I’ve been talking about this tactic for a while now, but I lived it first hand this summer.

Because for close to 20 years I’ve had a strange little dream. I’m not quite sure where the desire first came from, but I’ve always wanted to build one of these.

But if those children look familiar, they should. Those are my children. Because that is my teardrop.

Yes, after two decades of daydreaming, I finally made it happen.

Interesting
Three things have fascinated me about this process.

First, before I started building my trailer I’d never heard a single friend or co-worker or family member mention an affinity for teardrops. Yet the moment the skeleton of this project started showing up in our garage, I started hearing from people left and right who shared the exact same dream.

Second, I quickly realized that teardrops fit into this interestingly little category that lives at the corner of the simple life and nostalgia. An intersection where you’ll find tiny homes and “van life” build outs. Things that only a small number of people do, but have massive followings and interested audiences on places like YouTube.

Which got me thinking about something I said a few years ago:

“It’s because our society is insatiably curious about what it would be like to live this way, but not willing to commit to the lifestyle 100% to find out.”

Third, I realized just how closely aligned all of these things are with our industry. Everyone I’ve not met who would love to build out a sprinter van, etc. also shares a love for the mountains. For skiing. For the outdoors.

The Idea
In other words, I think there’s a huge opportunity here for a resort to be the place that people can go to satisfy their curiousity without the commitment. I’m talking about lodging options at your resort that aren’t just hotel rooms and condos, but:

• Sprinter vans with beds and kitchens
• Tiny homes with various, fun floorplans

Maybe not teardrops (though Warren Miller did winter living was possible in the right Sun Valley parking lot with a sufficient supply of frozen rabbits), but my little project was a clear reminder how large, passionate, and aligned this group is to our sport.

If you’re looking to give your lodging or brand or product a bit of a boost? Some food for thought.

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.