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Four of my favorite ski resort Cyber Monday deals (and why).

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GREGG
BLANCHARD
   

As a marketer, I’m in awe that so many holidays now exist that involve people being eager and willing to spend money if you can give them a deal.

At first it was just Black Friday, then there was Cyber Monday, now Amazon Prime day…

The list goes on.

My Favorite Approach
There are a hundred ways to take advantage of these moments, but my favorite approach is when brands – resorts or otherwise – are able to create value without slashing prices or creating prices that are unsustainably low (or really close to it).

Whether that’s a unique package, perk, or bonus, here are a few of my favorites from this year.

#1) Hidden Valley Cyber Monday Package
This is a great approach: just bundle a few unique things together and discount the group as a whole. That maintains a bit more price integrity for each of the elements while still giving folks a great deal like they’re expecting.

#2) Wild Mountain Gift Cards
I saw a few resorts taking this route and I think it’s a great one. Because it’s a dollar-for-dollar swap, you don’t have to discount as much to create the perception of a great deal. Even with your best efforts to get folks to use their cards there will always be breakage, so you’ll likely come out on top even with a bigger discount.

#3) Snowbasin’s Weekday Discounts
When it comes down to it, my concern isn’t necessarily with discounts themselves but discounts on your most visible, important products and the pricing integrity issues that follow. Weekday tickets are growing in popularity this year but still are a bit of a fringe item, so Snowbasin’s focus on that ticket product was a great play.

#4) Laurel Mountain’s Freebie
But my favorite approach of the lot is the bonus item. Keep that price where it should be for a main product, but then toss in another product for free when they buy one. Laurel simply gave away a free lift ticket for every Child Six Pack someone purchased.

BONUS) Holiday Valley Limited Quantities
If you do go for a straight discount, I like what Holiday Valley did with theirs. Instead of a free for all, they added a cap of 50 tickets. That gave a bunch of folks a good deal without going too big on an unrealistic price.

Overall
Overall, I was surprised by how few resorts jumped into the festivities this year.

If the fear was cutting into already thin margins, maybe a few of these ideas can help you keep prices high for the products that matter while still getting folks to buy.

That said, there’s no shame in not playing along if it doesn’t make sense. If that’s you, good on ya for sticking to your plan.


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.

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