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 plentiful:

Magic Mountain, VT
Save $10 on a lift ticket with a season pass to any VT resort
http://www.magicmtn.com/lifttickets.php

Burke, VT
Get a $45 lift ticket with a season pass to any other resort
http://www.skiburke.com/plan-a-visit/passes-and-tickets/lift-tickets/promos/

Indianhead, MI
Ski for $25/day on Dec 7-9 with a season pass to any other ski area
http://www.indianheadmtn.com/news_and_events.php?nID=218

I jokingly called this idea “season pass betrayal”, and when I looked at the numbers last week of how many skiers on any given mountain actually own a season pass to some other resort, I was hoping to find an answer to the potential effectiveness of such offers. Take a look:

The sample size was small, but to know that about 1 in 10 skiers own a season pass somewhere else is interesting to say the least and definitely justifies these promotions. If season pass holders aren’t set on skiing the same mountain all year and may even be looking for some variety, that’s certainly a pie I’d like to snag a piece of.

Is discounting day passes the best way to do so? I don’t know, but I think the direction is on the right track.

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.