The ALTERRA SUCKS Thread

[4aprice]

I'm still at a loss as to why we even receive Indy passes. That can't be used anywhere; even at Indy owned Black Mountain.

I don't recall day ticket redemption being any faster / easier with the pass vs a drivers license.

Is there a point to them sending a hard pass other than to charge a few bucks more for something?

This is my first go round with Indy so I’m not versed on how it works yet. Right now I would prefer something issued to know the order went through with no problems. Maybe I will feel differently once getting a season under my belt. I do know they took my money.

 

[cdskier]

Got my Ikons in the mail this morning. Always wonder if everything went through alright until I have them in hand. Now waiting for my Indy Passes

Got mine the other day. I still don't understand why they waste money on sending new passes every year.

 

[jimmywilson69]

oh I should be getting new Ikon passes? Didn't realize that...


I also just received an email from A-Basin stating I have unlimited skiing at Abasin until 12/20 with my Ikon base pass. Days before 12/20 will not count towards my limits of 5 days per year. I feel like that is bad move and will piss people off...

 

[ThatGuy]

We've been getting the full Ikon so we can hit Sugarbush or Stratton over the holidays and so that we can ski a week at Jackson Hole.

Jiminy Peak might be OK to hit for a day trip. We used a day at Windham every now and then. Does Jiminy still groom everything except 1 trail?

Jiminy would groom the woods if they could

 

[Zand]

I'm still at a loss as to why we even receive Indy passes. That can't be used anywhere; even at Indy owned Black Mountain.

I don't recall day ticket redemption being any faster / easier with the pass vs a drivers license.

Is there a point to them sending a hard pass other than to charge a few bucks more for something?

It still annoys the shit out of me that you can't even get a scannable QR code when you make a reservation at an Indy mountain that you can bring to one of the mobile kiosks.

I agree that the passes should work themselves at this point at most places. But at bare minimum, shouldn't the same technology for a day ticket redemption also work for an Indy Pass redemption?

 

[machski]

It still annoys the shit out of me that you can't even get a scannable QR code when you make a reservation at an Indy mountain that you can bring to one of the mobile kiosks.

I agree that the passes should work themselves at this point at most places. But at bare minimum, shouldn't the same technology for a day ticket redemption also work for an Indy Pass redemption?

You want a discount pass? You get the discount pain in the @ss too

 

[shawnanigans]

I also just received an email from A-Basin stating I have unlimited skiing at Abasin until 12/20 with my Ikon base pass. Days before 12/20 will not count towards my limits of 5 days per year. I feel like that is bad move and will piss people off...

A-Basin is unlimited for Full Ikon users now so I doubt this added benefit for the base pass will piss the locals off much further than they already were.

 

[thetrailboss]

A-Basin is unlimited for Full Ikon users now so I doubt this added benefit for the base pass will piss the locals off much further than they already were.

This. I also heard from folks, both on AZ and out here, that Alterra's sudden change to allowing Base Pass folks more access did not go over well. I know that folks in here groaned when Alterra suddenly said, "surprise! Base Pass holders can ski at Sugarbush MLK Weekend!" The big change out here though was that literally overnight before the season started Alterra proclaimed that Solitude had no blackouts anymore. So if you bought a full pass and paid that premium for access you suddenly saw what you bought devalued. One of my colleagues was rip shit over it as he primarily skis at Solitude and bought the full pass.

Despite what folks think about there being more "local control" for Alterra-owned areas than, say, Vail-owned areas, this is another reminder that sometimes decisions are made from the top-down with little or no warning.

 

[drjeff]

This. I also heard from folks, both on AZ and out here, that Alterra's sudden change to allowing Base Pass folks more access did not go over well. I know that folks in here groaned when Alterra suddenly said, "surprise! Base Pass holders can ski at Sugarbush MLK Weekend!" The big change out here though was that literally overnight before the season started Alterra proclaimed that Solitude had no blackouts anymore. So if you bought a full pass and paid that premium for access you suddenly saw what you bought devalued. One of my colleagues was rip shit over it as he primarily skis at Solitude and bought the full pass.

Despite what folks think about there being more "local control" for Alterra-owned areas than, say, Vail-owned areas, this is another reminder that sometimes decisions are made from the top-down with little or no warning.

100% any mega pass, or even most independent ski areas will have enough data on the visitation rates of their clientele that they WILL make alterations to drive volume in times when the data suggests it may not be busy and/or if it's "busy" not at targeted capacity for such and such a day. They're just looking to drive the ancillary revenue streams like any other business will often look to do.

It's not unlike how data has often changed over the last decade or so especially how a resort goes about making snow (volume wise) and grooming it as they have way more data about actual snow depths over the hill than the used to as well as the knowledge that it will typically take X amount of snow to get them to a targeted closing date. The sport is still about having fun, but the data revolution has changed to some degree how a resort looks at what is involved with the having fun part. In some cases, its a symbiotic thing, in other instances the bean counters and data analytics folks don't have a column in their spreadsheets that factors in fun, and it shows in some decisions that have been made and often if a leader is pure data driven, they can't understand why what may look good on the spreadsheet doesn't directly translate into the amount of fun their actual, living, breathing customers may be having on the hill, because that's way more subjectve

 

[thetrailboss]

100% any mega pass, or even most independent ski areas will have enough data on the visitation rates of their clientele that they WILL make alterations to drive volume in times when the data suggests it may not be busy and/or if it's "busy" not at targeted capacity for such and such a day. They're just looking to drive the ancillary revenue streams like any other business will often look to do.

It's not unlike how data has often changed over the last decade or so especially how a resort goes about making snow (volume wise) and grooming it as they have way more data about actual snow depths over the hill than the used to as well as the knowledge that it will typically take X amount of snow to get them to a targeted closing date. The sport is still about having fun, but the data revolution has changed to some degree how a resort looks at what is involved with the having fun part. In some cases, its a symbiotic thing, in other instances the bean counters and data analytics folks don't have a column in their spreadsheets that factors in fun, and it shows in some decisions that have been made and often if a leader is pure data driven, they can't understand why what may look good on the spreadsheet doesn't directly translate into the amount of fun their actual, living, breathing customers may be having on the hill, because that's way more subjectve

I think that truth be told Alterra's motivation is to drive IKON passholders to Alterra-owned properties to keep more of their dollars instead of having those passholders go to partner resorts or other resorts.

 

[jimmywilson69]

Definitely something to be said about that.

 

[cdskier]

That makes sense in theory, except that people are also blacked out at partner resorts on black-out dates and not just Alterra ones. So Alterra isn't paying anything to a partner resort on a black-out date even if a base pass-holder goes there and chooses to pay out of pocket or via some other pass/ticket. Only thing they potentially lose out on is ancillary revenue.

 

[thetrailboss]

That makes sense in theory, except that people are also blacked out at partner resorts on black-out dates and not just Alterra ones. So Alterra isn't paying anything to a partner resort on a black-out date even if a base pass-holder goes there and chooses to pay out of pocket or via some other pass/ticket. Only thing they potentially lose out on is ancillary revenue.

Right. During blackouts a base passholder might go to another resort (not a partner). But I think that in the case of A-Basin though the "not paying partner resorts" comes into play because the new access is for the preseason.

The result is the same: trying to keep as much IKON money at Alterra Resorts as possible.

 

[BenedictGomez]

Alterra's sudden change to allowing Base Pass folks more access did not go over well. The big change out here though was that literally overnight before the season started Alterra proclaimed that Solitude had no blackouts anymore. So if you bought a full pass and paid that premium for access you suddenly saw what you bought devalued. One of my colleagues was rip shit over it as he primarily skis at Solitude and bought the full pass.

You may not want to inform your colleague about this then, or he's going to have a litter of lizards.

This "exclusive" deal is currently available to anyone with a pulse at the worlds largest Costco on 300 West.

 

[thetrailboss]

You may not want to inform your colleague about this then, or he's going to have a litter of lizards.

This "exclusive" deal is currently available to anyone with a pulse at the worlds largest Costco on 300 West.

View attachment 66580

I saw that and was shocked. There used to be discounts at Costco for skiing at Solitude, Snowbird, Sundance, and even Canyons/Park City. But in the age of discount multi-resort season passes those all disappeared.

 

[BenedictGomez]

I saw that and was shocked. There used to be discounts at Costco for skiing at Solitude, Snowbird, Sundance, and even Canyons/Park City. But in the age of discount multi-resort season passes those all disappeared.

Exactly. I did a double-take & thought it photo-worthy I was so surprised.

Suggests to me their pass sales are perhaps also down like Vail's or they just dont give a ratz azz at this point, because the biggest complaint I've heard from the Solitude folks is, "it's too crowded now", so at the very least they're not listening.

 

[cdskier]

Right. During blackouts a base passholder might go to another resort (not a partner). But I think that in the case of A-Basin though the "not paying partner resorts" comes into play because the new access is for the preseason.

The result is the same: trying to keep as much IKON money at Alterra Resorts as possible.

Yea...the A-basin thing is different as that's a decent amount of additional access you suddenly granted and it certainly could pull people away from visiting other resorts during that time.

The previous Sugarbush example really should not have moved the needle in terms of impact to other competitor resorts. It was a fairly late announcement if I recall to allow base pass-holders access that weekend. If someone was already planning to go elsewhere, they would have had tickets/reservations/etc by that point (or at least should have). So the only thing they might have gained would be existing base Ikon holders who were planning to sit home that weekend. And the only thing you gain there is ancillary revenue IF they purchased something at the resort (lodging, food, etc).

Either way, I don't like changing the access after purchase. I pay extra for a full pass primarily for holiday access.

 

[AdironRider]

This. I also heard from folks, both on AZ and out here, that Alterra's sudden change to allowing Base Pass folks more access did not go over well. I know that folks in here groaned when Alterra suddenly said, "surprise! Base Pass holders can ski at Sugarbush MLK Weekend!" The big change out here though was that literally overnight before the season started Alterra proclaimed that Solitude had no blackouts anymore. So if you bought a full pass and paid that premium for access you suddenly saw what you bought devalued. One of my colleagues was rip shit over it as he primarily skis at Solitude and bought the full pass.

Despite what folks think about there being more "local control" for Alterra-owned areas than, say, Vail-owned areas, this is another reminder that sometimes decisions are made from the top-down with little or no warning.

Yeah no. 99 out of 100 people buying the full Ikon are doing so for Jackson / Aspen access.

 

[thetrailboss]

Yea...the A-basin thing is different as that's a decent amount of additional access you suddenly granted and it certainly could pull people away from visiting other resorts during that time.

I think that it is meant to offer an early-season offering for IKON passholders that drives traffic from POWDR's Copper to Alterra's A-Basin. I don't know if Winter Park has any real early season offerings.

The previous Sugarbush example really should not have moved the needle in terms of impact to other competitor resorts. It was a fairly late announcement if I recall to allow base pass-holders access that weekend. If someone was already planning to go elsewhere, they would have had tickets/reservations/etc by that point (or at least should have). So the only thing they might have gained would be existing base Ikon holders who were planning to sit home that weekend. And the only thing you gain there is ancillary revenue IF they purchased something at the resort (lodging, food, etc).

True. I forgot that it was a last minute thing.

Either way, I don't like changing the access after purchase. I pay extra for a full pass primarily for holiday access.

I think that they are trying to take easy steps to try and increase revenue.

 

[thetrailboss]

Exactly. I did a double-take & thought it photo-worthy I was so surprised.

Suggests to me their pass sales are perhaps also down like Vail's or they just dont give a ratz azz at this point, because the biggest complaint I've heard from the Solitude folks is, "it's too crowded now", so at the very least they're not listening.

I did not look at the fineprint. Are there any blackouts?

I think it is another effort to try to increase revenue for Alterra. Honestly, there is a segment of the market that they are not serving and it is the 1-3 day a season skier or rider. There is the EPIC day pass product for Vail.