Let me just come out and say it: I don’t know why I am so hesitant to get excited about The Mountain Collective pass.

The partnership is genius: I never thought I’d see even two of those brands work together. Using Liftopia as the purchase/redemption tool is brilliant as well. Every resort involved is already setup to handle redemption and each will get access to the solid analytics Liftopia is famous for (not to mention an extra marketing boost from a huge email list, solid social reach, PR efforts, and large volume of web traffic).

In other words, the partnership itself (which really is incredible, hats off to all involved) is not where my subconscious marketer is balking. It’s somewhere in the actual product.

So what’s wrong with the product?
The simple answer is, I don’t know.

At first I thought it was the way snowboarders were snubbed, but at the same time, skiers might feel it’s a pass exclusive for them and be drawn toward it more than if it included everyone.

Then I did some math on the price. My conclusion was that it’s gotta be a loss leader. But can skiers manage to take 4 vacations of 4-ish nights each this season to make full use of their pass? It doesn’t seem likely, but they have the data, so I’m trusting they know something I don’t.

On the loss leader note, I also worried that it was just going to snag deal and powder hungry road trippers that wouldn’t mind the 2,260 miles and 39 hours in the car. But heck, even those guys have to eat (and drink) and sleep for at least a night or two in each location.

Was it the sorta-confusing-copy that talked about two passes to each resort, mentioned 8 mountains, showed 5 logos, but only equaled 8 total passes? Or the way it said the passes you pay $349 for are “free”? Maybe, but copy is always something that can be tweaked and optimized.

It is a reincarnation of the not-so-successful Colorado Triple Play pass, but with the tweaks made in version 2.0, most of the issues seem to be addressed.

Is it what this pass means for the industry in the long-term? Something else?

What Am I Missing?
Maybe it’s a combination of each of those questions, but I keep coming to the conclusion that there is little reason, if any, for me to not be psyched out of my gourd about this pass.

But I’m not as excited as everyone else, so I guess what I’m asking now is, what am I missing? Are there others out there that are feeling the same way who can help me out, or are there easy answers to my concerns? Any help?

About Gregg & SlopeFillers
I've had more first-time visitors lately, so adding a quick "about" section. I started SlopeFillers in 2010 with the simple goal of sharing great resort marketing strategies. Today I run marketing for resort ecommerce and CRM provider Inntopia, my home mountain is the lovely Nordic Valley, and my favorite marketing campaign remains the Ski Utah TV show that sold me on skiing as a kid in the 90s.