Let’s set the stage a little.

Eagle Point is a fantastic resort located in Utah’s central mountains roughly halfway between Salt Lake City and Las Vegas. Once known as Elk Meadows before closing, the mountain reopened in 2010 with the current name and new ownership.

What didn’t change, however, is likely the resort’s biggest challenge: it’s location. The closest town is Beaver, population 3,500. Utah’s love going south in winter, but they typically go for warmer weather in places like St George. So how do you get folks to come to a place like this at a time when the snow is already melting in their backyards?

The answer, according to owner Shane Gadbaw is to give the skiing away for free. Here’s how Shane explained it when I checked in with him a number of years ago:

“By owning or controlling all of the restaurants, services and rental properties around the resort and maintaining low overhead, we have the same advantage as the Vegas resorts. We can give lift access away for free yet still achieve a sufficient yield from our guests on food & beverage sales, rentals, instruction, retail or condo stays. More importantly, the free admission spurs the first‐time visit. That is all we need because the vast majority of new guests fall in love with the place and go home to tell their friends and family.”

The context of that quote was giving California residents free skiing. Last year it was anyone with a pass to another mountain who got free skiing.

This year? It’s college students.

Notice how it’s the demographics vary each year. By rotating through different key segments within their market, they can balance a relevant, niche offer that doesn’t overwhelm their capacity while also building awareness across the whole over time.

The more I’ve seen Eagle Point run this type of campaign, the more I like it partly because of that same balance between short and long term needs. By knowing the numbers and being willing to treat excess capacity as a marketing resource, the resort is able to grab big, flashy headlines like this year after year which not only generate meaningful revenue in the short term, but also slowly build their name in a market that is dominated by big, legacy brands that have the advantage of big populations and storied histories.

When you’re the underdog, you have to be scrappy, but you also have to be smart so your strategy is as sustainable as it is creative.

Eagle Point plays those cards just as well as any resort I’ve seen.

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.