With a couple weeks of “themed” content in the books and another coming up on Monday, I wanted to return to my roots a couple times before then and highlight some smart marketing I’ve seen around the industry.

Like most content I highlight, there’s a story.

It’s okay to roll your eyes.

I Love Hotels.com
When it comes to booking a hotel room, there are many, many options. My parents swear by one, you probably swear by another, but I always find myself back on Hotels.com when any lodging needs arise.

I can attribute the reason why to two factors: their checkout and their rewards program.

I’ll leave the rewards program for another day (and I think it’s a super valuable topic, so don’t let me go too long without revisiting it), but the thing I love about their checkout is extremely simple: it’s all on one page.

Not Alternative Resorts, Alternative Channels
I’ve heard more than one person say, as we discuss resort ecommerce, that a checkout process isn’t going to make me go to Mount Snow instead of Killington. I tend to agree, but I do think it could easily make me go to Hotels.com instead of direct on Killington’s site.

The trouble with long, awkward, poorly designed checkout systems goes beyond possible cart abandonment or negative experience with the brand before the vacation begins, it’s also a matter of John Doe going to an OTA to book because they get the same product with less hassle.

The Example
While it’s not a lodging example, this may be the first single-page checkout process I’ve ever seen at a resort.

One page, two paragraphs, three sections. No “attach skier to pass”, no “next -> next -> next -> complete”, just one page, one form, super easy.

I would LOVE it if more resorts used a one-page checkout. I think Silverton is more progressive than they think and hope to see more of this in the future.

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.