Using 2-for-1 (BOGO) Ski Coupons by Yourself

[bousquet19]

In the past couple of years, I've managed to save myself and my friends a fair amount of money by getting buy-one-get-one-free (BOGO) coupons for various ski areas that offer them. They usually come in packs of discount coupons that you buy for $25-$50.

Sometimes I end up skiing at one of these areas by myself, or with an odd number of people in the group, with a BOGO coupon in hand. Usually I try to find somebody heading to the ticket window and ask if they'd like to share my coupon. We split the cost of 1 ticket and receive two for our cash plus the BOGO coupon.

I've never bought two tickets and tried to sell one, but I suppose you could. (As I see it, I'm trying to save money, not make money.)

At one ski area this past season, I was stopped by a security officer who told me I was not allowed to offer to "share" (as I put it) my BOGO coupon with someone else, even if no money exchanged hands. He took my coupon to check with his superiors. After 10 minutes, he returned my coupon to me but confirmed that I could not sell, as he put it, the extra ticket. He told me I could give away the coupon or the extra ticket, which I ended up doing.

Has anyone else gone ahead and tried to use these 2-for-1 coupons in situations like this? What have your experiences been?

Woody

 

[Rambo]

I have run into people at Belleayre late in the season, who have some vouchers good for free lift tickets, that they want to sell cheap because they won't get a chance to use them. One guy said he was at a golf expo during the summer and Belleayre had a table and was giving away the vouchers.

 

[Mildcat]

I like what Cannon does, if you're just buying one ticket they charge you a couple bucks more than half price. I think Wildcat does that too. That's a fair way of doing it.

Yeah, your best bet is to try to be discreet if you're going to try finding someone to split the ticket with. Definitely don't buy both tix first then try to sell the second, most resorts strongly frown upon that. Also a lot of people don't trust a stranger selling a ticket in the parking lot. If you know you're going ahead of time post it in the "trips" forum and you might be able to plan meeting an Az'er there to split the ticket with.

 

[deadheadskier]

I like what Cannon does, if you're just buying one ticket they charge you a couple bucks more than half price. I think Wildcat does that too. That's a fair way of doing it.

The ladies at the ticket counter on Super Bowl Sunday took it a step better. Those that were going up to buy individual tickets (think they were $34 of $32) were being asked to pair up with other 'singles'.

 

[Hawkshot99]

I have only ever seen 1 mountain say something to a person with Coupons. And that was when my uncle was selling them by the ticket window, and tried to sell it to the head of tickets as they walked in for work.

My uncle has a season pass to Gore. When I would go there with him he would give me a coupon, and tell me to go find a friend to buy with. The ticket window people had no problem with it. Once a guy wanted to get a better deal than 50%. He figured it would work with a 13 yr old kid. But it didnt, and the ticket lady laughed at him as she charged him full price, after I found another person.

 

[JasonE]

One Tuesday this season, I arrived at Crotched alone. Crotched runs 2-for-Tuesdays. When I got to the ticket window and said "one lift ticket", the woman looked at me like I was crazy, leaned forward and said quietly "get your ass outside and pair up with someone - this is 2-for-1 day!"

I had to laugh... 5 minutes later I had my ticket for half what I had planned to pay.

 

[frozencorn]

Similar experience at Sugarloaf last year. My friends had a package deal and already had lift tickets, so I tried to get someone in line to go in on a 2-for-1 I wanted to burn. Everyone sort of thought I was trying to swindle them. Finally a security guard reamed me out about "soliciting." Forced to pay full price.

 

[jaytrem]

Bogus Basin in Idaho was super nice. I was trying to find a person to split a BOGO with, the problem was NOBODY was buying tickets. It was a weekday and the few people that were showing up all had season passes. Eventually I gave up and figured I'll see if they'll give me 1/2 off rather than 2 for 1. Turns out they went even better, the girl at the desk said "no problem, I'll just charge the next person that shows up 1/2 price too". If she really did, the next customer must have been thrilled.

 

[frozencorn]

Bogus Basin in Idaho was super nice. I was trying to find a person to split a BOGO with, the problem was NOBODY was buying tickets. It was a weekday and the few people that were showing up all had season passes. Eventually I gave up and figured I'll see if they'll give me 1/2 off rather than 2 for 1. Turns out they went even better, the girl at the desk said "no problem, I'll just charge the next person that shows up 1/2 price too". If she really did, the next customer must have been thrilled.

That's awesome.

 

[deadheadskier]

Similar experience at Sugarloaf last year. My friends had a package deal and already had lift tickets, so I tried to get someone in line to go in on a 2-for-1 I wanted to burn. Everyone sort of thought I was trying to swindle them. Finally a security guard reamed me out about "soliciting." Forced to pay full price.

If that ever happened to me, I'd black list the Loaf for several years. It wouldn't be about the money either, it would be about the principle of greed.

Ski areas face a continuing battle to maintain skier visit levels and really need to think about the long term ramifications of whether discouraging patronage is really worth that extra $30-40. You never know what might happen by encouraging strangers to partner up. Two people might meet, hit it off and become ski buddies and regular visitors to the area both on BOGO days and full price days.

 

[Geoff]

I think there's a big difference between pairing up on a 2-for-1 day; and walking around the ticket window when you have a 2-for-1 coupon looking to split it with somebody. In the former case, the mountain is expecting to sell all their lift tickets for the day at half price. No big deal. In the latter case, you're picking the pocket of the resort since they're not getting full price from 'that other guy' you find in the parking lot. Of course the resort is going to object. You can at least be discrete about it.

I try to be discrete about all the deals I use to ski. Vouchers and discount coupons I find on the internet. Employee discount deals. Comp tickets for various reasons. If you blab, somebody is going to get pissed and take those deals away.

 

[HD333]

2 seasons ago we had a bunch of us at Waterville at the end of the , we all had tickets/passes except for my sister in law. As luck would have it an older couple had a "free" voucher they were GIVING away as they couln't use it. I told them we could use it and they handed it to me. WV security promply stepped in and said we couldn't use the voucher. After about 5 minutes of expalining the situation he "Ok'd" it.

I could se eif they were selling the thing like a scalper but the were GIVING it away, tryng to save someone a buck.

I know the MT needs to make $ but they had to have forcasted how many freebies they gave out and worked that into their projections for the year.

Either way the whole situation left a bad taste in my mouth and if the security guy used a little common sense it would have been a non-issue.

 

[billski]

The ladies at the ticket counter on Super Bowl Sunday took it a step better. Those that were going up to buy individual tickets (think they were $34 of $32) were being asked to pair up with other 'singles'.

I like it. Liftees for ticket lines!

 

[bousquet19]

Thanks for the comments. I appreciate knowing that my experience isn't unique, and it's great to see the laid-back, pragmatic approaches at Cannon and Bogus Basin. Other resorts could take note.

Since (I assume) ski areas are offering BOGO coupons to encourage visits, I'm surprised by some areas' harsh responses when you're trying to pair up with someone to split the coupon. While it is true that the "found" skier/boarder is paying half price, not full price, the management may be doing their resort more PR harm than good in clamping down on on-site pairings too forcefully.

BOGO coupons have definitely caused me to choose areas I wouldn't have chosen otherwise. Some of them I'd visited before, while others I hadn't. In several cases, I have made return visits and paid full price.

At the one area where I was stopped by a security officer this year, I had a fine day despite not being able to ski for half price...but that uneasy feeling lingers. Of course, I feel the same way when I get caught with my hand in the cookie jar.

Thinking snow,
Woody

 

[Geoff]

Thanks for the comments. I appreciate knowing that my experience isn't unique, and it's great to see the laid-back, pragmatic approaches at Cannon and Bogus Basin. Other resorts could take note.

Since (I assume) ski areas are offering BOGO coupons to encourage visits, I'm surprised by some areas' harsh responses when you're trying to pair up with someone to split the coupon. While it is true that the "found" skier/boarder is paying half price, not full price, the management may be doing their resort more PR harm than good in clamping down on on-site pairings too forcefully.

BOGO coupons have definitely caused me to choose areas I wouldn't have chosen otherwise. Some of them I'd visited before, while others I hadn't. In several cases, I have made return visits and paid full price.

At the one area where I was stopped by a security officer this year, I had a fine day despite not being able to ski for half price...but that uneasy feeling lingers. Of course, I feel the same way when I get caught with my hand in the cookie jar.

Thinking snow,
Woody

The difference at Cannon is that it's state owned. Employees have no particular profit motivation to try to extract full price from customers. At any other ski area, it's run as a business. You'd fire a ticket sales person for screwing the resort out of day ticket money. You put people around the ticket windows to stop people from unloading discount deals to the walk-up business. I can't fault resorts for doing it.

 

[deadheadskier]

The difference at Cannon is that it's state owned. Employees have no particular profit motivation to try to extract full price from customers. At any other ski area, it's run as a business. You'd fire a ticket sales person for screwing the resort out of day ticket money. You put people around the ticket windows to stop people from unloading discount deals to the walk-up business. I can't fault resorts for doing it.

I see both sides. I see the lost revenue of pairing up with strangers, but I also see the side of the coin that a resort budgets out their discounts. Had I been treated harshly at Cannon with my experience, chances are I would not be returning. I recognize others might not take similar offense, but you tell me what's the better business practice. Getting that extra $30 or $40 off me for that one day or building good will such that I come back year after year?

 

[Geoff]

I see both sides. I see the lost revenue of pairing up with strangers, but I also see the side of the coin that a resort budgets out their discounts. Had I been treated harshly at Cannon with my experience, chances are I would not be returning. I recognize others might not take similar offense, but you tell me what's the better business practice. Getting that extra $30 or $40 off me for that one day or building good will such that I come back year after year?

My take on the better business practice...

Most ski resorts want the customers who book lodging through them so they get the big per-day yield. Most customers don't search out deals on the internet and end up paying the walkup price for day tickets. I suspect most resorts would conclude that you're not the kind of business they want. If you're bargain hunting day tickets, you are likely not buying their cafeteria food or drinking in their bar. You're definitely not renting their equipment or taking lessons. They'll happily take your money but they're not going to bend over backwards for you. If they see you doing things that cost them revenue, they'd probably rather have you go away.

 

[deadheadskier]

My take on the better business practice...

Most ski resorts want the customers who book lodging through them so they get the big per-day yield. Most customers don't search out deals on the internet and end up paying the walkup price for day tickets. I suspect most resorts would conclude that you're not the kind of business they want. If you're bargain hunting day tickets, you are likely not buying their cafeteria food or drinking in their bar. You're definitely not renting their equipment or taking lessons. They'll happily take your money but they're not going to bend over backwards for you. If they see you doing things that cost them revenue, they'd probably rather have you go away.

I call that bean counter business practice....very short sighted.

You never know who that customer is coming up to the window and what their potential is. I'm likely going to buy a pass at Ragged this winter only because it's closer. Cannon is my second choice, but I haven't ruled it out 100% yet because it offers better skiing and I was treated well. I'll give you that Cannon probably doesn't run as lean as most other areas. At other areas, that person you piss off could very well be a conservative spender trying before perhaps booking a vacation there, which could eventually lead to a real estate buy. You just don't know.

When my investment banker father was getting into the sport, he looked for deals just like I do at my much lower pay grade. We did several day trips to Killington and Okemo for a few often back then using Entertainment card discounts. Overall, he felt that Okemo treated him better. He ended up buying a house there and lord knows he has brought well in excess of 200 grand worth of season passes, golf passes, on mountain F&B between our family and guests over 15 years of skiing there and the 5 years since he moved to Florida, but still comes north to golf for the summer. No doubt the positive economic impact has been over 15K a year to the Muellers alone, never mind the town of Ludlow.

At the most expensive area in New England, you're talking about trying to get an extra $46 out of someone. Trying to get that extra $46 could end up costing the mountain in the case of someone like my dad, several hundred grand in lost revenue. That would take many thousand day tickets to make up. It really isn't worth it.