Why Twitter “Favorites” Are Awful for Marketing & What Resorts Can Learn From It

Facebook is to “likes” as Twitter is to “favorites”. Duh. Recently added to the API, the “favorites” count of any one tweet isn’t necessarily bad, but when you consider the opportunity cost, it makes me wish this action had never been added o the service. A Few Purposes I’ve seen favorites used and used them [...]

Should We Be Worried About This Skier’s Frustrations with First Tracks Passes?

Recently, on the Crested Butte Facebook page, a skier posted a thought provoking comment: “Hey CBMR, I have a quick question, ill just start by saying I have a ton of fun on the mountain and im up there almost 3 days a week, anyway my question is about this new “first tracks” ticket you [...]

Can a Ski Resort Launch a New Pass Product in February? A-Basin Thinks So

When I think about timing for launching a new pass product, the first week of February doesn’t exactly occupy the first spot in my mental list of possibilities. Yet, Arapahoe Basin did just that on February 6th. Elevation 3-Pass The Elevation 3-Pass, as it’s called, gives the holder 3 days of riding for $119. There [...]

One Piece of Resort Marketing Tech I’m Still Nerding Out Over

I’d been looking forward to a demo of this product for a long time. Months, actually. So, when the booth was clear (a rare occasion, honestly) on Tuesday evening at NSAA, I pounced and have been nerding out ever since. The product I am speaking of is Liftopia’s Partner Intelligence tool. The Greatest Answer A [...]

Frequent Skier Cards: Driver of Incremental Sales or Confusing Bonus System?

Back in Utah, one of my favorite casual restaurants was Cafe Rio. Besides a crazy tasty sweet pork burrito (enchilada style, black beans, mild sauce), they had a simple frequent-customer rewards system: buy 10 meals, get one free. It was hard to not understand how it worked. If your little card had a punch on [...]

Deals for Other Resorts’ Passholders? Data Say Magic & Burke May Have it Right

Last year, Big Sky capitalized on a rough snow year in other parts of the country by giving Epic Pass holders free skiing when they booked lodging. The offer was simple, grabbed a bunch of headlines, and resulted in a good number of booked rooms. However, even without dismal snow totals these offers are still [...]

Inntopia Launches Competitor to Liftopia’s Cloud Store: A Closer Look at “YieldView”

A couple weeks ago, Inntopia launched YieldView, a new estore platform that is fully integrated with their other products as well as RTP, Siriusware, and SKIDATA. With lower fees (5% for a typical setup and closer to 2% if it is bundled with other Inntopia products) my first inclination was that this was a direct [...]

The Two Tweaks I’d Make to Resort 2-for-1 & Discount Passes

I sometimes feel I do too much critiquing and too little suggesting. Like, somehow, I’m the 400 pound, mullet-sporting guy on his 3rd beer at the baseball game yelling at the 2nd baseman to hustle. So, every once in a while on a Wednesday I’ll try to balance the scales a bit and put my [...]