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Is Liftopia Cheaper?

Zermatt

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Why do people use Litftopia? Clueless or is it cheaper for some mountains?

I was just spot checking for Pico. On the Pico website a 2 day ticket for next weekend (3/17) is $110. On Liftopia it is the same price....

What am I missing in this case? I'd much rather book directly with Pico than another vendor.
 

Smellytele

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It can be cheaper but never more. Also you can some times find liftopia discounts for 5,10 even 20 bucks. Also through my work I can get points that lead to other discounts (for 1 dollar you spend you get 3 points then for every 10 points you get a dollar credit so 30%), the further you buy out the more can save as well.
It is another tool to ski on the cheap. Sometimes it is the best tool sometimes it isn't
 

urungus

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Another thing to consider is that Liftopia doesn’t offer refunds. If you buy directly from the mountain, they often offer a snow guarantee / credit if it turns out to be a rainy day.
 

Bumpsis

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Why do people use Litftopia? Clueless or is it cheaper for some mountains?

I was just spot checking for Pico. On the Pico website a 2 day ticket for next weekend (3/17) is $110. On Liftopia it is the same price....

What am I missing in this case? I'd much rather book directly with Pico than another vendor.

I found Liftopia to be a very good deal for single day tickets bought within a time window which allowed for weather forecasts to be close to accurate. So, "clueless" is not exactly a characterization I'd use to describe Liftopia users. Being able to save between 30-40% (more or less) off walk up rates, or even direct, over the internet resort rates is pretty good. Especially if you cherry picking your days.
 

Pez

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I got a Thursday Pico ticket last season for 37 bucks on Liftopia. If I'm going somewhere and I know I'm going to ski no matter what I get tickets off there.


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rocks860

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I’ve been buying ticket to magic through liftopia. Usually if I buy more than a day beforehand tickets are 54 (regular price is 69)


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Zermatt

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I got a Thursday Pico ticket last season for 37 bucks on Liftopia. If I'm going somewhere and I know I'm going to ski no matter what I get tickets off there.


Sent from my iPhone using AlpineZone

At the same time what was the price on Pico's website?
 
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Liftopia also has had sales where you get gift cards (to use on Liftopia) at a discount. For example I got a $125 Liftopia card for $100 early in the season.
 

BenedictGomez

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Liftopia used to be excellent in its' early days and you could save big buying in advance, but (generalizing) now it's often just a distribution outlet for the mountains, and with minor discounts.
 

bdfreetuna

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Many resorts have some form of dynamic pricing, similar to what hotels have been doing for a while with Priceline, etc.

Those prices *may* be available through other offers. For example, I can count 3 and a half ways to save 50% off Pico or Killington on weekdays that don't involve Liftopia. The advantage with Liftopia is it often gives you solid savings if you're willing to buy weeks in advance. Early and late season there are discounts available that aren't otherwise.

As more ski areas like Pico offer a similar/same dynamic pricing purchasing experience as Liftopia, the writing is already on the wall and Liftopia has been diversifying from simple lift ticket sales for a few years now.
 

Pez

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At the same time what was the price on Pico's website?

I can't remember. i do know that it was much cheaper than the window price. I do remember that was a powder day, so 37 bucks was well worth it.
 

benski

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This is the case with a few resorts. It'll say powered by liftopia somewhere small.

These websites are easy to recognize, since the format is identical, they just change the prices, color scheme and maybe put a background photo of the given ski area.

Do lift ticket prices ever drop, like airline tickets? I get the feeling these pricing algorithm are simply increase the price $1 for every 5 tickets sold or something like that. I saw Plattekill which uses liftopia, go from $50 with 1 left to $51 with 5 left, after I bought 1 ticket.
 

bdfreetuna

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They should switch to a fake count-down timer: "$50 ticket offer available for 10...9...8...7..." "Buy Now to Lock in Lowest Rate"
 
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