A big thank you to all that took the time to answer the previous question. Before we get to today’s question, let’s take a peek at the results from last round.

Round 5 – RESULTS: Does your resort sponsor athletes?
YES: 67%
NO: 33%

Only a few of those that responded to the question provided reasons, but here they are.

“YES: We can have a team of local experienced riders we can call on to attend media visits etc. Hero shots are a lot easier when there are heroes skiing in them :D And also it’s our chance to give back to the community who for years have paid for their season passes to get to the level of skier / boarder that they are now.

YES: For a couple reasons – in order to put out the highest caliber video content for your Action Sports audience (and content that will get distributed on Core sites), you need the highest possible caliber athletes. Also, the additional exposure you can receive through their participation in contests, on-site photo shoots and video shoots is incredibly valuable.

YES: At this moment: to give back to the community. What we want: bigger names that will help us promote our videos and events.

YES: Our community, Park City, is the heartbeat of the winter sports movement. Between USSA HQ and three great resorts, it behooves us to sponsor Olympians, Olympic hopefuls and some of the best skiers and snowboarders who use our world-class terrain daily! It connects us with our guests and also provides an aspirational message.

YES: We sponsor an athlete. Pros: Connecting resort with his success. Opens media opportunities. Builds credibility of resort as a place that generates talent. Cons: Athletes are flaky and hard to work with.

NO: Currently no, but working on having a team for next season – to try and keep our local talent ‘local’ rather than running off to larger resorts.”

Good stuff. And on to the next question.

Round 6: Does your resort list lodging on OTAs like Expedia, Hotels.com, Booking.com, etc.?

PS – This is my early list of future questions. Let me know if one sounds more intriguing than the others.

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.