Attitash Raising prices as of 2/26

[Vortex]

I showed up last wednesday mid week and they charged me weekend and holiday rates and said prices are subject to change, The resort decided they needed more money to make up for a slow season.
That was what the ambassadors, ticket sales and customer service said to me.

.
I will seriously consider not buying an ASC pass next year. I brought my family there for the Mountain Dew vertical challenge and bought tickets for them. I was frustrated and will be spending money elsewhere..

I thought this was the worst way to have a promotion I had ever seen. Show up and get nailed on prices. So much for good will.

 

[riverc0il]

whoa, $59 for wildcat? lame. intead of raising prices to keep up with fuel costs, help contribute to the conservation effort and groom less! there are two ways of dealing with a budget shortfall. increase profits or decrease expenses. the other fact to consider if prices get too high that fewer people show up, the increased cost of a lift ticket could actually REDUCE total profits.

 

[billski]

comps

Pretty sure it was $55 last time I was there. I could be wrong.

It was 55. I compiled them in the fall:
http://www.iabsi.com/public/ski/resorts_sorted_by_ticket_price.htm
It will be interesting to go re-check this list. If someone wants to do it, send me the data, I'll post it. I'm swamped at work this week.

Since fuel has come back down, it will be interesting to see what they do for next season's rate increases.

 

[billski]

whoa, $59 for wildcat? lame. intead of raising prices to keep up with fuel costs, help contribute to the conservation effort and groom less! there are two ways of dealing with a budget shortfall. increase profits or decrease expenses. the other fact to consider if prices get too high that fewer people show up, the increased cost of a lift ticket could actually REDUCE total profits.

I doubt the areas would have much sustainable, groom-able base if they didn't make snow over and over again. A good chunk of snowmaking cost is the energy for compressors, pumps - it's expensive. Many areas also run their electric lifts, facilities off of hidden-away diesel generators.

 

[madskier6]

K-Mart's website says lift tickets are $72. IIRC they were $69 a few weeks ago. So the price increase seems to be across all ASC resorts. As someone said, they just left the prices alone after the President's Week holiday period instead of lowering them back to non-holiday prices.

If ASC is hurting as bad as we all think they are, do people think they'll continue to offer the All for One Pass next year?

 

[Geoff]

K-Mart's website says lift tickets are $72. IIRC they were $69 a few weeks ago. So the price increase seems to be across all ASC resorts. As someone said, they just left the prices alone after the President's Week holiday period instead of lowering them back to non-holiday prices.

If ASC is hurting as bad as we all think they are, do people think they'll continue to offer the All for One Pass next year?

Kmart jacked up their "everyday" day ticket price to match their $72 holiday ticket price. I presume ASC did something similar at all their eastern resorts. I'll be curious to see their revenue and skier visit number breakdowns for the year.

I suspect their cheap season pass is what is keeping ASC alive this year. With the lousy winter in the east, there must be an awful lot of people who bought a Bronze pass and haven't skied more than a few days. I doubt they'll kill that deal off since it's made them quite a bit of money this year. ASC can't jack up prices too much on that pass deal since the people who haven't put many days on their passes won't be likely to renew. It wouldn't surprise me if they have some kind of tiered pricing where a pass that works at KMart ($72 day ticket) and Mt Snow ($71 day ticket) is more expensive than a pass that only works at Pico ($49), Sugarloaf ($63), Sunday River ($63), and Attitash ($59).

Centex is going to start building the base village at Killington this spring. When you're trying to sell multi-million dollar trophy homes to rich people, you don't want your resort to be crushed with Bronze Pass people every non-blackout weekend.

 

[EPB]

I hope that ASC goes under early and give people who know what theyre doing plenty of time to buy the resorts out of bankruptcy court.... Unfortunately, anybody whos smart wont invest in skiing in the first place.

 

[Vortex]

Attitash has some promotion where you could win a all 4 one pass last wed at the Mtn Dew vertical challenge. I would believe it will be back in some fashion.

 

[kickstand]

I looked for the disclaimer on the Wildcat site last night. I had no idea they raised prices. I just saw the $59 price for Attitash. That I know was lower earlier in the season. Luckily I'm covered at both places (WildCard for Wildcat, Bronze Pass for ASC), but I'm still a bit troubled by this. I may have to rethink my pass options for next season.

FWIW, I got a marketing questionaire from ASC a week or so ago. Being the sucker I am, I took the time to fill it out. They were hinting at possibly offering next year's pass for the same price, but only if you buy it during the end of this season. I don't mind buying it early, but not this early. They must really want the extra cash in their accounts.

 

[Vortex]

If its cheaper to buy it early I will. I'm still frustrated. I won't bring friends and family along and buy extra tickets though. They pissed me off with the subject to change story. I was one of the few supporters around here of ASC. One less know.

 

[thetrailboss]

I'm not sure which is worse. A ski area that does not advertise its day rate, and says, "caveat emptor" with a metaphorical middle finger to consumers (Stowe)? Or one that advertises its rates and then changes them in midstream? Either way, I think it is unethical. As said above, there are ways to cope with shortfall in revenue such as conserving energy with grooming, lifts, etc. Maybe we don't need people to scan tickets! We got along for what, 60 or so years without scanners? And do we need all the lifts running on days when there are few if not any skiers?

I would think that they are losing more skiers and riders now. This is just bad publicity for a sport that many non-participants think is already too expensive.

Moving away from fixed ticket prices to a "spot market" approach is just dangerous. Many people plan and make decisions based on prices. Another foolish reason for Attitash not to do this because they are so close to competition. I'm sure a lot of people just got in their cars and drove the 15 mins to Cranmore, Black Mountain, or maybe BW and Wildcat. The net amount gained by jacking up the price is lost when one considers how many folks probably went elsewhere. How does this help?

So if this was a tough winter, does that mean when snow is plentiful that the ticket price will go down? :lol:

 

[Vortex]

I told my wife lets go to Cranmore, but she had already bought the tickets. I went back into my old e-mails and found the recent survey they sent me and well I wrote a short book in the comment sections. I think my wife may send a note to the attorney general in NH. Probably will go no where, but will it will be on file.

 

[billski]

I told my wife lets go to Cranmore, but she had already bought the tickets. I went back into my old e-mails and found the recent survey they sent me and well I wrote a short book in the comment sections. I think my wife may send a note to the attorney general in NH. Probably will go no where, but will it will be on file.

I think you're wasting a stamp writing to the AG. As long as they post their prices publicly, and give notice that prices are subject to change, there is likely no legal recourse. Certainly a lot of B`tch`ng by customers will be far more effective. The last thing they want is the publicity. They are trying to slide it under the radar screen. You won't see any PR on this other than us....
Sheesh, just raise the price of Gatorade by a buck, that should make up for it....Or, maybe they should charge for parking... Or... charge a premium on powder days??? :dunce:

 

[loafer89]

I told my wife lets go to Cranmore, but she had already bought the tickets. I went back into my old e-mails and found the recent survey they sent me and well I wrote a short book in the comment sections. I think my wife may send a note to the attorney general in NH. Probably will go no where, but will it will be on file.

ASC sent me a survey about my season pass (hardly used it yet) but like most things with ASC it worked 3/4 of the way through and then gave me an error message.

With such a shite snowfall season, now is the time to REDUCE prices not raise them. As things start to warm up and turn green most people will turn away from skiing in the next 2-3 weeks, maybe sooner depending on the weather.

 

[Vortex]

I could have lived with the 4 dollar increase. The Subject to change to Weekend rates hit a chord hard.
The employees were horrified they had to do this. I know the Ag will do nothing, but they thought raising the price would do nothing also.
Beat that dead horse.jk
There were employees telling us to compain to customer service as we arrived. kind of like a barker at the fair.
This is the truth.
I'm kind of curious how MTN Dew felt about all the negitivity. I've said enough.

 

[loafer89]

Kzone has talk that Killington will maintain the $72 price until April 3rd, by then the weather may really take a toll on the trail count. I am hopefull to use my pass alot in April if the weather/work cooperate.

Sugarloaf has not even registered on my trip radar this year as the snowfall/skiing/snowmobiling have been atrocious in Maine until recently. I feel really bad about this, but spending $2000+ for a condo to ski on sheet ice makes no sense.

We have had better skiing, and more snowfall closer to the coast this year in most cases.

 

[thetrailboss]

Legal recourse: maybe not.

BBB Claim/Consumer Complaint: viable.

 

[Warp Daddy]

Let the ASC bastards fail - who gives a rats ass.They brought it on themselves with terrible planning and mgt and even worse customer service non-performance , the Grand Slummits are a joke.

There are plenty of other venues to ski

 

[kickstand]

despite the outrage, Wildcat just posted this on their site. The ticket price increase still sucks, but this is a nice gesture. The Sunday afternoon thing isn't new, but the $29 Friday is new and the season pass thing is much earlier this year.


New - On Fridays you can bring your season pass from any other alpine ski area & purchase a $29 full-day lift ticket! Sunday afternoons you can ski & ride for $20! AND you can ski for FREE --buy a Season Pass for 2006/07 Now & ski FREE beginning 3/13/06!

 

[Vortex]

I had no problem with a small increase. My company has in the past done fuel surcharges when the fuel cost went through the roof..

The problem I had was charging weekend Holiday prices mid week on a non Holiday week.. That is alot different than a few dollar increase.

Sounds like Wildcat is trying to be creative.