The intriguing punch-card math behind resort 4-pack pricing.
Gregg Blanchard /
A while ago I did a simple analysis of ski resort 4-pack pricing.
Among all the numbers I pulled was one that really, really surprised me. When I looked at the average discount of these packs compared to the window rate, the savings was 41%. Take away the low outliers and that number becomes 46%.
In other words, almost 50%.
That number kept coming to mind this morning. But not the number as is , but how one tweak could significantly change its meaning.
The Power of Punches
Marketers have long-known the power of punch cards. Not only do they drive incremental visits, they also drive loyalty because cards are business-specific. Though I haven’t seen a resort version for a few years, in other verticals these cards typically require anywhere from 6 to 10 punches to earn a freebie or reward.
And that’s where that “almost 50%” number comes in when purchasing four tickets, because if you put that into punch-card-offer form, you’d have:
“Ski 2 days, get 2 more absolutely free!”
Interesting, no?
You could either prepay for four days all at once, or ski two days individually and, on the second one, instantly receive two free days.
I won’t pretend to know which one would be more appealing to skiers, but compared to other punch cards and the “pay all at once” nature of other pass products, I can’t help but see a lot of potential in a reward system that’s essentially giving you a free day for every day you ski.
Deeper
Now, of course there is more at play here than just cash amounts. There’s pre-season revenue, interchangeability, bridges between passholders and daytrippers, etc.
But I bring this up because even if it wasn’t 1:1 (or 2:2), even if it was…I dunno, 3:2, you still have a really, really strong offer that, as far as I know, has never seen the light of day in skiing before.
The math makes sense for 4-packs, but 4-packs are no longer unique to your resort. Maybe a little reshaping of that offer could give it some fresh legs in your market.