Why do I say fearless? Because I’m probably wrong. Yet, despite the odds, I’m going to try anyway. Let’s circle back around in 2014 and see if I was anywhere close at all.

Prediction #1: Resorts Will Talk Less, Get Fans to Share More
During 2013, resorts will start to focus more on getting other people – fans, guests, influencers, etc. – to talk more than talking themselves. This will be accompanied by less content generation by the resorts themselves.

Prediction #2: Liftopia Will Get the Last Few Hold Outs
The last few, big resorts will finally start using Liftopia’s main site to sell lift tickets. On that note, we’ll see more and more large resorts begin using CloudStore as well.

Prediction #3: EpicMix Will Get Company
EpicMix has a couple small competitors, but within the next year we’ll see a large-scale marketing-focused solution make an entrance that uses pass scan data for a skier’s stats.

Prediction #4: Midwest + Colorado Partnerships Will Spring Up
In the wake of Vail Resorts’ midwest move, many of these smaller areas will form significant partnerships with resorts in the West that involve multi-resort joint passes.

Prediction #5: Social CRM Will Come Front & Center
I feel more confident in this one because I’ve had a hand in it. Connecting @johndoe on Twitter to John Doe in a resorts guest database has been a pet project of mine for the last year. Now that it’s becoming a reality, I think social CRM is a concept that will quickly grow in the ski industry during 2013.

That’s all from my soap box. What do you foresee?

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.