National "Hit the hills!" day

[snowman]

OK, The skiing industry has a problem. Flat or declining visitor numbers. How do you fix that? A thought that just flashed into my head was how about one MONSTER promotion on a scale never seen before?? On whatever is the slowest Saturday or Sunday in January you have a national "hit the hills day", and for say $9.99 (I'm back with my .99's) you get rentals, a lesson and a lift ticket. Once the rentals are all gone, rain checks are issued, good for 30 days? (Potential for fraud there yes, I'm sure something could be figured out though??!). The promotion is on at every ski hill in every state and has the hell promoted out of it on TV, which is paid for out of a percentage of the $9.99. Sure it's going to be a freakin mob scene, but newb's don't care. It's basically a big party and gets people out to the ski hills that have never even been to one before. Enterprising hills could have concerts in the evening that they charge extra for and turn the day into a real revenue creator. Yeah or neah? Anyone else have an idea?

 

[skier90]

Basically every one would go to Killington, Sunday River, ext. and places like pats peak and Nashoba would be empty. Good idea just needs a little revision.

 

[deadheadskier]

I think January would work out west, but in the east, second or third Sunday of March makes the most sense. There's just too great of a risk of it being freezing cold, which could turn people off. Early enough in March and the risk of people struggling with corn is still somewhat low. Give the newbies a positive experience that will make them want to go back again the following year.

good idea, though I doubt you could get many mountains to go for it. Skiing's a low margin business when all is factored in. Most mountains would probably prefer cashing in on 2000 skiers paying $60 than having to staff the place for 12,000 paying $10. Even if that is short sighted

 

[snoseek]

sounds like national demolition derby to me....



busy day in the e.r.

 

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

OK, The skiing industry has a problem. Flat or declining visitor numbers. How do you fix that? A thought that just flashed into my head was how about one MONSTER promotion on a scale never seen before?? On whatever is the slowest Saturday or Sunday in January you have a national "hit the hills day", and for say $9.99 (I'm back with my .99's) you get rentals, a lesson and a lift ticket. Once the rentals are all gone, rain checks are issued, good for 30 days? (Potential for fraud there yes, I'm sure something could be figured out though??!). The promotion is on at every ski hill in every state and has the hell promoted out of it on TV, which is paid for out of a percentage of the $9.99. Sure it's going to be a freakin mob scene, but newb's don't care. It's basically a big party and gets people out to the ski hills that have never even been to one before. Enterprising hills could have concerts in the evening that they charge extra for and turn the day into a real revenue creator. Yeah or neah? Anyone else have an idea?

Slowest Saturday or Saunday in Jaunary is an oxymoron..lol..unless it's during a rainstorm...get over the $9.99 pricing..it ain't Tim Hortons

 

[campgottagopee]

Snowseek I give you credit for your idea, but I don't think it will get alot of support from the mountains. Here's why I say that; my local hill every xmas eve day has a free ski day for anyone who wants to ski/ride. They do get a HUGE turn out but most of us locals/pass holders just plain stay away do to the masses, and there has been alot of complaining to management about this "event". So much in fact they're concidering not doing it anymore for fear of loosing the pass holder who day in and day out spends their money at the hill.
Again, great idea, just not sure if that dog will hunt.

 

[snowman]

Basically every one would go to Killington, Sunday River, ext. and places like pats peak and Nashoba would be empty. Good idea just needs a little revision.

Ehhh, my feeling on that was people will go to the smaller ones as a strategic plan to not get left out in the cold. Also, If K is full, they'll just try a smaller one as an alternative? The rain check thing may be a bad idea though, as they'll collect a K rain check and move on to the next place or not at all? I don't know, I just came up with this off the top of my head. It's not even remotely thought out.

 

[snowman]

I think January would work out west, but in the east, second or third Sunday of March makes the most sense. There's just too great of a risk of it being freezing cold, which could turn people off. Early enough in March and the risk of people struggling with corn is still somewhat low. Give the newbies a positive experience that will make them want to go back again the following year.

good idea, though I doubt you could get many mountains to go for it. Skiing's a low margin business when all is factored in. Most mountains would probably prefer cashing in on 2000 skiers paying $60 than having to staff the place for 12,000 paying $10. Even if that is short sighted

My original thought was March, for just that reason too, BUT, I think you need to do it early on in the season to get them out full frieght for another day before season close? I think if you do it near season end, the next time you'll see them is when you do the promotion the following March?

P.S. On ther short sighted thing, you hit the nail on the head. Every typical day is short sighted. If you pick a day that's typically crap, and get 4, 5 or 6 times your normal skier visits, it might be a huge bonus for a small hill who might only charge $30 for a ticket, aside from bringing in the never-evers. The big resorts can break even or even make money by doing other things like the concert I suggested. It's one day a year to try a long sighted promotion. The other 100 to 200 days a year are short sighted.

 

[snowman]

sounds like national demolition derby to me....



busy day in the e.r.

:lol: I guess I'm laughing because I know it's true...

 

[snowman]

Snowseek I give you credit for your idea, but I don't think it will get alot of support from the mountains. Here's why I say that; my local hill every xmas eve day has a free ski day for anyone who wants to ski/ride. They do get a HUGE turn out but most of us locals/pass holders just plain stay away do to the masses, and there has been alot of complaining to management about this "event". So much in fact they're concidering not doing it anymore for fear of loosing the pass holder who day in and day out spends their money at the hill.
Again, great idea, just not sure if that dog will hunt.

Are they growing their skier base at all? If it's a total mob scene, rather than canning it all together, they should mabe charge a something minimal like $10 to make some revenue off it and maybe bring the numbers down to a more tollerable level? You want it to be a mob scene because that's sort of what a promo like that is about, however, if you're turning away just as many people as you can serve, you're hurting yourself as much as you are helping, never mind the fact that the extra $50,000 (if you get 5000 people) will pay for the entire day and then some.

 

[snoseek]

Snowseek I give you credit for your idea, but I don't think it will get alot of support from the mountains. Here's why I say that; my local hill every xmas eve day has a free ski day for anyone who wants to ski/ride. They do get a HUGE turn out but most of us locals/pass holders just plain stay away do to the masses, and there has been alot of complaining to management about this "event". So much in fact they're concidering not doing it anymore for fear of loosing the pass holder who day in and day out spends their money at the hill.
Again, great idea, just not sure if that dog will hunt.

for the record-I didn't think this one up.


side note- I think folks that have never gone skiing should get a free all-inclusive ride any day. ASC did this I beleive with the mobile cards.

 

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

The ski areas/resorts should just pay first timers money to try skiing..lol

 

[snowman]

I think the party atmosphere is required to really draw some people out who wouldn't even consider trying it otherwise. The valid anytime idea doesn't capture that. That's why I'm all about the one day thing. Around here, you can draw 100,000 to a concert at $80 a head. Out of those 100,000, ....60,000 people don't even like the artists, they just go because it's what everyone else is doing and it's something out of the norm to do.

 

[BushMogulMaster]

I think the point that needs to be honed in here isn't how much money this will make an area on that day. The key is to introduce people to the sport who may otherwise be unable or disinterested in trying it. Snowman's idea (with some tweaking) may be a great annual event to get people to the hills.

I know this is a very localized datum, but you may be surprised to know that 85% of Denver residents have never skied, and now 95% of Denver youth are never introduced to the sport at all. Given stats like that, which I'm sure are similar in other areas, something needs to be done to introduce people of all ages and all nationalities to the sport. Snowman's concept would be a small piece of the puzzle that must be put together to solve this issue.

 

[snowman]

I think the point that needs to be honed in here isn't how much money this will make an area on that day. The key is to introduce people to the sport who may otherwise be unable or disinterested in trying it. Snowman's idea (with some tweaking) may be a great annual event to get people to the hills.

I know this is a very localized datum, but you may be surprised to know that 85% of Denver residents have never skied, and now 95% of Denver youth are never introduced to the sport at all. Given stats like that, which I'm sure are similar in other areas, something needs to be done to introduce people of all ages and all nationalities to the sport. Snowman's concept would be a small piece of the puzzle that must be put together to solve this issue.

Correct, the point was indeed never to make money. I originally thought free, but with the everyone else is doing it mentality of a young culture, you could for sure charge $9.99 or something and get close to the same response. Free would plain and simply net too much response. The $9.99 will pay for all the marketing involved and recover a lot of local costs. In the end though, I suggest response, and strategic ways of sur-charging (concerts) could turn a larger profit for the day than you would normally get in the first place and make it a win-win-win.

 

[snoseek]

www.tvsquad.com/media/2006/05/thehills.jpg

yeah, I'd hit that.

 

[snowman]

www.tvsquad.com/media/2006/05/thehills.jpg

yeah, I'd hit that.

The peak for sure. The rest looks pretty flat and bland :lol: