Big Burke announcement

[thetrailboss]

What do folks make of this?
http://skiburke.com/landing/ski-rid...seg2&utm_content=im1_co3&utm_campaign=promo45

Desperation.

 

[VTKilarney]

Two things are really odd about this promotion:
1) It was released at the beginning of MA school vacation.
2) It was released just when conditions at the mountain got really good.

 

[zeke]

What do folks make of this?
http://skiburke.com/landing/ski-ride.php?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=cpc&utm_term=seg2&utm_content=im1_co3&utm_campaign=promo45

from a purely marketing point of view, it's the smartest thing i've seen them do. if all accounts are accurate, this season is a dismal wash (down 40% etc.). so when the mountain is finally fully open, probably skiing well, empty and other surrounding resorts (jay, cannon, loon etc.) are packed, why not throw out a great rate to get people to try you. what's a 45 min drive from loon when the lift line at loon is half that?

only thing is i'm not sure how they're getting this message out. fb, twitter and the burke site are only talking to people who are already interested to some point. so you're giving your current audience a discount instead of enticing new people to trial and setting a good stage for the future. a good initial idea but not really thought through from a delivery of message POV.

 

[VTKilarney]

How are they getting the message out? I didn't see anything on their Facebook page, twitter, or their website. Their twitter account is all but dead.

I'm rethinking my concern about the timing. If there has been a lot of negative chatter about the snow conditions, it makes sense to release this promotion when the snow is really good. People have very short memories.

 

[Mullen]

The 45 is a good deal! I spent the last week at Burke (7th - 16th) in the condos, I hadn't been back since i left LSC in 1999. One observation....this place can't be making any money. Mid week last week I counted 5 cars in the mid burke lot total at about 11AM, not even the locals were out, and barely anyone staying in the condos. The only people on the mountain were me, a couple others and the Burke academy racer kids. I'd imagine there are more people there this week with the school vacations and new snow. The riding was great though, conditions were awesome.....The longest lift line I waitied in was a few minutes on Saturday. Trees are filled in nicely now. I had no problems or complaints with anything other than the fact that you have to go to the bottom of the mtn to buy a lift ticket now......no more being able to buy them at Mid burke like back in the day, this is pretty effing annoying since I had no reason at all to go down there. I could walk to the mid burke lift out the condo door but had to go to the base of the mtn for a ticket. Dumb. We got a sweet deal on the condo and tix off liftopia each day we went in the $40-$50 range. It was a very affordable week for us, had a blast. The area hasn't changed much at all really since my college days.

 

[Boardguy]

Mullen you did notice the new lifts right?

Lots of people there over this past weekend and conditions were good. The lift line up top was as large, probably larger, than I have ever seen it and the lodges were busy. I was surprised that Warren's way was closed for racing. I thought they were going back to the old deal that they would not close Warren's during holiday weeks.

 

[thetrailboss]

Re: publicity of the promo. I have no idea. VTKilarney's post was the first time that I saw any mention of it and when I went to the site I did not see anything about it. I see that you can buy tickets online, but the pricing was a bit higher. So yeah, I have not heard anything about it before. It may have been in the snow report Emails that I get or the weekly Email blast.

Regarding the lift ticket office being at the base: they cut the one person who sold sundries and lift tickets at Mid-Burke to save money. It is kind of dumb I think. Makes sense on paper, but not in reality.

And as to the promo I think it is too little too late. They really offered a subpar product at key holiday periods and they are now trying to make up for it when your market is getting smaller every week. Folks will be thinking spring sports soon and not skiing. They will get some good traffic this week for sure with the holiday, but not enough to make up for Christmas AND MLK Weekend. From all accounts they were WAY down. Some folks might disagree with my classification, but NOBODY will pay top dollar for very limited terrain options no matter how great that snow may be. Obvious solution would be to send Q2 to make airplanes and hire an experienced resort manager. It is a broken record I know and what the hell do I know?

 

[VTKilarney]

I only found out about it because it was posted in the deals thread on this forum. I still can't find any reference to it outside of here.

 

[dmw]

I'm a newcomer to the whole Burke thing in general, but I'd think getting the word out to more people is kind of their fundamental problem, right? I'd barely know it existed if I didn't start reading about it on here 2 years ago.

 

[from_the_NEK]

I'm a newcomer to the whole Burke thing in general...

What is Burke? We are talking about Q Burke here :wink:

 

[fbrissette]

I only found out about it because it was posted in the deals thread on this forum. I still can't find any reference to it outside of here.

May be they are trying to get better press on this forum...

 

[Nick]

Wow. Only 20 posts to 1k

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk

 

[thetrailboss]

I'm a newcomer to the whole Burke thing in general, but I'd think getting the word out to more people is kind of their fundamental problem, right? I'd barely know it existed if I didn't start reading about it on here 2 years ago.

Right, which is why their earlier "miscues" are only magnified. It's one thing if folks know a resort and their reputation and their is a hiccup. People are more understanding there. But when folks have no reference point and hear bad things it stings more.

What is Burke? We are talking about Q Burke here :wink:

POTD! :lol:

May be they are trying to get better press on this forum...

You are giving them too much credit. Burke's marketing guy has not been seen or heard from. I doubt that they care about us

 

[MEtoVTSkier]

......I doubt that they care about us

That would be a colossal mistake, word gets around with this crowd, to many who don't even frequent the forums...

 

[MEtoVTSkier]

Wouldn't you think they'd actually start building it before putting this out?

http://www.skiburke.com/contest/index.php

 

[VTKilarney]

What? You don't think that it's good PR to have a contest offering prize that may never materialize or, if it does materialize, will not be available to the winner for a year or more?

 

[MEtoVTSkier]

What? You don't think that it's good PR to have a contest offering prize that may never materialize or, if it does materialize, will not be available to the winner for a year or more?

:smile:

 

[fbrissette]

What? You don't think that it's good PR to have a contest offering prize that may never materialize or, if it does materialize, will not be available to the winner for a year or more?

The way they've been leading their boat, I won't even enter the contest, nor would I go if I won.

 

[thetrailboss]

That would be a colossal mistake, word gets around with this crowd, to many who don't even frequent the forums...

You would think, but look at the a$$hole Email Ary sent to that bike message board.

Wouldn't you think they'd actually start building it before putting this out?

http://www.skiburke.com/contest/index.php

Good point! Never even considered that!

 

[SkiRaceParent]

This thread has become ridiculous. the same 2 or 3 people badmouthing Burke (or Q Burke). Half of you haven't even been there this year. Stop stirring the pot and go do some skiing or get outside. Seriously, calm down people, nothing bad has happened in the last month. Things seem to be recovering, time to let things happen and hopefully get better. Stop stirring the pot if you have no additional argument to make besides the same 4 or 5 you've been making for the past 50 pages of this thread.