Ah, the Snow Phone…in its prime the Snow Phone was the end-all and be-all of communications for resort conditions.  Anyone from anywhere could roll out of bed, dial up the phone and find out what the conditions were like at their favorite resort.  There were no Twitter feeds, apps or websites to check.  You just had to rely on the trusty Snow Reporter to give you the scoop before the sun was up.

Over time, we have introduced all types of new channels to deliver that shot of morning endorphins and drive folks to the resort.  Then there are all the other sites & apps, like OpenSnow, Accuweather and Powder Chasers, building the stoke for us days before a storm.  If a guest chooses to, they can arrive armed with almost as much insight as the Snow Reporter, short of sitting in an ops meeting themselves.  And yet, the Snow Phone endures.  Is it a legacy thing or still a worthwhile endeavor?

The thought of retiring the Snow Phone has come up several times over the years.  Still, it’s never risen to the top of the priority list, as it generally occurs around opening day when there are 100+ other priorities to tackle.  As was the case this season when I was training a Snow Reporter and he queried, “Does anyone actually use this thing?”

So, I’m curious…does your resort still use the Snow Phone.  I considered searching for and calling a bunch of resort Snow Phones to get an informal poll.  But that didn’t seem like a solid use of time, especially when I could just poll this community of marketers instead. Plus, it would only tell me who is using the Snow Phone, leaving out those who have discontinued it.  So, does your resort still use the snow phone?  Please complete the survey, and I will share the results in a follow-up post next week.

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.