Triple Digit Lift Tickets

[Highway Star]

The prices are not high because the skiing is good. And there of plenty of other mountains whose skiing rivals Stowe but whose prices do not.

Prices are high because they have the best skiing in the east, AND they have a limited amount of lift and trail capacity. Simple supply vs. demand indicates they can charge more.

 

[VTKilarney]

One advantage to Liftopia is that ski areas can price their product more like airlines do - taking full advantage of demand. I've always wondered weekends are typically priced the same even though some of them must be busier than others. I've noticed that with Liftopia some ski areas really do tailor price to actual demand. It's also a good way to predict how crowded the mountain will be.

 

[BenedictGomez]

Disney World is the master of this. Each year they add some perk to staying at on-site hotels. It used to be that a family spending a week in Orlando would typically visit Disney for four days and Universal Studios (or perhaps Sea World) for two days. A LOT fewer people are doing that because Disney has aggressively created market forces that encourage people to spend their entire vacation on Disney property. An example: The price difference between a four day Disney pass and a six day pass is $21.30. A two day pass to Universal Studios is $146.99 for adults and $136.99 for children. So if a family wants to spend four days at Disney and two days at Universal it will cost a family of four $481.38 more than if they just spent those six days in Disney parks. Since the average guest spends about $75 per day on food and trinkets (just a guess) while in a park, it's well worth it for Disney to discount park admission for those extra days if they know that it will prevent guests from going elsewhere. $75 + $10.15 per day is better than $0.

Well, they just raised their ticket prices today.

The Magic Kingdom is raising its prices another $4 to $99 for a day pass at its Orlando park. Its other Orlando parks (Epcot, Animal Kingdom, and Hollywood Studios) are also seeing a $4 price hike. A decade ago, Magic Kingdom's admission cost less than $50.

 

[billski]

Prices are high because they have the best skiing in the east, AND they have a limited amount of lift and trail capacity. Simple supply vs. demand indicates they can charge more.

Not sure I'm following you. Limited capacity does not constrain demand in this case. There are plenty of people who want to ski Stowe. It's the other way around - pricing constrains demand. They don't have a ticket limit policy, so there is no constraint on supply. A staffer told me last fall that they believe everyone wins when the daily attendance is about 4,000. They did have a day when they hit 6,000 and the mountain handled it well.

 

[timm]

Prices are high because they have the best skiing in the east, AND they have a limited amount of lift and trail capacity. Simple supply vs. demand indicates they can charge more.

Supply and demand isn't the be all, end all of pricing. It is a 50,000 foot view, not an exact specific description of how prices are determined in any situation. Prestige pricing exists.