Almost a decade ago during the first few months of SlopeFillers, I made a list of all the 2-for-1s I could find. I stopped at 28, but the list could have gone and and on. Likewise, there are dozens of perks offered by resorts in an effort to push season pass sales through the spring and summer. For example:

• Ski free in the spring
• Free summer bike park access
• Free summer activity access
• Limited quantities before prices go up
• Multiple, date-specific deadlines

All of these have the same, obvious thing in common: they assume you want to buy a season pass and then offer perks on top of that to sweeten the deal.

By the way, this is where you say:

“Um, Gregg..DUH! If they aren’t looking to buy a season pass, why would they buy a season pass? The perks just get them to pull the trigger.”

My response to this is two words: Jay Peak.

Free pass, anyone?
What Jay Peak is doing flips this script on this thinking. It starts with the people who are more likely to book lodging and then uses a free pass to get them to bite.

Stay a week and ski/ride all season.

Book a 5-night Ski/Ride + Waterpark Vacation this winter, and everyone in the reservation gets a 2019+20 Jay Peak Season Pass valid for the rest of the season. *No black out dates/restrictions

MUST BOOK BY JULY 12THhttps://t.co/YlmRJqwLrn pic.twitter.com/fDmnSiFlAV

— Jay Peak Resort (@jaypeakresort) July 8, 2019

Interesting, no?

I mean, we offer a lot of value for free when they book 2-3 nights, why not offer a boatload of value when they go big on 5+ nights?

Makes Great Sense
We’re well into the destination passholder era of ski. Advanced purchase is a significant effort around both lodging and season passes. And lodging is also looking for ways to sweeten the pot and encourage buying/booking now versus later.

So why not turn those early-bookers into destination passholders? Why not offer that perk for something they’ll spend thousands of dollars on?

View this post on Instagram

Stay a week and ski/ride all season. . Book a 5-night Ski/Ride + Waterpark Vacation across any Sunday -Thursday throughout the 2019+20 winter season, and at the start of your stay, every person on the reservation will get a 2019+20 Jay Peak Season Pass valid for the rest of the season – no black out dates or restrictions. . MUST BOOK BY JULY 12TH jaypeakresort.com/welcome-to-the-family

A post shared by Jay Peak Resort (@jaypeakresort) on Jul 8, 2019 at 10:26am PDT

Why not take those folks – folks who have enough cash and commitment to book a vacation like that in July – and help them see the light of holding a season pass? Why not give them a reason to make it two trips this year instead of one?

Look, the economics behind the scenes are anyone’s guess and I have no idea if this will get people to act, but man o man, I think there’s a ton of potential is where they’re going on this.

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.