Liftopia Highlights Shift Towards Year-Round Lift Ticket Sales
Liftopia has highlighted a shift towards year-round lift ticket sales
- What if, customers searching for your ski area for next winter could see your products already?
- What if, you had great deals available now to get your customers excited for next winter?
- What if, you didn’t have to worry about getting tickets live during the busy buildup to the season in the fall?
- What if, you launched your winter inventory for next year, now?
Historically in our industry, the availability of lift tickets for sale has been extremely seasonal. For many resorts, lift tickets are only available for part of the year, usually starting in the fall. But as resorts further prioritize online pre-sale, as Vail has, and the “internet store” never closes, it makes sense to offer inventory for your customers year-round and be for sale at all times.
As Vail Resorts’ CEO, Rob Katz, stated in a recent interview with the SF Chronicle, “For us, that’s been getting people to commit to their skiing before the season, so the skier gets a great deal, and the resort gets a great deal. They’ve got a partnership.”
Believe it or not, the data shows that customers are already searching for specific ski-dates during next season, and each summer we see searches shifting earlier and earlier into early summer months. Across our partners’ Cloud Stores (white-label e-commerce) alone, there have already been 12,500+ searches for ski dates next winter as of 4/4/19. Of course, the pricing strategy available during the summer will have an influence on customer buying behavior. Using an early season booking promotion with an enticing rate is a great tool to secure early season, pre-committed bookings and revenue.
In addition to gaining additional marketing and product exposure and possibly some early revenue during the spring and summer months leading into next season, getting your products live now will be one less thing to worry about come fall. In the fall months, things get busy, we know and understand that. You have to hire and train seasonal staff, plan operations, review budgets, prepare equipment, and generally get the mountain ready for opening day. Going live now for next season means your customers can buy your tickets online whenever they want to shop without any more work from you, a tactic employed by leading resort companies across North America.
So, what do oes Liftopia recommend?
- Offer inventory now for next season
- Make sure you have a price point available that is more likely to convert customers early
- Use these products/prices as something to talk about to your customer lists during slow summer months
They can help you make this easy, and get set up for Winter 2019-20 in a breeze. Contact them at partners@liftopia.com
