I’ve been back and forth on my optimism about a run-tracking app called Alpine Replay. All the while, though, the guys at AR have kept me in the loop on projects, goals, and data they were starting to gather. Speaking of which, when they started to release some very positive usage stats this last winter, I never realized what data they were sitting on. Until a month ago.

Because that’s when they sent me their first round of data and my jaw dropped as I started to fathom the insights they were collecting on the ski industry. Even when they asked me for ideas on what data to gather, my mind was stuck on small potatoes.

For example.

Do you know what other resorts your skiers visit, how often they go, and how long they stay?
Alpine Replay does.

Do you know where someone goes if your lift lines are horribly long? Do they hit sidecountry? Ride a lift where you don’t scan? Take a specific trail?
Alpine Replay does.

Do you know what your most popular lifts are? Maybe, but how about runs? Do you know which runs are least skied?
Alpine Replay does.

Do you know how your lift wait times compare to other mountains? How fast skiers ski compared to other mountains? How many runs they can get in a day compared to other mountains?
Alpine Replay does.

Their sample isn’t comprehensive, only a small percentage of your skiers used this app last year, but that still comes out to tens of thousands of lift rides, trail use data, and guest behavior information when they are on your mountain or any mountain.

Gone are the barriers of clients, systems, and ownership: they have data for anyone that uses their app. Next year, they’ll have even more data.

Wow
That’s what I keep thinking – wow. This is pretty powerful stuff to know, across the country, what skiers are doing. I’m super excited to see what happens with this data both for operations but also for marketing.

If you could prove you have the shortest lift wait times in the state, what would that do for your “uncrowded” tag line? If you could prove skiers ski the slowest on your beginner runs, what would that do for your “family friendly” based ads? Proving claims isn’t everything, but if used correctly, it sure can help.

Update: AR just released some of these stats on their blog, Take a look:
http://blog.alpinereplay.com/post/22824499463/a-look-at-winter-park-through-data
http://blog.alpinereplay.com/post/24475946397/ski-resorts-with-nice-long-runs

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.