA) data show that winter resort visitors have…
-
Mountain Spy :: May 2024
Staffers struggle with an unusual question: “Can I grass ski at your resort this summer? I have my own equipment. There are some questions…
-
Mountain Spy :: March 2024
A topic for our times—”Do you allow backpack speakers?”— from two perspectives: a lover and a hater. There are many polarizing topics in the…