Sunday River Shutting Their Community Board

[SkiFanE]

I'm not a SR pass holder, so I know nothing of it. As a Killington (and Epic) pass holder, I can unequivocally state that both treat their pass holders well. Mike Solimano and Killington clearly values his "base", and while decisions on mountain aren't driven by that demographic, their voices are definitely listened to and heard. Pass holder surveys specifically asked about what sort of improvements were a priority. The restoration of lift service to South Ridge is certainly evidence of that. And although there is a very vocal minority on Kzone that love the Snowdon Quad, in general they are individuals with a lot of time on their hands. The majority are grateful to see it replaced.

Boyne gets kudos from me for (finally) buying back their resorts from the REITs. Took me by surprise, I'd have thought this would have happened when CNL sold them off a few years back. I'd love to know what changed in the few intervening years. I dislike ownership of ski areas by REITs: it means the operators are no longer in control of capital spending. Hopefully this will mean new lifts for the 'loaf and the River, other than when something fails catastrophically.

I was optimistic but the board shut down and poor survey make me wonder... you'd think they'd have sent an introductory email or something instead. I get many more surveys from SL even though I haven't been there in 5+years. I don't think marketing knows what the fuck they are doing. They must spend all their time replying to idiotic FB and instagram comments.

[Rogman]

I was optimistic but the board shut down and poor survey make me wonder... you'd think they'd have sent an introductory email or something instead. I get many more surveys from SL even though I haven't been there in 5+years. I don't think marketing knows what the fuck they are doing. They must spend all their time replying to idiotic FB and instagram comments.

If you're in marketing you never want to lose control of the your messaging. That's what SR did by shuttering their board. Did they think the community would evaporate? Naive. They should have taken note what happened to Killington with KZone. It's pretty much a free for all, with only the mods to rein it in at their discretion. Obviously message boards are a mixed bag: the signal to noise is often pretty low, but it is a "gathering" point for your core demographic. FB, Instagram, Twitter, are all pretty tame by comparison, and while they reach a wider audience, that audience is far less passionate. Forums require a management with thick skin, since the second guessing of any decision, no matter how trivial, is incessant. Even in the early days of POWDR, when the Kzone board was pretty much in open warfare with Nyberg, it was clear that management read it: errors on the Killington web page were quickly corrected if they were reported on Kzone. I understand why Sunday River might think it wasn't worth the bother, but the genie, once out of the bottle, cannot be put back.